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HELIX is in Early Access Preview. Some features and documentation may be non-functional or out of date.

Widget

The Widget class lets Lua scripts spawn User Widgets (Blueprint classes) or native Unreal Widgets and then manipulate them exactly as you would in Blueprints. It is the building‑block for creating 2‑D user interfaces in‑game.

Tip

Widget inherits every method and event from Entity.

Tip

Most widget‑specific functions are not exposed directly as Lua methods. Use CallBlueprintEvent() to invoke any function or event on the underlying UWidget / UUserWidget.

Constructor#

UserWidget Constructor#

Example
-- Spawning a custom UserWidget Blueprint
local menu = Widget("/Game/UI/WBP_MainMenu.WBP_MainMenu_C")
menu:AddToViewport()
Name Type Default Description
BlueprintPath string (0,0,0) A custom UserWidget Blueprint to spawn

NativeWidget Constructor#

Example
-- Creating a VerticalBox with a Text and a Button
local vbox = Widget(NativeWidget.VerticalBox)
vbox:AddToViewport()

local txt  = Widget(NativeWidget.Text)
txt:CallBlueprintEvent("SetText", "Hello World!")

local btn  = Widget(NativeWidget.Button)

vbox:AddChild(txt)
vbox:AddChild(btn)
Name Type Default Description
NativeWidget enum NativeWidget.VerticalBox A native Unreal Widget to spawn

Functions#

SetVisibility#

Sets the visibility of the widget on screen

  • visibility: number - 0 Hidden, 1 Visible, 2 VisibleNotHitTestable
my_widget:SetVisibility(0)

GetVisibility#

Returns the current visibility state

  • returns: ESlateVisibility
local isVisible = my_widget:GetVisibility()

SetFocus#

Gives keyboard / game‑pad focus to this widget

my_widget:SetFocus()

BringToFront#

Moves this widget to the top‑most Z‑order

my_widget:BringToFront()

AddToViewport#

Adds the widget to the game viewport and stretches it full‑screen

my_widget:AddToViewport()

AddChild#

Adds another widget as a child, if parent widget is a Panel

  • widget: enum
local child = Widget(NativeWidget.Text)
parent:AddChild(child)

SetContentForSlot#

Sets the widget for a given slot by name, if this is a UserWidget

  • name: string
  • widget: UWidget
my_widget:SetContentForSlot("InventorySlot", some_other_widget)

SetCanvasLayout#

Sets anchors / position / size when the widget is a child of a CanvasPanel

  • position: Vector2D
  • size: Vector2D
my_widget:SetCanvasLayout(Vector2D(50,50), Vector2D(200,100))

CallBlueprintEvent#

Calls any Blueprint function or event on the underlying widget and returns its results

  • widget: enum
local my_text = Widget(NativeWidget.Text)
my_text:CallBlueprintEvent("SetText", "Hello World!")

BindBlueprintEventDispatcher#

Binds a Blueprint dispatcher and returns the Lua callback reference

my_button:BindBlueprintEventDispatcher("OnClicked", function()
    print("Button clicked!")
end)

UnbindBlueprintEventDispatcher#

Unbinds a previously bound dispatcher

my_button:UnbindBlueprintEventDispatcher("OnClicked", cb)

SetBlueprintPropertyValue#

Sets a Blueprint variable directly

my_widget:SetBlueprintPropertyValue("bIsEnabled", false)

GetBlueprintPropertyValue#

Gets a Blueprint variable value

local enabled = my_widget:GetBlueprintPropertyValue("bIsEnabled")

NativeWidget ↔ Unreal Widget map#

Enum value Unreal Class Panel?
NativeWidget.Border UBorder ✅
NativeWidget.Button UButton ✅
NativeWidget.CheckBox UCheckBox ✅
NativeWidget.Image UImage ❌
NativeWidget.ProgressBar UProgressBar ❌
NativeWidget.RichTextBlock URichTextBlock ❌
NativeWidget.Slider USlider ❌
NativeWidget.Text UTextBlock ❌
NativeWidget.ComboBox UComboBoxString ❌
NativeWidget.EditableText UEditableText ❌
NativeWidget.EditableTextMultiLine UMultiLineEditableText ❌
NativeWidget.SpinBox USpinBox ❌
NativeWidget.TextBox UEditableTextBox ❌
NativeWidget.TextBoxMultiLine UMultiLineEditableTextBox ❌
NativeWidget.CanvasPanel UCanvasPanel ✅
NativeWidget.GridPanel UGridPanel ✅
NativeWidget.HorizontalBox UHorizontalBox ✅
NativeWidget.Overlay UOverlay ✅
NativeWidget.ScaleBox UScaleBox ✅
NativeWidget.ScrollBox UScrollBox ✅
NativeWidget.SizeBox USizeBox ✅
NativeWidget.UniformGridPanel UUniformGridPanel ✅
NativeWidget.VerticalBox UVerticalBox ✅
NativeWidget.WrapBox UWrapBox ✅
NativeWidget.BackgroundBlur UBackgroundBlur ✅