OutputChatBox

[[{{{image}}}|link=|]]	Note: Avoid outputting text to the chatbox that isn't actually chat, as this can be annoying for players. Output information and status messages to the HUD.

This outputs the specified text string to the chatbox. It can be specified as a message to certain player(s) or all players.

It can optionally allow you to embed color changes into the string by setting the colorCoded boolean to true. This allows:

outputChatBox ( "#FF0000Hello #00FF00World", root, 255, 255, 255, true )

This will display as: Hello World

Syntax

Click to collapse [-]

Server

bool outputChatBox ( string text [, table/element visibleTo = root, int r = 231, int g = 217, int b = 176, bool colorCoded = false ] )

OOP Syntax Help! I don't understand this!

Method: player:outputChat(...)

Required Arguments

• text: The text string that you wish to send to the chat window. If more than 256 characters it will not be showed in chat.

Optional Arguments

NOTE: When using optional arguments, you might need to supply all arguments before the one you wish to use. For more information on optional arguments, see optional arguments.

• visibleTo: This specifies who the chat is visible to. Any players in this element will see the chat message. See visibility.

ADDED/UPDATED IN VERSION 1.5.7-9.20391 :

• visibleTo: Can also be a table of players or team.

r: The amount of red in the color of the text. Default value is 231.

g: The amount of green in the color of the text. Default value is 217.

b: The amount of blue in the color of the text. Default value is 176.

colorCoded: A boolean value determining whether or not '#RRGGBB' tags should be used.

Note: The #RRGGBB format must contain capital letters a-f is not acceptable but A-F is. Default RGB values in this format are: '#E7D9B0'.

Click to collapse [-]

Client

bool outputChatBox ( string text [, int r = 231, int g = 217, int b = 176, bool colorCoded = false ] )

Required Arguments

• text: The text string that you wish to send to the chat window. If more than 256 characters it will not be showed in chat.

Optional Arguments

NOTE: When using optional arguments, you might need to supply all arguments before the one you wish to use. For more information on optional arguments, see optional arguments.

• r: The amount of red in the color of the text. Default value is 231.
• g: The amount of green in the color of the text. Default value is 217.
• b: The amount of blue in the color of the text. Default value is 176.
• colorCoded: A boolean value determining whether or not '#RRGGBB' tags should be used.

Note: The #RRGGBB format must contain capital letters a-f is not acceptable but A-F is. Default RGB values in this format are: '#E7D9B0'.

Returns

Returns true if the message was displayed successfully. Returns false if invalid arguments are specified.

Example

Click to collapse [-]

Server

Example 1: This example displays a chat message to all users.

x = 5
y = 10  
-- Displays the message
outputChatBox ( "I have " .. x .. " apples and " .. y .. " oranges." )

Example 2: This example outputs a simple colour coded message, "Red White", where the 'White' is in white colour, and 'Red' is in a red colour.

 outputChatBox ( "Red #FFFFFFWhite", root, 255, 0, 0, true )

Example 3: This example allows for coloured chat, according to a player's nametag. This makes use of colour coded outputs.

function colouredChat ( message, theType )
    if theType == 0 then --if its normal chat (not /me or teamchat) then
        cancelEvent() --prevent MTA from outputting chat
        local message = string.gsub(message, "#%x%x%x%x%x%x", "") --remove any hex tags in a player's chat to prevent custom colours by using lua's string.gsub
        local r, g, b = getPlayerNametagColor ( source ) --get the player's nametag colour
        local chatterName = getPlayerName ( source ) --get his name
        --output a message with the name as his nametag colour, and the rest in white.
        outputChatBox ( chatterName..":#FFFFFF "..message, root, r, g, b, true )
    end
end
addEventHandler("onPlayerChat", root, colouredChat)

Example 4: This example displays a chat message to a single user called someguy.

-- Find the player element for the player called 'someguy'
local myPlayer = getPlayerFromName ( "someguy" )
-- If a player was found called 'someguy' then...
if ( myPlayer ~= false ) then
    x = 5
    y = 10
    -- Display the message
    outputChatBox ( "I have " .. x .. " apples and " .. y .. " oranges.", myPlayer )
end

Example 5: These two functions can speed up typing, and display a message when a player Joins.

local msg_red,msg_green,msg_blue = 255,255,0

function servertalkprivate(message, sendto)
        --Talk to one client only
	outputChatBox(tostring(message), sendto, msg_red, msg_green, msg_blue, true)
end

function servertalk(message)
    --Talk to everyone
    servertalkprivate(message, root)
end

function onJoin()
    servertalkprivate("Welcome to My Server", source)
end

addEventHandler("onPlayerJoin", root, onJoin)

Example 6: This can be used to display a message when the player joins and sets its armor to 100.

function onJoin()
    setPedArmor(source, 100)
    outputChatBox("Welcome ".. getPlayerName(source) .." To The Server", source, 0, 154, 255)
end
addEventHandler("onPlayerJoin", root, onJoin)

Example 7: This code will output an message to nearby players.

function displayLocalMessage(player, cmd)
    if player then -- Check if command was triggered by player
        local x, y, z = getElementPosition(player) -- Get player position
        local nearbyPlayers = getElementsWithinRange(x, y, z, 10, "player") -- Retrieve nearby players in range of 10

        outputChatBox("Local message :)!", nearbyPlayers) -- Output our message
    end
end
addCommandHandler("localmessage", displayLocalMessage)

Example 8: This example displays your nickname and the amount of money.

function player_info(player, cmd)
    outputChatBox("Name: #FFFFFF"..getPlayerName(player), player, 255, 0, 0, true)
    outputChatBox("Money: #FFFFFF"..getPlayerMoney(player).."#00FF00$", player, 255, 0, 0, true)
end
addCommandHandler("info", player_info)

See Also

• getMaxPlayers
• getServerConfigSetting
• getServerHttpPort
• getServerName
• getServerPassword
• getServerPort
• isGlitchEnabled
• setGlitchEnabled
• setMaxPlayers
• setServerConfigSetting
• setServerPassword
• shutdown