MessageBoxEx

A command for Oblivion Script Extender

Syntax:

(nothing) MessageBoxEX "formatString:string" var1 var2 ... var20

Displays a formatted MessageBox using the extended format specifiers. Format specifiers may appear within buttons. Button text should be included within the format string, separated by the pipe character |.

• You can use up to 10 buttons
• You can use up to 20 variables

Example

Note that due to wiki limitations, the MessageboxEX line has been split into two

    ref refVar1
    ref refVar2
    short keyCode
    short goldCost
...
    set refVar1 to AdrianDecanusREF
    set refVar2 to ShadySamREF
    set keyCode to GetControl 15 ; menu key, assuming 'Tab' (15)
    set goldCost to 500

    MessageBoxEX "Press %k to summon a companion %rCost: %g gold|%n|%n|Cancel"
                 keyCode goldCost refVar1 refVar2

prints out

    Press TAB to summon a companion
            Cost: 500 gold
           [Adrian Decanus]
              [Shady Sam]
               [Cancel]

Notes

• For info on how to create working menus see MessageBox Tutorial.
• When creating menus for mods it can be helpful to standardize how information and choices are displayed. See Standard Menu UI for some helpful suggestions.
• Displays a maximum of 512 characters.
  • As of v0014a, increased to 4096 characters. A single line may still only contain 512 characters, but you can take advantage of the larger limit when passing in information from the format arguments (object names, spell componennts, etc).
  • As of v0016 and the addition of string_var's, the limit has been increased to 16,400 characters, though the single-line limit is still 512. Using string_var's is a very easy way around the single-line limit, however.
• Multiple MessageBoxes or MessageBoxExes may cause GetButtonPressed to return an incorrect value.
  • Fixed as of v0014a
• Switched Text ("On/Off", "Enabled/Disabled", "Alpha/Beta/Gamma")
  • If you would like to use different strings based on a boolean or integer parameter, you can use the %c format with a dummy spell or faction.
  • E.g. Ninja Ranks
    • Create "NinjaRanksSpell" spell and add script effects with the effect names: Student, Genin, Chuunin, Jonin, Hokage.

    ref NinjaRanksRef
...
    set NinjaRanksRef to NinjaRanksSpell
    MBoxEx "You're not ready to be a %c level ninja!" NinjaRanksRef iNextNinjaLevel

• Factions or spells with named script effects can both be used. Factions are easier to set up in game, spells allow dynamic control over the text via the magic functions that modify spell effect lists.
• Note: Be sure that index is within range of defined ranks. I.e. if you have defined two ranks for a boolean value, make sure that the index is really limited to 0 or 1. (Otherwise, CTD!)

• Reference variables must be local variables declared in the same script. Syntaxes like 'someRef.var' or 'someQuest.var' work for numeric arguments only.
• Doesn't seem to work with Oblivion version 1.1 - GetButtonPressed never returns the correct value. May be limited to an object script, or even an activator, etc. but be aware.

Displaying Variables

Formatting notation

%.2f - This means format the variable with 2 decimal places.

%.0f - This will format the variable with 0 decimal places, so is the normal choice for integers.

%5.0f - The number in front of the point specifies the minimum width of the number. In this case, there will always be enough space in front of the number for 5 digits:

Number    12 wins
Number  1234 wins

Formating switches

The following formatting switches can be used in Oblivion. Put them in any sequence right after the '%'

Switch	Function
+	Display + in front of positive numbers
<Space>	Leave a leading space in front of positive numbers
-	Use left-aligned formation instead of right alligned.
0	The filling-char used for formatting is '0' instead of ' '

Other Functions

%g - This usually works just like "%.0f", displaying 0 decimal places. When the number is 1000000 or larger, though, the game displays it in scientific notation (1E+006)

%.3e - Shows numbers in scientific notation (123000 = 1.23E+005)

%% - Use this to display a percent-sign in the message

OBSE Format Specifiers

In addition to the format specifiers supported by Oblivion's Message and MessageBox functions, OBSE functions understand additional specifiers (in alphabetic order).

%a - Prints the character corresponding to the specified ASCII code.

• Passing codes for unprintable characters (such as 0) may have unpredictable (though occasionally useful) results.
• Passing the code for a percent sign will most likely crash the game as literal percent signs must come in pairs.

%B - toggles blue text on for console output.

%b - toggles blue text off for console output.

• Example: "%BBlue%b suede shoes": when printed to the console, the word "Blue" will be printed in blue text.

%c - Prints the specified component of the specified reference or object.

Takes two arguments - a reference variable set to the spell or faction, and an index. Behaves differently depending on the passed reference:

• Faction: Prints the nth male rank title
• Magic Item: Prints the nth Magic Effect

• Prior to OBSE v0015, magic effects using actor values (such as Restore Agility) would not display the specific actor value.
• Actor values may not display correctly for non-English versions of Oblivion.

%e – replaced by nothing.

• Provides a workaround for the script compiler's refusal to accept an empty string as a command argument.
• Example:

SetNameEx "" object    ; attempts to remove an object's name, but won't compile
SetNameEx "%e" object  ; sets the name to an empty string

• Can be used outside of format strings. When included in any string literal, %e will be replaced by an empty string.

%i - Prints the FormID of the specified reference or object.

• GOTCHA : as of v18, if a refVar is passed which points to a ref not loaded in memory %i will print 00000000 even if the refVar is not empty.

%k - Prints the name of the key for the specified DirectInput scancode, such as those used for IsKeyPressed2.

%n - Prints the name of the specified reference or object.

• In OBSE versions prior to v0014a, %n can crash if the object's name contains a percent sign.

%p - Displays a pronoun based on the gender of the object parameter:

• %po - objective (him, her, it)
• %pp - possessive (his, her, its)
• %ps - subjective (he, she, it)

%q - Prints a double quote character.

• Can be used outside of format strings. When included in any string literal, %q will be replaced by a double quote

%r - Prints a carriage return, ending the current line and starting at the next.

• Can be used outside of format strings. When included in any string literal, %r will be replaced by a carriage return.

%v - Prints the actor value (i.e. an attribute or skill) associated with the passed actor value code.

%x - Prints an integer in hexadecimal format.

An optional digit from 0-9 immediately following this specifier indicates the minimum width of the displayed value.

• For example, MessageEx "%x4" 255 will display "00FF".

%z – Prints the contents of a string variable.

• Example: sv_construct “The string is: %z” MyStringVar

%{...%} - Conditionally displays or omits the bracketed portion of the format string based on a boolean value. Accepts a variable - if the value of the variable is zero, all text and parameters up to the matching right bracket will be ignored. Otherwise the bracketed text will be displayed.

• Example (should be single-line, line-breaks added for Wiki)

MBoxEX "Doom comes%{ for you%}. What will you do?
|Dig a hole, hide
%{|Find someone, offer as sacrifice|Find someone, use as shield%}
|Enjoy your final 15 minutes" bDisplay bDisplay

If bDisplay is 0 this will print out

   Doom comes. What will you do?
   [Dig a hole, hide]
   [Enjoy your final 15 minutes]

If bDisplay is 1 this will print out

   Doom comes for you. What will you do?
   [Dig a hole, hide]
   [Find someone, offer as sacrifice]
   [Find someone, use as shield]
   [Enjoy your final 15 minutes]

• Note: When using GetButtonPressed with messageboxes that can have a variable number of buttons displayed using %{...%}, the return value will be relative to the actual number of buttons displayed and will not include buttons hidden by %{...%}.

See Also

• MessageBox
• Message
• MessageEX
• PrintToConsole
• GetButtonPressed
• MessageBox Tutorial
• MessageBoxEx-based Text Input Box
• Standard Menu UI