Extra native OS functions for games written using the Defold game engine

Currently supports macOS, Windows, Linux and HTML5. Contribute!

You can use DefOS in your own project by adding this project as a Defold library dependency.

Add the latest dependency URL from the releases page to your dependencies field in game.project.

(From Defold 1.2.188)

You can change the initial view size and position of your game's window by editing the game.project file of your project in a plain text editor and adding the following lines:

[defos]
view_width = 640
view_height = 480
view_x = 20
view_y = 40

⚠️ It may show you ERROR:ENGINE: Could not find '@render' socket. error on start. But that means only that window change event can't send to the render_script because it's not created yet. More info is available here: #130

view_width and view_height can be used without view_x and view_y but not vice versa.

These initial values will be used at the launch of your project without needing to call any extension functions. Use these values to decrease the initial size of your game’s window view size if your game.project's [display] width / height values are large.

Customize title bar accessories and title.

defos.disable_maximize_button() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.disable_minimize_button() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.disable_window_resize() -- Not supported on HTML5
defos.set_window_title("I set this title using Defos")

Toggle window maximize status.

defos.set_maximized(bool_value)
defos.toggle_maximized()
bool_value = defos.is_maximized()

Toggle full screen. On HTML5, this only works from defos.on_click() or defos.on_interaction().

defos.set_fullscreen(bool_value)
defos.toggle_fullscreen()
bool_value = defos.is_fullscreen()

Keep window on top. Not supported on HTML5.

defos.set_always_on_top(bool_value)
defos.toggle_always_on_top()
bool_value = defos.is_always_on_top()

Minimize window. Not supported on HTML5.

defos.minimize()

Activate (focus) window. Not supported on HTML5.

defos.activate()

Get/set the window's size and position in screen coordinates. The window area includes the title bar, so the actual contained game view area might be smaller than the given metrics.

Passing nil for x and y will center the window in the middle of the display.

Screen coordinates start at (0, 0) in the top-left corner of the main display. X axis goes right. Y axis goes down.

x, y, w, h = defos.get_window_size()
defos.set_window_size(x, y, w, h)

Get/set the game view size and position in screen coordinates. This adjusts the window so that its containing game view is at the desired size and position. The window will be larger than the given metrics because it includes the title bar.

Passing nil for x and y will center the window in the middle of the display.

x, y, w, h = defos.get_view_size()
defos.set_view_size(x, y, w, h)

Query displays.

defos.get_displays() returns a table which can be indexed with either number indices (like an array), either with display ids.

Not supported on HTML5.

displays = defos.get_displays()
pprint(displays[1]) -- Print info about the main display
current_display_id = defos.get_current_display_id() -- Get the ID of the game's current display
pprint(displays[current_display_id]) -- Print info about the game's current display

A display info table has the following format:

{
  id = <userdata>,
  bounds = { -- This is the position and size in screen coordinates of the
    x = 0,   -- display (relative to the top-left corner of the main display)
    y = 0,
    width = 1440,
    height = 900,
  }
  mode = {   -- The current resolution mode of the display
    width = 2880,
    height = 1800,
    scaling_factor = 2,
    refresh_rate = 60,
    bits_per_pixel = 32,
    orientation = 0,
    reflect_x = false,
    reflect_y = false,
  },
  name = "Built-in Retina Display",
}

Query resolution modes for a display.

Returns a table with all the resolution modes a display supports.

Not supported on HTML5.

display_id = defos.get_current_display_id()
modes = defos.get_display_modes(display_id)
pprint(modes[1]) -- Print information about the first available resolution mode

A resolution mode has the following format:

{
  width = 2880, -- Full width/height in pixels (not points)
  height = 1800,
  scaling_factor = 2, -- Hi-DPI scaling factor
  refresh_rate = 60,
  bits_per_pixel = 32,
  orientation = 0, -- One of 0, 90, 180, 270 (degrees measured clockwise)
  reflect_x = false, -- Linux supports reflecting either of the axes,
  reflect_y = false, -- effectively flipping the image like a mirror
}

Show/hide the mouse cursor.

defos.set_cursor_visible(bool_value)
bool_value = defos.is_cursor_visible()

Respond to the mouse entering and leaving the game view area.

bool_value = defos.is_mouse_in_view()
defos.on_mouse_enter(function ()
  print("Mouse entered view")
end)
defos.on_mouse_leave(function ()
  print("Mouse left view")
end)

Get the cursor position.

x, y = defos.get_cursor_pos() -- In screen coordinates
x, y = defos.get_cursor_pos_view() -- In game view coordinates

Move the cursor programatically.

Not supported on HTML5.

defos.set_cursor_pos(x, y) -- In screen coordinates
defos.set_cursor_pos_view(x, y) -- In game view coordinates

Clip cursor to current game view area.

Not supported on Linux and HTML5.

defos.set_cursor_clipped(bool_value)
bool_value = defos.is_cursor_clipped()

Lock cursor movement.

On HTML5 this only works from defos.on_click() or defos.on_interaction(). Not supported on Linux yet.

defos.set_cursor_locked(bool_value)
bool_value = defos.is_cursor_locked()
defos.on_cursor_lock_disabled(function ()
  print("Called on HTML5 when the user presses ESC and the browser disables locking");
end)

Load custom hardware cursors. cursor_data must be:

• On HTML5, an URL to an image (data URLs work as well).
• On Windows, a path to an .ani or .cur file on the file system.
• On Linux, a path to an X11 cursor file on the file system.
• On macOS, a table of the form:

{
  image = resource.load("cursor.tiff"),
  hot_spot_x = 18,
  hot_spot_y = 2,
}

On macOS, custom cursors can be any image file supported by NSImage, but it's highly recommended to create a TIFF with two images, one at 72DPI (for low density displays) and another at 144DPI (for Retina displays).

The hotspot is an anchor point within the image that will overlap with the functional position of the mouse pointer (eg. the tip of the arrow).

local cursor = defos.load_cursor(cursor_data)

Set custom hardware cursors. cursor can be one of the following:

• nil: Resets the cursor to default. Equivalent to defos.reset_cursor().
• defos.CURSOR_ARROW
• defos.CURSOR_HAND
• defos.CURSOR_CROSSHAIR
• defos.CURSOR_IBEAM
• A cursor value obtained with defos.load_cursor().
• A cursor_data value that will be used to create a single-use cursor. See defos.load_cursor() above for supported values.

defos.set_cursor(cursor)
defos.reset_cursor()

Show/hide the console window on Windows. Only works when not running from the Editor.

defos.set_console_visible(bool_value)
bool_value = defos.is_console_visible()

On HTML5 only, get a synchronous event on user interaction with the canvas. User interaction is either a mouse click, touch or key press. This is necessary because some HTML5 functions only work when called synchronously from an event handler.

This is currently needed for:

• defos.toggle_fullscreen()
• defos.set_cursor_locked(true)

defos.on_interaction(function ()
  print("The user has interacted with the canvas. I have the chance to respond synchronously")
end)

defos.on_click(function ()
  print("The user has clicked. I have the chance to respond synchronously")
end)

Get the absolute path to the game's containing directory. On macOS this will be the path to the .app bundle. On HTML5 this will be the page URL up until the last /.

path = defos.get_bundle_root()

The system path separator. "\\" on Windows, "/" everywhere else.

defos.PATH_SEP

Change the game window's icon at runtime. On Windows, this function accepts .ico files. On macOS this accepts any image file supported by NSImage. On Linux this function is not supported yet.

defos.set_window_icon(path_to_icon_file)

Returns a table of command line arguments used to run the app. On HTML5, returns a table with a single string: the query string part of the URL (eg. { "?param1=foo&param2=bar" }).

arguments = defos.get_arguments()

If you'd like to see any other features, open an issue.

An example is made using DirtyLarry