Inventory box

The inventory box is the graphical representation of your inventory window. It defines the placement of the items, some controls (such as the close and/or scrolling buttons) and mainly the design of the background of the inventory.

Inventory box is defined in a simple text file which as a structure similar to this:

INVENTORY_BOX
{
  ITEM_WIDTH = 65
  ITEM_HEIGHT = 65
  SPACING = 10
  SCROLL_BY = 1
  HIDE_SELECTED = TRUE

  AREA { 30, 12, 770, 77 }
  EXCLUSIVE = FALSE

  WINDOW
  {
    X = 0
    Y = 0
    WIDTH = 800
    HEIGHT = 90
    IMAGE = "interface\inventory.bmp"
  
    BUTTON
    {
      TEMPLATE = "ui_elements\template\but.button"
      NAME = "prev"
      TEXT = "<"
      X = 0
      Y = 0
      WIDTH = 30
      HEIGHT = 90
    }

    BUTTON
    {
      TEMPLATE = "ui_elements\template\but.button"
      NAME = "next"
      TEXT = ">"
      X = 770
      Y = 0
      WIDTH = 30
      HEIGHT = 90
    }
  }
}

As you see, the first part (purple) defines some inventory specific attributes, while the second part (gray) defines the design. The second part is a casual window, as described in the Windows and controls chapter. The inventory window can contain any GUI elements you want, please see the mentioned chapter for more details about GUI definitions.

Let's take a closer look at the first section. It contains the following attributes:

• ITEM_WIDTH / ITEM_HEIGHT - the dimensions of one cell reserved for each inventory item
• SPACING - the space between two inventory items
• SCROLL_BY - how many items to skip when scrolling the inventory
• HIDE_SELECTED - if player selects an inventory item, it will disappear from the inventory box
• AREA - defines a rectangle within the background window, where the items will be displayed. The four numbers represent the X, Y coordinates of the upper left and bottom right points of the rectangle. Note that the area is defined relative to the inventory window, NOT relative to screen.
• EXCLUSIVE - if the inventory is displayed in exclusive mode, all the other on-screen objects become inactive

Based on this setting, WME will automatically populate the defined rectangle with items.

As for the second part, i.e. the window definitions, it's a normal window definition with a few exceptions. If you name some of the buttons "next", "prev" or "close", WME will use them automatically for inventory scrolling and/or closing.