This section provides more specifics on the EdgeTX Lua implementation. Here you will find syntax rules for interface tables and functions.

Introduction

Lua was chosen for OpenTX, and hence also EdgeTX, because it is a small language designed to be highly extensible by libraries written in C and C++, so it can be integrated into other systems like EdgeTX. It is also relatively efficient, both in terms of memory and CPU usage, and hence well suited for the radios.

In addition to the provided libraries, Lua has a very elegant mechanism for loading new Lua code modules during run-time. A lot of the elegance comes from the way that the loading mechanism meshes with another concept supported by Lua: first class functions with closures.

First Class Functions

Computer science pioneer Christopher Strachey introduced the concept of functions as first-class objects in his paper Fundamental Concepts in Programming Languages from 1967. What it means is that functions can be treated as other variables: as arguments passed in function calls, as results returned from function calls, and a function identifier can be re-assigned to another chunk of function code, just like a variable ca be assigned to a new value.

In Lua, a function declaration is really "syntactic sugar" for assigning a variable to the chunk of code that is called when the function is invoked, i.e.

local function f(x) return x + 1 end

is the same as

local f = function(x) return x + 1 end

You can even add functions to Lua tables, i.e.

t = { f = f }

will add the above function to the table t, as a field that is also called f. Does that look familiar to the return statement required at the end of a Lua script?

Yes indeed, because a script is really an anonymous function that returns a list of functions to the system. The function declarations assign variables to chunks of function code, these variables are added to the list returned at the end of the script, and the system then calls the functions periodically to run the script. So the script itself is run one time initially, and subsequently the functions returned by the last statement are called periodically.

Closures

Another important concept that goes with first-class functions, is closures. This is the environment of the function with the variable names that the function can see. Please consider the following function counter that returns another function:

local function counter(start, step)
  local x = start

  return function()
    local y = x
    x = x + step
    return y
  end
end

The function is returned directly without being assigned to a variable name. The closure of the function returned is the body of the function counter, containing both the arguments start and step, and the local variable x. So if c1 = counter(1, 1) then c1() will return 1, 2, 3, ... when called repeatedly, and if c2 = counter(2, 3) then c2() will return 2, 5, 8, ...

Likewise, the local variables that you declare outside the functions of your script can be used by all of the functions in your script, and they persist between function calls, but they are not visible to other scripts.

The widget scripts are a little trickier, as you can register multiple instances of the same widget script, and all of these instances run within the same Lua closure. Therefore, local variables declared outside any functions in a widget script are shared among all of the instances of that script. But each call to the create(...) function returns a new widget list to the system. And since this list is unique to each instance, you can add private instance variables to it.

Functions with Variable Number of Arguments

Please consider this function:

local function match(x, ...)
  for i, y in ipairs({...}) do
    if x == y then
      return true
    end
  end
  return false
end

It takes an argument x and a vararg list ... A vararg list is just like a list of arguments separated by commas, and you can call the function with any number of arguments greater than 1. Inside the function, you can also treat ... like a comma separated list of variables, e.g. in the above function, ... is converted to a table by {...} just like you could construct a table by e.g. {a, b, c}. The table is iterated with the ipairs function to look for an element matching the first argument x. So e.g. the following statement

if event == EVT_VIRTUAL_ENTER or event == EVT_VIRTUAL_EXIT then

can be replaced by

if match(event, EVT_VIRTUAL_ENTER, EVT_VIRTUAL_EXIT) then

You can also use ... directly as a comma separated list of values, e.g. local a, b, c = ... will assign the three variables to the three first arguments following x, or nil if none are given.

References

The Lua 5.2 Reference Manual helpful, both if you want to learn more about Lua, and if you want to search for answers to specific questions.

The io.open() function is used to open the file on SD card for subsequent reading or writing. After the script is done with the file manipulation io.close() function should be used.

Parameters

• filename full path to the file starting from the SD card root directory. This function can't create a new file in non-existing directory.

• mode supported mode strings are:

  • "r" read access. File must exist beforehand. The read pointer is located at the beginning of file. This is the default mode if is omitted.

  • "w" write access. File is opened or created (if it didn't exist) and truncated (all existing file contents are lost).

  • "a" write access. File is opened or created (if it didn't exist) and write pointer is located at the end of the file. The existing file contents are preserved.

Return value

• <file object> if file was successfully opened.

• nil if file could not be opened.

The io.read() function is used to read data from the file on SD card.

Notice: other read commands (like "all", etc..) are *not supported.

Parameters

• file object a file object that was returned by the io.open() function. The file must be opened in read mode.

• length number of characters/bytes to read. The number of actual read/returned characters can be less if the file end is reached.

Return value

• <string> a string with a length equal or less than

• "" a zero length string if the end of file was reached

The io.close() function is used to close open file.

Parameters

• file object a file object that was returned by the io.open() function.

Return value

• none

Regarding memory, the situation is a bit different for the radios with black/white or grey scale screens and telemetry scripts, and the radios with color screens and widget scripts. The telemetry script radios only have 128-192 KB RAM memory - that is very small! The widget script radios have 8 MB RAM memory. But the way that widgets are designed means that all widget scripts present on the SD card will be loaded into memory, whether or not they are actually used. Therefore, different strategies should be applied to save memory for the two different types of radios and scripts.

Telemetry Script Radios

Radios with black/white or grey scale screens and telemetry scripts such as e.g. FrSky Taranis, Xlite, Jumper T12 and Radiomaster TX12 have extremely small RAM memories, and therefore it may be necessary to divide up your script into smaller loadable modules.

The following simple example demonstrates how different screens can be loaded on demand, and how shared data can be stored in a table.

The table shared contains data that is shared between the main telemetry script and the loadable screens. Notice that the functions shared.changeScreen and shared.run are also shared this way.

Code is loaded by shared.changeScreen with the loadScript function, which returns the loadable script as a chunk of code. The code is executed with shared as the argument, and the loadable script adds a new run function to the shared table. shared.run is called by run in the main script.

Widget Script Radios

Radios with color screens and widget scripts such as e.g. FrSky Horus, Jumper T16 and Radiomaster TX16S have fairly large RAM memories, but since all widget scripts present on the SD card are always loaded into memory, they could run out of memory if many big widget scripts are present on the card - even if they are not being used by the selected model. Therefore, large widget scripts should be divided into a small main script and a large loadable part. One way to accomplish this is the following.

Obviously, the bulk of the widget's code goes in loadable.lua, and is only loaded if the widgets is in fact being used. Therefore, if the widget is not used, only the small amount of code in main.lua is loaded into the radio's memory.

For an example of a widget that uses the above design pattern, please have a look at the EventDemo widget that is included on the SD card with EdgeTX for color screen radios.

An argument with drawing flags can be given to the various functions that draw on the LCD screen. The lower half of the flags (bits 1-16) are the flag attributes shown below, and the upper half of the flags (bits 17-32) are a color value.

Not all of the flags below should be directly manipulated from Lua, but those that are meant to be set directly by Lua, are accessible by the .

Since the flags are bits, you can add them up to combine, as long as you only add each flag one time. If you add the same flag twice, then it will add up to the next bit over, e.g. INVERS + INVERS = VCENTER. If you want to add a flag to a value where it may already be set, then use flags = bit32.bor(flags, INVERS).

RGB_FLAG decides how the color value is encoded into the upper half (bits 17-32).

If RGB_FLAG = 1, then a 16-bit RGB565 color is stored. This is used directly by the system to draw a color on the screen.

You should not change RGB_FLAG explicitly; this is handled automatically by the various functions and Lua constants. But you should be aware of the following.

• If no color is given to the flags with a drawing function, RGB_FLAGS = 0 and the color index = 0. Therefore, the default color is stored in the color table under this index, and you can change the default color with lcd.setColor(0, color).

Colors in EdgeTX versus OpenTX

OpenTX only supports indexed colors in drawing functions, so you must first call lcd.setColor to change e.g. CUSTOM_COLOR, and then call the LCD drawing function with that indexed color. In EdgeTX, you can use either type of color for drawing functions, so you are no longer forced to constantly call lcd.setColor. You can also store any color in local variables, and then use these when drawing, thus effectively creating your own color theme.

In OpenTX, lcd.RGB returns a 16 bit RGB565 value, but in EdgeTX it returns a 32 bit flags value with the 16 bit RGB565 value in the upper half (bits 17-32). Therefore, colors in EdgeTX are not binary compatible with colors in OpenTX. But if you use the functions lcd.RGB, lcd.setColor, and lcd.getColor, then your code should work the same way in EdgeTX as in OpenTX.

Unfortunately, OpenTX has disabled the function lcd.RGB when the screen is not available for drawing, so it can only be called successfully from the refresh function in widgets and from the run function in One-Time scripts. Therefore, some existing widget scripts set up colors with hard coded constants instead of calling lcd.RGB during initialization, and this is not going to work with EdgeTX, because of the different binary format.

A pull request has been submitted to OpenTX, allowing lcd.RGB to work also during widget script initialization, and hopefully, it will be merged into OpenTX 2.3.15. If that happens, then the obvious way to solve the problem is to use lcd.RGB values instead of hard coded color constants. But in the meantime, the following RGB function can be used for setting up colors in a way that works for both EdgeTX and OpenTX.

This functions calls lcd.RGB, and if it gets a nil value (because we are running a widget script under OpenTX, and it is not called from the refresh function) then it creates the 16-bit RGB565 value that OpenTX wants.

The io library has been simplified and only a subset of functions and their functionality is available. What follows is a complete reference of io functions that are available to EdgeTX scripts

Available functions:

• io.open()

• io.close()

• io.read()

• io.write()

• io.seek()

Examples

Read the whole file

Append data to file

The two Lua widgets EventDemo and LibGUI are provided on the SD card content for color screen radios. EventDemo is just a small widget showing off how key, and especially touch events, can be used. LibGUI contains a globally available library, and a widget showing how the library can be used by other widgets. This section will discuss these two widgets for color screen radios, but generally, what is stated about key events here also applies to the run function in Telemetry and One-Time scripts.

EventDemo Widget

This widget uses the design pattern for saving memory by loadable files discussed in the so all of the action takes place in the file loadable.lua. The following code listing is an outline of the refresh function with comments explaining what is going on.

LibGUI

LibGUI was created to support the SoarETX widgets, but it was made separate so everyone can use it, if they so desire. Since it is all Lua, the code is visible for everyone to study and use as is, or modify for their own use (as long as they comply with the terms of the Gnu Public license, of course).

It is a widget that comes with a global library. Since all widgets are loaded, whether or not they are being used, global functions declared in the body of a widget script will always be available in any widget script in the create and refresh functions. It is not necessary to setup the widget to use the library, and the only purpose of the widget is to show how LibGUI can be used to create widget apps.

The global function loadGUI() returns a new libGUI object. This object can be used to create new GUIobjects, which are used to create screens with elements like buttons, menus, labels, numbers etc.

libGUI Properties

libGUI has the following properties controlling general settings for the library.

libGUI.flags

These are default drawing flags to be applied if no flags are given at creation of screen elements.

Note: these flags should not contain color values, as colors are added by the following.

libGUI.colors

This is a table of the colors used for drawing the GUI elements. These are all theme colors by default, but they can be changed for the libGUI instance without changing the theme colors anywhere else.

libGUI.widgetRefresh

A function f() to draw the zone of the screen in widget mode. It takes no arguments.

libGUI Functions

libGUI.match(x, ...)

This is a small utility function that returns true if the first argument x matches any of the following arguments. It is useful for comparing values of event, e.g. if we want to test if the user pressed either of the following buttons, we can use:libGUI.match(event, EVT_VIRTUAL_ENTER, EVT_VIRTUAL_EXIT, EVT_VIRTUAL_MENU)

libGUI.newGUI()

This is the main function that creates a new GUI object. If an application has different screens, then a GUI object is created for each screen.

GUI Object Properties

GUI.fullScreenRefresh

A function f() to draw the screen background in full screen mode. The GUI elements are drawn afterwards on top.

GUI Object Functions

GUI.run(event, touchState)

Redraws the screen and processes key and touch events. It can directly replace a widget's refresh function, or it can be called by refresh.

GUI.setEventHandler(event, f)

Sets a function f(event, touchState) to handle an event. If no GUI element is being edited, then this can trap events before they are passed to the GUI, e.g. to press EXIT to go back to the previous screen. If f is nil, then the event handler is removed.

If the function returns another event value, then it is passed to the active screen element (i.e. the handler can modify certain events).

It cannot trap the events EVT_VIRTUAL_PREV, EVT_VIRTUAL_NEXT as these events are used for navigation. If elements are being edited, then this also takes precedence over the event handler.

GUI.showPrompt(guiPrompt)

This function can be used to show a modal prompt window, or trap events (alternative to setEventHandler). guiPrompt is a GUI or another Lua table with a function run(event, touchState).

When it is set, the main GUI will first be drawn, and then it will call guiPrompt.run(event, touchState) instead of its own onEvent function.

GUI.dismissPrompt()

Dismisses the prompt.

GUI Screen Elements

The screen elements are drawn in the order that they are added to the GUI, and touch events are sent to the first element that covers the touched point of the screen. GUI elements therefore should never overlap.

There are some common properties that can be set for all or most of the GUI elements.

• element.disabled = true prevents the element from taking focus and receiving events, and disabled buttons are greyed out.

• element.hidden = true in addition to the above, the element is not drawn.

• element.title can be changed for elements with a title.

• element.value can be changed for elements with a value.

• element.flags drawing flags for the element's text. If no flags were given at element creation, it defaults to GUI.flags.

The various screen elements are added to the GUI with the functions described below. The functions all add the element to the GUI and returns a reference so the element subsequently can be accessed by the client.

GUI.button (x, y, w, h, title, callBack [, flags])

Add a button to the GUI.

When tapped, it calls callBack(self) so a call back function can tell which button activated it.

GUI.toggleButton(x, y, w, h, title, value, callBack [, flags])

Add a toggle button to the GUI.

The value is either true or false.

When tapped, it calls callBack(self) so a call back function can tell which toggle button activated it, and what self.value is.

GUI.number(x, y, w, h, value, changeValue [, flags])

Add an editable number to the GUI.

The value can be either a number or text. By setting the value to a text, it can be shown that the number is not present e.g. by "- -" or similar.

When tapped, the number will go to edit mode. In edit mode, and changeValue(d, self) is called if the increase/decrease buttons are pressed, or a finger is slided up or down from the number. The parameter d is the number of "ticks" by which the number is being changed, and changeValue must return the new value for the number. In a simple case, the new value would just be self.value + d, but it could also select new values from a table etc.

GUI.timer(x, y, w, h, tmr, changeValue [, flags])

Add a timer to the GUI.

If no value is present, then the model timer tmr will be shown. If value is a number, then it indicates the time in seconds, and it will be shown as MM:SS. The value can also be text, e.g. "- - : - -" to show that the timer is disabled.

When tapped, the timer will go to edit mode, as described above for number.

GUI.label(x, y, w, h, title[, flags])

Add a text label to the GUI.

The label does not respond to any events, but its title and flags can be changed.

GUI.menu(x, y, w, h, items, callBack [, flags])

Add a scrollable menu to the GUI.

items is a table with the menu item texts.

When a menu item is tapped, it calls callBack(self) and self.selected gets the index of the selected item.

GUI.dropDown(x, y, w, h, items, selected, callBack, flags)

Add a field with values that can be selected on a drop down menu.

items is a table with the items that can be selected from.

selected is the index of the initially selected item.

When an item has been selected, it calls callBack(self). The index of the selected item is given by self.selected.

GUI.gui.horizontalSlider(x, y, w, value, min, max, delta, callBack)

Adds a horizontal slider that starts at (x, y) and has the width w.

value is the initial value, and min - max is the interval of values that can be selected with step size delta.

When the value is changed, callBack(self) is called, and the value is given by self.value.

GUI.gui.verticalSlider(x, y, w, value, min, max, delta, callBack)

The same as the above, just vertical.

gui.custom(self, x, y, w, h)

This can be used to create your own custom GUI elements. self is a table containing the element. You must define the functions self.draw(focused) and self.onEvent(event, touchState). There is a function self.drawFocus(color) defined that can draw a border around the element (use if focused == true).

gui.gui(x, y, w, h)

Create a nested sub-GUI. This can be used to group GUI elements which will be offset by (x, y) relative to the parent GUI.

The function will load a script from a the file and return a function that is the body of the script, as described in the previous section. So you could have the following Lua script file saved on the SD card:

You can load and use the above file with the following code:

So here we put together what we learned in the previous section. The body of the script is an anonymous function returned by loadScript and stored in the variable chunk. It returns the function f when it is called. The local variable c in the script is assigned to the first vararg passed to the call. Since a new closure is created every time we call chunk, f1 and f2 have different closures with different values of c.

In general terms, there are two different types of data that can be exchanged with EdgeTX:

• Values, which generally fall on a scale between -1024 and 1024, also sometimes reported as -100% to 100%, e.g. for mixer values and channel outputs.

• Switches, which are either true or false.

A specific data source type, e.g. Global Variables, can be indexed directly with an index that starts with 0 for the first one. This can be a little confusing, as e.g. GV1 for FM0 is read with , because GV1 is the first global variable, and FM0 is the first flight mode. But as long as you remember that all direct indices start with 0 for the first one, you should be fine!

Global Variables is a value data source that can return a value between -1024 and 1024. Examples of value sources are:

• Global Variables

• Sticks, sliders and knobs

• Trim values

• Input lines

• Channel outputs

• Trainer channel inputs

• Telemetry sensors

There is a way to access a value of any such type with a meta-index. You use the function where name can be any of the valid source names listed . It returns a table with a description of the value source, including the field id, which is the meta-index.

You can use id with the function to read the current value. You can also use name directly, but this is less efficient, as EdgeTX does a linear search for the name every time it is called. Therefore, the procedure of first extracting the meta-index from getFieldInfo(name).id, and then using that, is recommended.

For switches, uses a direct index to read this specific type of switch sources, again using the index 0 for LS1 etc. But there are also several types of switch sources, such as:

• Logical switches

• Switch positions, testing if a physical switch is in a particular position, e.g. SA↑.

• Trim buttons

• Transmitter and telemetry activity

It can be very confusing that some source can be read both as a value and as a switch. As an example, elevator trim can be read as the current value of the trim:

Or it can be read as the current value of the trim button position:

These are really two different things, as the elevator trim is an internal value stored by the radio, which is changed with the trim button, and the button is a physical button.

But it can also be a more direct comparison, e.g. the 3-position switch B, which can be read as a value source with:

Or the current position of switch B can be read with:

Hopefully, these examples illustrated the differences between values and switches, and showed how these can be retrieved in a Lua script.

You can also send data the other way: from Lua to the EdgeTX model setup.

To send a value, use a global variable: model.setGlobalVariable(index, fm, value). If you use the default GV setting, where all other flight modes use the value of FM0, then you can use 0 for fm.

To send a switch, setup a STICKY type logical switch, and then use setStickySwitch(index, true/false).

The following table gives an overview of the Lua API functions that can be used to exchange data with the EdgeTX model setup.

The io.write() function is used to write data to the file on SD card.

Parameters

• file object a file object that was returned by the io.open() function. The file must be opened in write or append mode.

• data any Lua type that can be converted into string. If more than one data parameter is used their contents are written to the file by one in the same order as they are specified.

Return value

• <file object> if data was successfully opened.

• nil, <error string>, <error number> if the data can't be written.

The io.seek() function is used to move the current read/write position.

Notice: other read standard seek bases (like "cur", "end") are not supported.

Parameters

• file object a file object that was returned by the io.open() function.

• offset position the read/write file pointer at the specified offset from the beginning of the file. If specified offset is bigger than the file size, then the pointer is moved to the end of the file.

Return value

• 0 success

• <number> any other value means failure.