Controls take input. They inherit the common element attributes plus a shared tooltip set, and each family adds its own. Event wiring is by action handler name + params attribute pairs; note the params attribute name varies by widget (params_l on buttons, plain params on sliders and edit boxes).

Every <ctrl> accepts: tooltip (literal text, or a translation key when it starts with ui), tooltip_i18n (forced translation key, wins over tooltip), on_tooltip/on_tooltip_params (action handler producing a dynamic tooltip), tooltip_parent (ctrl default, mouse, win, special + tooltip_special_parent), tooltip_posref/tooltip_posref_alt (hotspot pairs or auto), and instant_help (default true, meaning no hover delay).

Two widget types share the button machinery:

• button: a bitmap button. tx_normal, tx_pushed, tx_over textures (over is blended on top), scale, align.
• text_button: a three-piece skinned button with a label. Each of tx_normal/tx_pushed/tx_over is a base name expanded to <base>_l.tga, <base>_m.tga, <base>_r.tga (caps + stretched middle). Label via hardtext; sizing via wmargin, wmin, hmin; label placement text_posref (default centered), text_x/text_y; per-state text colors text_color_normal/pushed/over (+ shadow and global-color variants). All CViewText attributes also apply to the label (fontsize, shadow, case_mode, …).

Shared button attributes:

Radio grouping is by parent group: all radio buttons directly inside the same group form one exclusive set; there is no group-name attribute. A pushed="true" on a radio button at parse time sets the visual only; select the initial state at runtime (action handler, database or Lua) if the group must start coherent.

One widget type, two roles.

<!-- slider: value + range, no target -->
<ctrl type="scroll" id="sh" vertical="false" align="L" value="UI:TEMP:SLIDERH" min="0" max="255" w="200" h="8" tracksize="24"
      tx_bottomleft="w_scroll_l.tga" tx_middle="w_scroll_m.tga" tx_topright="w_scroll_r.tga" />

<!-- scrollbar: target group, engine computes the rest -->
<ctrl type="scroll" id="scroll_bar" target="text_list" ... />

The showcase's sliders drive gauges purely through the database: slider writes UI:TEMP:SLIDERH, the bar/text_number views read it, and a <link> pops a warning icon above a threshold, with no code anywhere. Mouse wheel over a vertical scrollbar scrolls its target 12 px per notch.

edit_box is a group: it needs a child text view with id edit_text (auto-created with a warning if missing) which carries the visual attributes; multi-line editing = multi_line="true" on that child plus want_return="true" on the box.

enter_loose_focus defaults to true. A console/chat-style box that should accept the next line immediately must set enter_loose_focus="false"; otherwise every second command silently goes nowhere while the box regains focus. {.is-warning}

The current content is the reflected property input_string, readable and writable from Lua and <link> targets; it is not an XML attribute. edit_box_decor is the same widget with eight built-in border textures (tx_tl … tx_r).

combo_box stores its selected index in a database leaf (value, required) and lists its entries as children:

<group type="combo_box" id="race" value="UI:TEMP:COMBO" w="120" h="18" ...>
	<combo_text name="Fyros" />
	<combo_text name="Matis" />
	...
</group>

It needs a child text view text and a child button select (usually supplied by an instance template), and the application must point the static combo menu ids at a menu group in your XML (see embedding). on_change/on_change_params fires on selection; entries can be added at runtime.

select_number is the spinner sibling: value (leaf, required), min/max/delta, loop; needs children slot_number, number, arrow_up, arrow_down. Mouse wheel steps it too.

colpick samples a palette texture under the mouse (click or drag) and writes the picked channels to up to four database leaves:

<ctrl type="colpick" id="cp" texture="color_picker.tga"
      dbcolr="UI:TEMP:COLOR:R" dbcolg="UI:TEMP:COLOR:G" dbcolb="UI:TEMP:COLOR:B"
      onchange="set" onchange_params="..." />

onchange fires continuously during a drag. Because it reads texture pixels, the palette must be a loose file, not an atlas entry (see Skinning).

• tab_button: a text_button whose click is hijacked to tab selection; group= names the content group it shows. Covered with tab groups in Windows and containers.
• group_wheel: an invisible group with on_wheel_up/on_wheel_down (+_params) handlers.
• button_link: the hyperlink button used inside HTML/paragraph flows.
• Drag and drop has no library widget: the draggable control in the library is a stub (the client implements its own item sheets on top). Gesture-driven UI is done in Lua with the embedder's mouse hooks; see the inventory demo pattern.