Allows you to render custom content using the Lua and the Cairo drawing library.
This is an advanced feature which provides a powerful escape hatch, allowing you to fetch data and render anything
using an embedded scripting environment.
Scripts are automatically hot-reloaded.
> [!NOTE]
> The Lua engine uses LuaJIT 5.1, and requires the use of a library called `lgi`.
> Ensure you have the correct lua-lgi package installed.
![Circle clock](https://f.jstanger.dev/github/ironbar/cairo-clock.png)
## Configuration
> Type: `cairo`
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|--------------------|-----------|---------|----------------------------------------------------|
| `path` | `string` | `null` | The path to the Lua script to load. |
| `frequency` | `float` | `200` | The number of milliseconds between each draw call. |
| `width` | `integer` | `42` | The canvas width in pixels. |
| `height` | `integer` | `42` | The canvas height in pixels. |
JSON
```json
{
"center": [
{
"type": "cairo",
"path": ".config/ironbar/clock.lua",
"frequency": 100,
"width": 300,
"height": 300
}
]
}
```
TOML
```toml
[[center]]
type = "cairo"
path = ".config/ironbar/clock.lua"
frequency = 100
width = 300
height = 300
```
YAML
```yaml
center:
- type: cairo
path: .config/ironbar/clock.lua
frequency: 100
width: 300
height: 300
```
Corn
```corn
let {
$config_dir = ".config/ironbar"
$cairo = {
type = "cairo"
path = "$config_dir/clock.lua"
frequency = 100
width = 300
height = 300
}
} in {
center = [ $cairo ]
}
```
### Script
Every script must contain a function called `draw`.
This takes a single parameter, which is the Cairo context.
Outside of this, you can do whatever you like.
The full lua `stdlib` is available, and you can load in additional system packages as desired.
The most basic example, which draws a red square, can be seen below:
```lua
function draw(cr)
cr:set_source_rgb(1.0, 0.0, 0.0)
cr:paint()
end
```
A longer example, used to create the clock in the image at the top of the page, is shown below:
Circle clock
```lua
function get_ms()
local ms = tostring(io.popen('date +%s%3N'):read('a')):sub(-4, 9999)
return tonumber(ms) / 1000
end
function draw(cr)
local center_x = 150
local center_y = 150
local radius = 130
local date_table = os.date("*t")
local hours = date_table["hour"]
local minutes = date_table["min"]
local seconds = date_table["sec"]
local ms = get_ms()
local label_seconds = seconds
seconds = seconds + ms
local hours_str = tostring(hours)
if string.len(hours_str) == 1 then
hours_str = "0" .. hours_str
end
local minutes_str = tostring(minutes)
if string.len(minutes_str) == 1 then
minutes_str = "0" .. minutes_str
end
local seconds_str = tostring(label_seconds)
if string.len(seconds_str) == 1 then
seconds_str = "0" .. seconds_str
end
local font_size = radius / 5.5
cr:set_source_rgb(1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
cr:move_to(center_x - font_size * 2.5 + 10, center_y + font_size / 2.5)
cr:set_font_size(font_size)
cr:show_text(hours_str .. ':' .. minutes_str .. ':' .. seconds_str)
cr:stroke()
if hours > 12 then
hours = hours - 12
end
local line_width = radius / 8
local start_angle = -math.pi / 2
local end_angle = start_angle + ((hours + minutes / 60 + seconds / 3600) / 12) * 2 * math.pi
cr:set_line_width(line_width)
cr:arc(center_x, center_y, radius, start_angle, end_angle)
cr:stroke()
end_angle = start_angle + ((minutes + seconds / 60) / 60) * 2 * math.pi
cr:set_line_width(line_width)
cr:arc(center_x, center_y, radius * 0.8, start_angle, end_angle)
cr:stroke()
if seconds == 0 then
seconds = 60
end
end_angle = start_angle + (seconds / 60) * 2 * math.pi
cr:set_line_width(line_width)
cr:arc(center_x, center_y, radius * 0.6, start_angle, end_angle)
cr:stroke()
return 0
end
```
> [!TIP]
> The C documentation for the Cairo context interface can be found [here](https://www.cairographics.org/manual/cairo-cairo-t.html).
> The Lua interface provides a slightly friendlier API which restructures things slightly.
> The `cairo_` prefix is dropped, and the `cairo_t *cr` parameters are replaced with a namespaced call.
> For example, `cairo_paint (cairo_t *cr)` becomes `cr:paint()`
> [!TIP]
> Ironbar's Cairo module has similar functionality to the popular Conky program.
> You can often re-use scripts with little work.
### Initialization
You can optionally create an `init.lua` file in your config directory.
Any code in here will be executed once, on bar startup.
As variables and functions are global by default in Lua,
this provides a mechanism for sharing code between multiple modules.
## Styling
| Selector | Description |
|----------|-------------------------|
| `.cairo` | Cairo widget container. |
For more information on styling, please see the [styling guide](styling-guide).