CBI

Writing LuCI CBI models

CBI models are Lua files describing the structure of an UCI config file and the resulting HTML form to be evaluated by the CBI parser.
All CBI model files must return an object of type luci.cbi.Map.
For a commented example of a CBI model, see the Writing Modules tutorial.

The scope of a CBI model file is automatically extended by the contents of the module luci.cbi and the translate function from luci.i18n.

This Reference covers the basics of the CBI system.

class Map (config, title, description)

This is the root object of the model.

• config: configuration filename to be mapped, see UCI documentation and the files in /etc/config
• title: title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :section (sectionclass, ...)

Creates a new section

• sectionclass: a class object of the section
• additional parameters passed to the constructor of the section class

---

class NamedSection (name, type, title, description)

An object describing an UCI section selected by the name.
To instantiate use: Map:section(NamedSection, "name", "type", "title", "description")

• name: UCI section name
• type: UCI section type
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :option(optionclass, ...)

Creates a new option

• optionclass: a class object of the section
• additional parameters passed to the constructor of the option class

property .addremove = false

Allows the user to remove and recreate the configuration section.

property .dynamic = false

Marks this section as dynamic. Dynamic sections can contain an undefinded number of completely userdefined options.

property .optional = true

Parse optional options

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class TypedSection (type, title, description)

An object describing a group of UCI sections selected by their type.
To instantiate use: Map:section(TypedSection, "type", "title", "description")

• type: UCI section type
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :option(optionclass, ...)

Creates a new option

• optionclass: a class object of the section
• additional parameters passed to the constructor of the option class

function :depends(key, value)

Only show this option field if another option key is set to value in the same section.
If you call this function several times the dependencies will be linked with "or"

function .filter(self, section) -abstract-

You can override this function to filter certain sections that will not be parsed. The filter function will be called for every section that should be parsed and returns nil for sections that should be filtered. For all other sections it should return the section name as given in the second parameter.

property .addremove = false

Allows the user to remove and recreate the configuration section

property .dynamic = false

Marks this section as dynamic. Dynamic sections can contain an undefinded number of completely userdefined options.

property .optional = true

Parse optional options

property .anonymous = false

Do not show UCI section names

---

class Value (option, title, description)

An object describing an option in a section of a UCI File. Creates a standard text field in the formular.
To instantiate use: NamedSection:option(Value, "option", "title", "description")
or TypedSection:option(Value, "option", "title", "description")

• option: UCI option name
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :depends(key, value)

Only show this option field if another option key is set to value in the same section.
If you call this function several times the dependencies will be linked with "or"

function :value(key, value)

Convert this text field into a combobox if possible and add a selection option.

property .default = nil

The default value

property .maxlength = nil

The maximum input length (of chars) of the value

property .optional = false

Marks this option as optional, implies .rmempty = true

property .rmempty = true

Removes this option from the configuration file when the user enters an empty value

property .size = nil

The maximum number of chars displayed by form field

---

class ListValue (option, title, description)

An object describing an option in a section of a UCI File.
Creates a list box or list of radio (for selecting one of many choices) in the formular.
To instantiate use: NamedSection:option(ListValue, "option", "title", "description")
or TypedSection:option(ListValue, "option", "title", "description")

• option: UCI option name
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :depends(key, value)

Only show this option field if another option key is set to value in the same section.
If you call this function several times the dependencies will be linked with "or"

function :value(key, value)

Adds an entry to the selection list

property .widget = "select"

select shows a selection list, radio shows a list of radio buttons inside form

property .default = nil

The default value

property .optional = false

Marks this option as optional, implies .rmempty = true

property .rmempty = true

Removes this option from the configuration file when the user enters an empty value

property .size = nil

The size of the form field

---

class Flag (option, title, description)

An object describing an option with two possible values in a section of a UCI File.
Creates a checkbox field in the formular.
To instantiate use: NamedSection:option(Flag, "option", "title", "description")
or TypedSection:option(Flag, "option", "title", "description")

• option: UCI option name
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :depends (key, value)

Only show this option field if another option key is set to value in the same section.
If you call this function several times the dependencies will be linked with "or"

property .default = nil

The default value

property .disabled = 0

the value that should be set if the checkbox is unchecked

property .enabled = 1

the value that should be set if the checkbox is checked

property .optional = false

Marks this option as optional, implies .rmempty = true

property .rmempty = true

Removes this option from the configuration file when the user enters an empty value

---

class MultiValue (option, title, description)

An object describing an option in a section of a UCI File.
Creates a list of checkboxed or a multiselectable list as form fields.
To instantiate use: NamedSection:option(MultiValue, "option", "title", "description")
or TypedSection:option(MultiValue, "option", "title", "description")

• option: UCI option name
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :depends (key, value)

Only show this option field if another option key is set to value in the same section.
If you call this function several times the dependencies will be linked with "or"

function :value(key, value)

Adds an entry to the list

property .widget = "checkbox"

select shows a selection list, checkbox shows a list of checkboxes inside form

property .delimiter = " "

The string which will be used to delimit the values inside stored option

property .default = nil

The default value

property .optional = false

Marks this option as optional, implies .rmempty = true

property .rmempty = true

Removes this option from the configuration file when the user enters an empty value

property .size = nil

The size of the form field (only used if property .widget = "select")

---

class StaticList (option, title, description)

Similar to the MultiValue, but stores selected Values into a UCI list instead of a character-separated option.

---

class DynamicList (option, title, description)

A extensible list of user-defined values. Stores Values into a UCI list

---

class DummyValue (option, title, description)

Creates a readonly text in the form. !It writes no data to UCI!
To instantiate use: NamedSection:option(DummyValue, "option", "title", "description")
or TypedSection:option(DummyValue, "option", "title", "description")

• option: UCI option name
• title: The title shown in the UI
• description: description shown in the UI

function :depends (key, value)

Only show this option field if another option key is set to value in the same section.
If you call this function several times the dependencies will be linked with "or"

---

class TextValue (option, title, description)

An object describing a multi-line textbox in a section in a non-UCI form.

---

class Button (option, title, description)

An object describing a Button in a section in a non-UCI form.