Inventory Library

This page documents inventory handling functions.

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Overview

The inventory library manages item containers and grid inventories. It maintains a registry of inventory types in lia.inventory.types and caches loaded inventories in lia.inventory.instances. New inventory types can be registered and item transfers between inventories are handled automatically.

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lia.inventory.newType

Purpose

Registers a new inventory type and validates that the structure matches InvTypeStructType before storing it for later use.

Parameters

• typeID (string): Unique identifier. Must not already be registered.

• invTypeStruct (table): Definition matching InvTypeStructType. Must include __index, typeID, and className; server-side definitions may also provide add, remove, and sync functions.

Realm

Shared

Returns

• nil: This function does not return a value.

Example Usage

lia.inventory.newType("backpack", {
    __index = "table",
    add = function(self, item) print("Added", item) end,
    remove = function(self, item) print("Removed", item) end,
    sync = function(self) print("Sync") end,
    typeID = "backpack",
    className = "liaBackpack",
    config = {width = 5, height = 5}
})

lia.inventory.new

Purpose

Instantiates a new inventory of a registered type. The instance starts with an empty items table and a copy of the type's config table.

Parameters

• typeID (string): Inventory type identifier. Must refer to a registered type or an error is thrown.

Realm

Shared

Returns

• table: The created inventory object.

Example Usage

local inv = lia.inventory.new("bag")

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lia.inventory.loadByID

Purpose

Loads an inventory by ID, using a cached instance when available or falling back to any custom loader defined by the inventory type.

Parameters

• id (number): Non-negative inventory ID. Throws an error if invalid.

• noCache (boolean): Optional. When true, bypasses the cache. Defaults to false.

Realm

Server

Returns

• deferred: Resolves to the inventory or nil if not found.

Example Usage

lia.inventory.loadByID(1):next(function(inv)
    if inv then
        print("Loaded inventory", inv)
    else
        print("Inventory not found")
    end
end)

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lia.inventory.loadFromDefaultStorage

Purpose

Default SQL loader used by lia.inventory.loadByID when no custom loader is provided. Populates inventory data and items from the database, caches the result, and returns any cached instance unless noCache is true.

Parameters

• id (number): Non-negative inventory ID.

• noCache (boolean): Optional. When true, bypasses the cache. Defaults to false.

Realm

Server

Returns

• deferred: Resolves to the inventory or nil if not found. Returns nil if the inventory type is missing.

Example Usage

lia.inventory.loadFromDefaultStorage(1):next(function(inv)
    if inv then
        print("Loaded inventory", inv)
    else
        print("Inventory not found")
    end
end)

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lia.inventory.instance

Purpose

Creates and persists a new inventory instance, allocating storage and caching the result.

Parameters

• typeID (string): Inventory type identifier. Must refer to a registered type.

• initialData (table): Optional initial data. Defaults to an empty table and must be a table if provided.

Realm

Server

Returns

• deferred: Resolves to the created inventory instance.

Example Usage

lia.inventory.instance("bag", { char = 1 }):next(function(inventory)
    print("New inventory", inventory.id)
end)

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lia.inventory.loadAllFromCharID

Purpose

Loads every inventory that belongs to a character. If charID cannot be converted to a number the returned deferred is rejected and an error is logged.

Parameters

• charID (number): Character ID. Must be numeric.

Realm

Server

Returns

• deferred: Resolves to a table of inventories.

Example Usage

local charID = client:getChar():getID()

lia.inventory.loadAllFromCharID(charID):next(function(inventories)
    PrintTable(inventories)
end)

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lia.inventory.deleteByID

Purpose

Deletes an inventory and all associated data and items from both memory and persistent storage.

Parameters

• id (number): Inventory ID.

Realm

Server

Returns

• nil: This function does not return a value.

Example Usage

lia.inventory.deleteByID(1)

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lia.inventory.cleanUpForCharacter

Purpose

Destroys every inventory associated with a character by calling destroy on each inventory returned from character:getInv(true).

Parameters

• character (table): Character object (e.g. from client:getChar()).

Realm

Server

Returns

• nil: This function does not return a value.

Example Usage

lia.inventory.cleanUpForCharacter(client:getChar())

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lia.inventory.show

Purpose

Displays an inventory UI panel on the client. If a panel for the inventory already exists it is removed. Hooks CreateInventoryPanel, InventoryOpened and InventoryClosed are triggered.

Parameters

• inventory (table): Inventory to display.

• parent (Panel): Optional parent panel. Defaults to nil.

Realm

Client

Returns

• Panel: The created VGUI panel.

Example Usage

local inv = LocalPlayer():getChar():getInv()

if inv then
    local panel = lia.inventory.show(inv)
end