glimmer-dsl-swt VS libui-ng

Well, I am happy to announce that the same single line of code that data-binds a table does even more now as of the latest release made yesterday! In Glimmer DSL for SWT v4.24.3.0, that line of code also data-binds the following additional table cell properties without any change to the view code:

There are various limitations, no doubt. I don't mean to imply otherwise. And I am not sure if it is equivalent to shoes (though glimmer-swt may be equivalent, check it out here: https://github.com/AndyObtiva/glimmer-dsl-swt although it also uses java so it's not identical to shoes either).

# From: https://github.com/AndyObtiva/glimmer-dsl-swt/blob/development/docs/reference/GLIMMER_SAMPLES.md#hello-canvas-path require 'glimmer-dsl-swt' class HelloCanvasPath include Glimmer::UI::Application after_body do regenerate end body { shell { grid_layout { margin_width 0 margin_height 0 margin_top 5 } text 'Hello, Canvas Path!' minimum_size 800, 700 @button = button { layout_data :center, :center, true, false text 'Regenerate' enabled false on_widget_selected do regenerate end } canvas { layout_data :fill, :fill, true, true background :white text('line', 15, 200) { foreground :red } @path1 = path { antialias :on foreground :red } text('quad', 15, 300) { foreground :dark_green } @path2 = path { antialias :on foreground :dark_green } text('cubic', 15, 400) { foreground :blue } @path3 = path { antialias :on foreground :blue } } on_widget_disposed do # safe to kill thread as data is in memory only, so no risk of data loss @thread.kill end } } def regenerate @thread = Thread.new do @button.enabled = false @path1.clear @path2.clear @path3.clear y1 = y2 = y3 = 300 700.times.each do |x| x += 55 x1 = x - 2 x2 = x - 1 x3 = x y1 = y3 y2 = y1 y3 = [[y3 + (rand*24 - 12), 0].max, 700].min @path1.content { line(x1, y1 - 100) } if x % 2 == 0 @path2.content { quad(x1, y1, x2, y2) } end if x % 3 == 0 @path3.content { cubic(x1, y1 + 100, x2, y2 + 100, x3, y3 + 100) } end sleep(0.01) end @button.enabled = true end end end HelloCanvasPath.launch

Glimmer DSL for SWT v4.24.0.2 has been released with the following changes:

SQLite is the simplest relational database to use from JRuby desktop applications, it is built-in on all platforms (Mac, Windows, and Linux), and it can be utilized conveniently via ActiveRecord, the Rails object-relational mapping library following the Active Record Enterprise Application Architecture Pattern. In fact, I have used it a few years ago to build Are We There Yet?, a small project management app, using Glimmer DSL for SWT and bidirectional data-binding. In this blog post tutorial, I cover how to configure a SQLite database and connect to it using ActiveRecord from within a Ruby desktop application, data-binding the ActiveRecord Model to the GUI View bidirectionally.

Native Executable Packaging for CRuby (Glimmer in JRuby already has Native Executable Packaging support for building Mac APP/DMG/PKG files, Windows EXE/MSI files, and Linux DEB/RPM files)

Happy Glimmering!

# From: https://github.com/AndyObtiva/glimmer-dsl-swt/blob/master/docs/reference/GLIMMER_SAMPLES.md#hello-drag-and-drop require 'glimmer-dsl-swt' class Location attr_accessor :country def country_options %w[USA Canada Mexico Columbia UK Australia Germany Italy Spain] end end @location = Location.new include Glimmer shell { text 'Hello, Drag and Drop!' tab_folder { tab_item { fill_layout text 'List' list { selection <=> [@location, :country] # Option 1: Automatic Drag Data Setting drag_source true # Option 2: Manual Drag Data Setting # on_drag_set_data do |event| # drag_widget = event.widget.control # event.data = drag_widget.selection.first # end # Option 3: Full Customization of Drag Source (details at: https://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-SWT-DND/DND-in-SWT.html) # drag_source(:drop_copy) { # options: :drop_copy, :drop_link, :drop_move, :drop_target_move # transfer :text # options: :text, :file, :rtf # # on_drag_start do |event| # drag_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting cursor via symbol # drag_widget.cursor = :wait # end # # on_drag_set_data do |event| # drag_widget = event.widget.control # event.data = drag_widget.selection.first # end # # on_drag_finished do |event| # drag_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting cursor via symbol # drag_widget.cursor = :arrow # end # } } list { # Option 1: Automatic Drop Data Consumption drop_target true # drop_target :unique # setting drop_target to :unique makes the list not add the same data twice # Option 2: Manual Drop Data Consumption # on_drop do |event| # drop_widget = event.widget.control # drop_widget.add(event.data) # drop_widget.select(drop_widget.items.count - 1) # end # Option 3: Full Customization of Drop Target (details at: https://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-SWT-DND/DND-in-SWT.html) # drop_target(:drop_copy) { # options: :drop_copy, :drop_link, :drop_move, :drop_target_move # transfer :text # options: :text, :file, :rtf # # on_drag_enter do |event| # ### event.detail = DND::DROP_NONE # To reject a drop, you can set event.detail to DND::DROP_NONE # drop_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting background via symbol # drop_widget.background = :red # end # # on_drag_leave do |event| # drop_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting background via symbol # drop_widget.background = :white # end # # on_drop do |event| # drop_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting background/cursor via symbol # drop_widget.background = :white # drop_widget.add(event.data) # drop_widget.select(drop_widget.items.count - 1) # drop_widget.cursor = :arrow # end # } } } tab_item { grid_layout 2, true text 'Label' label { layout_data { horizontal_span 2 } text 'Drag text from any label and drop it unto another label' } { Argentina: :green, Brazil: :red, Finland: :yellow, Sweden: :magenta, Denmark: :gray, Iceland: :cyan }.each do |country, color| label { layout_data :fill, :fill, true, true text country font height: 20 background color drag_source true drop_target true } end } tab_item { grid_layout 2, true text 'Text' label { text 'Drag' } label { text 'Drop To Insert' } text { layout_data :fill, :center, true, false text 'Text1' drag_source true } text { layout_data :fill, :center, true, false text 'Drop To Insert' drop_target true } label { text 'Drag' } label { text 'Drop To Replace' } text { layout_data :fill, :center, true, false text 'Text2' drag_source true } text { layout_data :fill, :center, true, false text 'Drop To Replace' drop_target :replace } } tab_item { grid_layout 2, true text 'Spinner' label { text 'Drag' } label { text 'Drop To Insert' } spinner { layout_data :fill, :center, true, false selection 30 drag_source true } spinner { layout_data :fill, :center, true, false drop_target true } } tab_item { fill_layout text 'File' @drop_zone_label = label(:center, :wrap) { text 'Drop One File Or More Here' background :white rectangle { foreground :black line_width 4 line_style :dash } drop_target(:drop_copy) { transfer :file on_drag_enter do |event| drop_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting background via symbol drop_widget.background = :yellow end on_drag_leave do |event| drop_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting background via symbol drop_widget.background = :white end on_drop do |event| drop_widget = event.widget.control.data('proxy') # obtain Glimmer widget proxy since it permits nicer syntax for setting background/cursor via symbol drop_widget.background = :white @drop_zone_label.text = event.data.to_a.join("\n") end } } } } }.open

I remember a few years ago, a few really cool cross-platform UI libraries were starting to emerge such as libui [0] that got me excited. I've kind of lost track of them since then (libui itself went dormant for a while before this fork) so I am not sure how mature/useful they are now, but the potential for writing native desktop UIs in basically any language seemed like an absolute dream. Perhaps it's feasible for very basic things?

[0] https://github.com/libui-ng/libui-ng

Linux/Windows/MacOS: https://github.com/libui-ng/libui-ng

There are a few libraries for GUI (for example, capy), and you can easily use any C libraries out there with @cImport (like libui), but it is still a work in progress.

It exists, at least for simple use cases. You are looking for libui-ng. wxWidgets of course also exists, but it is less a basic native wrapper than it is a complete toolkit emulating what doesn't exist where as libui seems to be more lowest common denominator (not sure but I think there might be a small amount of emulation, but not like wx I don't think).

There's now libui-ng [1] which seems to be active and already has many wrappers

[1] https://libui-ng.github.io/libui-ng/