gtk-rs-core VS Yue

nix-software-center> [1/6] Generating src/resources_gresource with a custom command nix-software-center> xml-stripblanks preprocessing requested, but XMLLINT is not set, and xmllint is not in PATH nix-software-center> [4/6] Generating data/dev.vlinkz.NixSoftwareCenter.metainfo.xml with a custom command nix-software-center> FAILED: src/nix-software-center nix-software-center> /nix/store/p643r4aczmzb0dhyrx3dj592f0s5v7xj-coreutils-9.0/bin/env CARGO_HOME=/build/r4npznxg986vxdl3gh7jhmqvv8jbvf02-source/build/cargo-home /nix/store/2gwhsd2jcz90zni0pwlhhfbmfbflixws-cargo-1.60.0/bin/cargo build --manifest-path /build/r4npznxg986vxdl3gh7jhmqvv8jbvf02-source/Cargo.toml --target-dir /build/r4npznxg986vxdl3gh7jhmqvv8jbvf02-source/build/src --release && cp src/release/nix-software-center src/nix-software-center nix-software-center> ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed. error: builder for '/nix/store/m9kf43zsr5hkq2igfdnag0phq154igks-nix-software-center-0.0.1.drv' failed with exit code 1; last 10 log lines: > building > build flags: -j8 -l8 > [0/6] Generating src/cargo-build with a custom command > error: package cairo-sys-rs v0.16.0 (https://github.com/gtk-rs/gtk-rs-core#9fe7e5ce) cannot be built because it requires rustc 1.63 or newer, while the currently active rustc version is 1.60.0 > [1/6] Generating src/resources_gresource with a custom command > xml-stripblanks preprocessing requested, but XMLLINT is not set, and xmllint is not in PATH > [4/6] Generating data/dev.vlinkz.NixSoftwareCenter.metainfo.xml with a custom command > FAILED: src/nix-software-center > /nix/store/p643r4aczmzb0dhyrx3dj592f0s5v7xj-coreutils-9.0/bin/env CARGO_HOME=/build/r4npznxg986vxdl3gh7jhmqvv8jbvf02-source/build/cargo-home /nix/store/2gwhsd2jcz90zni0pwlhhfbmfbflixws-cargo-1.60.0/bin/cargo build --manifest-path /build/r4npznxg986vxdl3gh7jhmqvv8jbvf02-source/Cargo.toml --target-dir /build/r4npznxg986vxdl3gh7jhmqvv8jbvf02-source/build/src --release && cp src/release/nix-software-center src/nix-software-center > ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed. For full logs, run 'nix log /nix/store/m9kf43zsr5hkq2igfdnag0phq154igks-nix-software-center-0.0.1.drv'. error: 1 dependencies of derivation '/nix/store/clykb6wwpv08l2vxnvnx8br7fzpx2y63-system-path.drv' failed to build error: 1 dependencies of derivation '/nix/store/321q6c143bf5w7m8njzvqkhjillbssk5-nixos-system-nflx-erahhal-t490s-22.05.20220902.67e4507.drv' failed to build

"Automatically figuring out which parent objects the class you're subclassing derives from"

AFAIK this is a language limitation, there is no way in a Rust macro to take a type and get all the traits that are implemented for that type.

"Helpers for properties and signals"

There is an open issue for this: https://github.com/gtk-rs/gtk-rs-core/issues/27

"A flat list of methods, instead of the public/imp split"

You can already do this in your code and use "pub fn" and "fn" like normal.

"I feel like I had a difficult time figuring out how to share state between widgets. You end up with lots of OnceCell, Rc, and RefCell, and it quickly becomes confusing,"

I think you are supposed to use bind_property and the gtk::Expression objects to do data binding, though that part is not so convenient to use from C or Rust either.

Ideally this should be automated with a nice derive macro, see https://github.com/gtk-rs/gtk-rs-core/issues/27 . How that could look exactly is still up to discussion and not so easy while keeping it flexible. That derive macro would then likely also work with the id: usize parameter to the property setter/getter instead of the string name.

For a recent project I chose Yue (https://libyue.com/), a cross-platform native widget GUI toolkit with C++, JavaScript/Node.js, and Lua. I've only used the Lua interface and macOS backend, but it has worked quite well, despite the very steep learning curve. This was also my first desktop GUI app, so I had to learn many implicit concepts that weren't obvious from the otherwise extensive documentation.

Yue was also the only option that 1) supported macOS, 2) supported Lua, 3) was sufficiently comprehensive to build a non-toy GUI app, 4) and that I could integrate into my (static) build. I couldn't even get the wxWidgets Lua interfaces to compile, and Qt and Fltk had similar stories, whereas reverse-engineering the baroque Yue build (based on Google's internal build systems) was relatively simple. Yue had some sharp edges, but I was able to work around them whilst patiently waiting for patches and fixes upstream.

Immediate mode interfaces were a non-starter for me. For a non-trivial set of otherwise typical controls and window management you have to implement too much yourself, plus being non-native they not only felt wrong (which admittedly is somewhat subjective; the younger crowd seems to think non-native, immediate mode interfaces look more state-of-the-art), but lacked other interfaces for proper desktop integration, like theme change signaling (i.e. notification that a user switch between light and dark modes in the macOS system settings panel).

All-in-all I would highly recommend Yue.

I settled for Yue: https://github.com/yue/yue It's been around for several years. The deciding factor for me was that is has well maintained Lua bindings as part of the core project alongside JavaScript (Node.js) and C++.

I didn't have much luck with libui (crashes, missing features, etc), and various immediate mode alternatives just require too many dependencies and other work that made integration too painful. Plus, Lua bindings for all these were always stale. In fact, Lua binding quality is pretty poor all around including for GTK, Qt, WxWidgets, and FLTK.

There are many more JavaScript developers than C++ developers.

Personally I like Yue, a cross-platform native toolkit library: https://github.com/yue/yue But much of project was already using Lua, so Node.js and Electron were never viable solutions.

A native GUI library https://github.com/yue/yue.

It was a disaster when I announced it on Hacker News, and I got numerous harassments from strangers.

But anyway 2 years since then and I'm still working on it.