cui framework, for rapid gui application development in C++ on Windows

The cui framework is a library designed for the rapid development of modern, efficient and easy to maintain C++ applications with a Graphical User Interface (gui). It is part of the liblec libraries (https://github.com/alecmus/liblec).

Prebuild binaries of the library can be found under releases: https://github.com/alecmus/cui/releases.

Create a folder '\liblec' and clone the repository into it such that it resides in 'liblec\cui'. Open the Microsoft Visual Studio Solution file liblec\cui\cui.sln. Select Build -> Batch Build, then select the desired configurations of the given four:

1. Debug x86
2. Relese x86 (32 bit Release Build)
3. Debug x64
4. Release x64 (64 bit Release Build)

Build.

Three folders will be created in the \liblec directory, namely bin, lib and include. Below is a description of these subdirectories.

1. bin - contains the binary files. The following files will be created:

2. lib - contains the static library files that accompany the dlls. The files are named after the respective dlls.
3. include - contains the include files

Open your project's properties and for All Configurations and All Platforms set the following:

1. C/C++ -> General -> Additional Include Directories -> Edit -> New Line ... add \liblec\include
2. Linker -> General -> Additional Library Directories -> Edit -> New Line ... add \liblec\lib
3. Debugging -> Environment -> Edit ... add PATH=\liblec\bin;PATH%

Now you can use the required functions by calling #include <liblec/cui/...>

Build.

The library has two layers: the outer liblec::cui::gui layer and the inner liblec::cui::gui_raw::cui_raw layer. While gui applications can be build using the inner layer, using the outer layer (which is essentially a wrapper for the inner layer), is recommended.

Usage examples are available in-code (in gui.h).

Here is example code for making a simple form with a string of text:

#include <liblec/cui/gui.h>

class gui_app : public liblec::cui::gui {
public:
    bool layout(page& persistent_page, page& home_page, std::string& error) override {
        home_page.set_name("Sample cui app");
        set_width(400);
        set_height(200);
        set_min_width_and_height(width(), height() + title_bar_height());

        liblec::cui::widgets::text text_1;
        text_1.text_value = "Sample text";
        text_1.rect = { 10, (long)width() - 10, 10, 30 };
        home_page.add_text(text_1);

        return true;
    }

    void on_stop() override { stop(); }
};

int main() {
    gui_app app;
    std::string error;
    if (!app.run(error)) return 1;
    else return 0;
}

The above code displays the following form:

If it's a 32 bit build you will need to deploy it with cui32.dll in the same folder. If it's a 64 bit build use the cui64.dll.