# fltk-rs
[](https://docs.rs/fltk)
[](https://crates.io/crates/fltk)
[](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/blob/master/LICENSE)
[](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/actions)
Rust bindings for the FLTK Graphical User Interface library.
The fltk crate is a cross-platform lightweight gui library which can be statically linked to produce small, self-contained and fast gui applications.
Resources:
- [Book](https://fltk-rs.github.io/fltk-book/)
- [Documentation](https://docs.rs/fltk)
- [Videos](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs#tutorials)
- [Discussions](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/discussions)
- [Examples](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples)
- [Demos](https://github.com/fltk-rs/demos)
- [7guis-fltk-rs](https://github.com/tdryer/7guis-fltk-rs)
- [FLTK-RS-Examples](https://github.com/wyhinton/FLTK-RS-Examples)
- Erco's FLTK cheat [page](http://seriss.com/people/erco/fltk/), which is an excellent FLTK C++ reference.
Why choose FLTK?
- Lightweight. Small binary, around 1mb after stripping. [Small memory footprint](https://szibele.com/memory-footprint-of-gui-toolkits/).
- Speed. Fast to install, fast to build, fast at startup and fast at runtime.
- Single executable. No DLLs to deploy.
- Supports old architectures.
- FLTK's permissive license which allows static linking for closed-source applications.
- Themeability (4 supported schemes: Base, GTK, Plastic and Gleam), and additional theming using [fltk-theme](https://crates.io/crates/fltk-theme).
- Provides around 80 customizable widgets.
- Has inbuilt image support.
Here is a [list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLTK#Use) of software using FLTK. For software using fltk-rs, check [here](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/issues/418).
- [Link](https://github.com/fltk/fltk) to the official FLTK repository.
- [Link](https://www.fltk.org/doc-1.4/index.html) to the official documentation.
## Usage
Just add the following to your project's Cargo.toml file:
```toml
[dependencies]
fltk = "^1.3"
```
To use the latest changes in the repo:
```toml
[dependencies]
fltk = { version = "^1.3", git = "https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs" }
```
To use the bundled libs (available for x64 windows (msvc & gnu (msys2-mingw)), x64 linux & macos):
```toml
[dependencies]
fltk = { version = "^1.3", features = ["fltk-bundled"] }
```
The library is automatically built and statically linked to your binary.
An example hello world application:
```rust
use fltk::{app, prelude::*, window::Window};
fn main() {
let app = app::App::default();
let mut wind = Window::new(100, 100, 400, 300, "Hello from rust");
wind.end();
wind.show();
app.run().unwrap();
}
```
Another example showing the basic callback functionality:
```rust
use fltk::{app, button::Button, frame::Frame, prelude::*, window::Window};
fn main() {
let app = app::App::default();
let mut wind = Window::new(100, 100, 400, 300, "Hello from rust");
let mut frame = Frame::new(0, 0, 400, 200, "");
let mut but = Button::new(160, 210, 80, 40, "Click me!");
wind.end();
wind.show();
but.set_callback(move |_| frame.set_label("Hello World!")); // the closure capture is mutable borrow to our button
app.run().unwrap();
}
```
Please check the [examples](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples) directory for more examples.
You will notice that all widgets are instantiated with a new() method, taking the x and y coordinates, the width and height of the widget, as well as a label which can be left blank if needed. Another way to initialize a widget is using the builder pattern: (The following buttons are equivalent)
```rust
use fltk::{button::Button, prelude::*};
let but1 = Button::new(10, 10, 80, 40, "Button 1");
let but2 = Button::default()
.with_pos(10, 10)
.with_size(80, 40)
.with_label("Button 2");
```
An example of a counter showing use of the builder pattern:
```rust
use fltk::{app, button::Button, frame::Frame, prelude::*, window::Window};
fn main() {
let app = app::App::default();
let mut wind = Window::default()
.with_size(160, 200)
.center_screen()
.with_label("Counter");
let mut frame = Frame::default()
.with_size(100, 40)
.center_of(&wind)
.with_label("0");
let mut but_inc = Button::default()
.size_of(&frame)
.above_of(&frame, 0)
.with_label("+");
let mut but_dec = Button::default()
.size_of(&frame)
.below_of(&frame, 0)
.with_label("-");
wind.make_resizable(true);
wind.end();
wind.show();
/* Event handling */
app.run().unwrap();
}
```
Alternatively, you can use Pack, Flex (for flexbox layouts) or [Grid](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-grid):
```rust
use fltk::{app, button::Button, frame::Frame, group::Flex, prelude::*, window::Window};
fn main() {
let app = app::App::default();
let mut wind = Window::default().with_size(160, 200).with_label("Counter");
let mut flex = Flex::default().with_size(120, 140).center_of_parent().column();
let mut but_inc = Button::default().with_label("+");
let mut frame = Frame::default().with_label("0");
let mut but_dec = Button::default().with_label("-");
flex.end();
wind.end();
wind.show();
app.run().unwrap();
}
```
### Events
Events can be handled using the `set_callback` method (as above) or the available `fltk::app::set_callback()` free function, which will handle the default trigger of each widget(like clicks for buttons):
```rust
/* previous hello world code */
but.set_callback(move |_| frame.set_label("Hello World!"));
another_but.set_callback(|this_button| this_button.set_label("Works"));
app.run().unwrap();
```
Another way is to use message passing:
```rust
/* previous counter code */
let (s, r) = app::channel::<Message>();
but_inc.emit(s, Message::Increment);
but_dec.emit(s, Message::Decrement);
while app.wait() {
let label: i32 = frame.label().parse().unwrap();
if let Some(msg) = r.recv() {
match msg {
Message::Increment => frame.set_label(&(label + 1).to_string()),
Message::Decrement => frame.set_label(&(label - 1).to_string()),
}
}
}
```
For the remainder of the code, check the full example [here](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/counter2.rs).
For custom event handling, the handle() method can be used:
```rust
some_widget.handle(move |widget, ev: Event| {
match ev {
Event::Push => {
println!("Pushed!");
true
},
/* other events to be handled */
_ => false,
}
});
```
Handled or ignored events using the handle method should return true, unhandled events should return false. More examples are available in the fltk/examples directory.
For an alternative event handling mechanism using `on_<event>` methods, check the [fltk-evented crate](https://crates.io/crates/fltk-evented).
### Theming
FLTK offers 4 application schemes:
- Base
- Gtk
- Gleam
- Plastic
(Additional theming can be found in the [fltk-theme](https://crates.io/crates/fltk-theme) crate)
These can be set using the `App::with_scheme()` method.
```rust
let app = app::App::default().with_scheme(app::Scheme::Gleam);
```
Themes of individual widgets can be optionally modified using the provided methods in the `WidgetExt` trait, such as `set_color()`, `set_label_font()`, `set_frame()` etc:
```rust
some_button.set_color(Color::Light1); // You can use one of the provided colors in the fltk enums
some_button.set_color(Color::from_rgb(255, 0, 0)); // Or you can specify a color by rgb or hex/u32 value
some_button.set_color(Color::from_u32(0xffebee));
some_button.set_frame(FrameType::RoundUpBox);
some_button.set_font(Font::TimesItalic);
```
For default application colors, fltk-rs provides `app::background()`, `app::background2()` and `app::foreground()`. You can also specify the default application selection/inactive colors, font, label size, frame type, scrollbar size, menu line-spacing. Additionally the [fltk-theme](https://crates.io/crates/fltk-theme) crate offers some other predefined color maps (dark theme, tan etc) and widget themes which can be loaded into your application.
## Dependencies
Rust (version > 1.45), CMake (version > 3.11), Git and a C++11 compiler need to be installed and in your PATH for a cross-platform build from source. [Ninja](https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja) is recommended, but not required. This crate also offers a bundled form of fltk on selected x86_64 platforms (Windows (msvc and gnu), MacOS, Linux), this can be enabled using the fltk-bundled feature flag as mentioned in the usage section (this requires curl and tar to download and unpack the bundled libraries).
- Windows:
- MSVC: Windows SDK
- Gnu: No dependencies
- MacOS: No dependencies.
- Linux/BSD: X11 and OpenGL development headers need to be installed for development. The libraries themselves are normally available on linux/bsd distros with a graphical user interface.
For Debian-based GUI distributions, that means running:
```
$ sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxext-dev libxft-dev libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev libxrender-dev libxfixes-dev libpango1.0-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev
```
For RHEL-based GUI distributions, that means running:
```
$ sudo yum groupinstall "X Software Development" && yum install pango-devel libXinerama-devel
```
For Arch-based GUI distributions, that means running:
```
$ sudo pacman -S libx11 libxext libxft libxinerama libxcursor libxrender libxfixes pango cairo libgl mesa --needed
```
For Alpine linux:
```
$ apk add pango-dev fontconfig-dev libxinerama-dev libxfixes-dev libxcursor-dev mesa-gl
```
For NixOS (Linux distribution) this `nix-shell` environment can be used:
```
$ nix-shell --packages rustc cmake git gcc xorg.libXext xorg.libXft xorg.libXinerama xorg.libXcursor xorg.libXrender xorg.libXfixes libcerf pango cairo libGL mesa pkg-config
```
## Features
The following are the features offered by the crate:
- use-ninja: Uses the ninja build system if available for a faster build, especially on Windows.
- no-pango: Build without pango support on Linux/BSD, if rtl/cjk font support is not needed.
- fltk-bundled: Support for bundled versions of cfltk and fltk on selected platforms (requires curl and tar)
- enable-glwindow: Support for drawing using OpenGL functions.
- system-libpng: Uses the system libpng
- system-libjpeg: Uses the system libjpeg
- system-zlib: Uses the system zlib
- use-wayland: Uses FLTK's wayland backend. Requires libwayland-dev, wayland-protocols, libdbus-1-dev, libxkbcommon-dev, libgtk-3-dev (optional, for the GTK-style titlebar), in place of the X11 development packages. Sample [CI](https://github.com/MoAlyousef/test_wayland/blob/main/.github/workflows/rust.yml).
## FAQ
please check the [FAQ](FAQ.md) page for frequently asked questions, encountered issues, guides on deployment, and contribution.
## Building
To build, just run:
```
$ git clone https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs
$ cd fltk-rs
$ cargo build
```
## Examples
To run the [examples](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples):
```
$ cargo run --example editor
$ cargo run --example calculator
$ cargo run --example calculator2
$ cargo run --example terminal
$ cargo run --example counter
$ cargo run --example hello
$ cargo run --example hello_button
$ cargo run --example fb
$ cargo run --example pong
$ cargo run --example custom_widgets
$ cargo run --example custom_dial
...
```
Using custom theming and also FLTK provided default schemes like Gtk:
- [hello](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/hello.rs)
- 
- [calculator2](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/calculator2.rs)
- 
- [custom_widgets](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/custom_widgets.rs)
- 
- [counter3](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/counter3.rs)
- 
- [custom_dial](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/custom_dial.rs)
- 
- [calculator](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/calculator.rs)
- 
- [tabs](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/tabs.rs)
- 
- [counter](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/counter.rs)
- 
- [editor](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/editor.rs)
- 
- [terminal](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/terminal.rs)
- 
- [table](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/table.rs)
- 
- [charts](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/charts.rs)
- 
- [pong](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/pong.rs)
- 
- [frames](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-rs/tree/master/fltk/examples/frames.rs)
- 
Different frame types which can be used with many different widgets such as Frame, Button widgets, In/Output widgets...etc.
More interesting examples can be found in the fltk-rs-demos [repo](https://github.com/fltk-rs/demos).
Also a nice implementation of the 7guis tasks can be found [here](https://github.com/tdryer/7guis-fltk-rs).
Various advanced examples can also be found [here](https://github.com/wyhinton/FLTK-RS-Examples).
## Currently implemented types:
### Image types:
- SharedImage
- BmpImage
- JpegImage
- GifImage
- PngImage
- SvgImage
- Pixmap
- RgbImage
- XpmImage
- XbmImage
- PnmImage
- TiledImage
### Widgets:
- Buttons
- Button
- RadioButton
- ToggleButton
- RoundButton
- CheckButton
- LightButton
- RepeatButton
- RadioLightButton
- RadioRoundButton
- Dialogs
- Native FileDialog
- FileChooser
- HelpDialog
- Message dialog
- Alert dialog
- Password dialog
- Choice dialog
- Input dialog
- ColorChooser dialog
- Frame (Fl_Box)
- Windows
- Window
- SingleWindow (single buffered)
- DoubleWindow (double buffered)
- MenuWindow
- OverlayWindow
- GlWindow (requires the "enable-glwindow" flag)
- Experimental GlWidgetWindow (requires the "enable-glwindow" flag)
- Groups
- Group
- Pack (Horizontal and Vertical)
- Tabs
- Scroll
- Tile
- Wizard
- ColorChooser
- Flex (Column and Row)
- [Grid](https://github.com/fltk-rs/fltk-grid)
- Text display widgets
- TextDisplay
- TextEditor
- SimpleTerminal
- Input widgets
- Input
- IntInput
- FloatInput
- MultilineInput
- SecretInput
- FileInput
- Output widgets
- Output
- MultilineOutput
- Menu widgets
- MenuBar
- MenuItem
- Choice (dropdown list)
- SysMenuBar (MacOS menu bar which appears at the top of the screen)
- Valuator widgets
- Slider
- NiceSlider
- ValueSlider
- Dial
- LineDial
- Counter
- Scrollbar
- Roller
- Adjuster
- ValueInput
- ValueOutput
- FillSlider
- FillDial
- HorSlider (Horizontal slider)
- HorFillSlider
- HorNiceSlider
- HorValueSlider
- Browsing widgets
- Browser
- SelectBrowser
- HoldBrowser
- MultiBrowser
- FileBrowser
- CheckBrowser
- Miscelaneous widgets
- Spinner
- Clock (Round and Square)
- Chart (several chart types are available)
- Progress (progress bar)
- Tooltip
- InputChoice
- HelpView
- Table widgets
- Table
- TableRow
- SmartTable (via the [fltk-table crate](https://crates.io/crates/fltk-table))
- Trees
- Tree
- TreeItem
### Drawing primitives
(In the draw module)
### Surface types:
- Printer.
- ImageSurface.
- SvgFileSurface.
## Tutorials
- [Basics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygP4egJtmzw)
- [New basics](https://youtu.be/S1NSsHZs6hI) (Uses fltk post 1.0)
- [User input](https://youtu.be/rIq2O4vg9fQ)
- [Client-side web todo app](https://youtu.be/tdfFXi4-Yrw)
- [Create a media player using the vlc crate](https://youtu.be/enxqU3bhCEs)
- [Custom dialogs](https://youtu.be/tXeXHoKG6-I)
- [Add drag and drop to the editor example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp5hnRvSxAg)
- [Drawing things with fltk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9MOpvfBPWs)
- [Working with images](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn2sjfAX4WI)
- [Audio player with custom widgets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okdFx6tv7ds)
- [Use FLUID (RAD tool) with Rust](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_P0wG3-dNk)
- [multiple windows and embedding windows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEPYx1Lw7fY)
- [FLTK Rust tutorial: Improve FLTK's toggle button appearance!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCTbPKHXR-o)
- [FLTK Rust: Customizing your app and widgets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCZl0PuMVGo)
- [FLTK Rust: fltk-table, a boilerplate-less table creating crate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVJ8Yq1kDGs)
- [FLTK Rust: intro into the fltk-evented crate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAVHBl3W9W8)
More videos in the playlist [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHqrrowPLkDu9U-uk60sGM-YWLOJFfLoE).
Some of the demo projects can be found [here](https://github.com/fltk-rs/demos).