Crate dampen_core 

Dampen Core - Parser, IR, and Traits

This crate contains the core types and traits for the Dampen UI framework.

Overview

Dampen Core provides:

• XML Parser: Parse .gravity files into an Intermediate Representation (IR)
• IR Types: Structured representation of UI widgets and bindings
• Expression Engine: Evaluate binding expressions like {counter} or {if x > 0}
• Handler Registry: Manage event handlers for UI interactions
• Code Generation: Generate static Rust code for production builds
• Backend Traits: Abstract interface for rendering backends

Quick Start

use dampen_core::parse;

let xml = r#"<column><text value="Hello!" /></column>"#;
let doc = parse(xml).unwrap();
println!("Parsed {} widgets", doc.root.children.len());

Core Concepts

Intermediate Representation (IR)

The IR bridges XML parsing and backend rendering:

• DampenDocument - Root document structure
• WidgetNode - Individual UI widgets
• WidgetKind - Types of widgets (button, text, etc.)
• AttributeValue - Static or bound attribute values

Binding Expressions

Expressions in {braces} are parsed into Expr AST nodes:

• Field access: {user.name}
• Method calls: {items.len()}
• Conditionals: {if active then 'yes' else 'no'}
• Binary operations: {count > 0}

Event Handlers

Handlers connect UI events to Rust functions:

• HandlerRegistry - Runtime handler storage
• HandlerSignature - Compile-time handler metadata
• HandlerEntry - Different handler types (simple, with value, with command)

Architecture

This crate is backend-agnostic. It defines traits and types but doesn’t implement any specific UI framework. See dampen-iced for the Iced backend.

Features

• Zero-copy parsing with roxmltree
• Type-safe expression evaluation
• Error recovery with span information
• Code generation for production builds

Re-exports

This crate re-exports all public types from its submodules for convenience. See individual modules for detailed documentation.

Re-exports

pub use binding::BindingValue;

pub use binding::ToBindingValue;

pub use binding::UiBindable;

pub use expr::BinaryOp;

pub use expr::BinaryOpExpr;

pub use expr::BindingError;

pub use expr::BindingErrorKind;

pub use expr::BindingExpr;

pub use expr::ConditionalExpr;

pub use expr::Expr;

pub use expr::FieldAccessExpr;

pub use expr::LiteralExpr;

pub use expr::MethodCallExpr;

pub use expr::SharedFieldAccessExpr;

pub use expr::UnaryOp;

pub use expr::UnaryOpExpr;

pub use expr::evaluate_binding_expr;

pub use expr::evaluate_expr;

pub use expr::evaluate_formatted;

pub use handler::HandlerEntry;

pub use handler::HandlerRegistry;

pub use handler::HandlerSignature;

pub use ir::AttributeValue;

pub use ir::DampenDocument;

pub use ir::EventBinding;

pub use ir::EventKind;

pub use ir::InterpolatedPart;

pub use ir::SchemaVersion;

pub use ir::Span;

pub use ir::WidgetKind;

pub use ir::WidgetNode;

pub use parser::error::ParseError;

pub use parser::error::ParseErrorKind;

pub use parser::MAX_SUPPORTED_VERSION;

pub use parser::ValidationWarning;

pub use parser::parse;

pub use parser::parse_version_string;

pub use parser::validate_version_supported;

pub use parser::validate_widget_versions;

pub use traits::Backend;

pub use codegen::CodegenError;

pub use codegen::CodegenOutput;

pub use codegen::generate_application;

pub use codegen::validate_handlers;

pub use state::AppState;

pub use state::ThemeContext;

pub use shared::SharedContext;

pub use expr::tokenize_binding_expr;

Modules

binding

Binding system types

codegen

Code generation for production builds

expr

handler

Handler system for event dispatch

ir

parser

shared

Shared state container for inter-window communication.

state

Application state container for Dampen UI views.

traits

Backend abstraction traits

Constants

VERSION

Version of the Dampen framework