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https://github.com/cycfi/elements

Elements C++ GUI library
https://github.com/cycfi/elements

c-plus-plus cpp cpp17 cpp17-library gui modern-cpp

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Elements C++ GUI library

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# ![Elements-Logo](https://cycfi.github.io/assets/img/elements/elements.png) Elements C++ GUI library



[![CMake Build Matrix](https://github.com/cycfi/elements/workflows/Build/badge.svg)](https://github.com/cycfi/elements/actions?query=workflow%3ABuild)



![alt Photon Sampler](https://cycfi.github.io/assets/img/elements/photon_sampler.jpg)



## Introduction



Elements is a lightweight, fine-grained, resolution independent, modular GUI library.

Elements is designed with these requirements in mind:



1. It should be open source with a liberal, non-viral license.

2. It should be usable in any application and should play well with other GUI

   libraries and frameworks.

3. Corollary to the second requirement is that it can also be used to develop

   plugins. It should not own the event loop and should be able to co-exist

   with components within a plugin host such as VST and AU.

4. It should be resolution independent and allow for HDPI displays.

5. Should not rely on a “visual” GUI editor or code generator.

6. It should have a declarative API using modern C++. Declarative C++ code

   tells you *what* rather than *how* (imperative). The GUI should be

   declared in C++ code.

7. Keep it simple. Make it easy to use right out of the box, with a lot of examples.

8. Porting to a new host target should be as easy as possible, requiring

   porting of only a few files.



Elements, is extremely lightweight… and modular. You compose very

fine-grained, flyweight “elements” to form deep element hierarchies using a

declarative interface with heavy emphasis on reuse.



## Status



Please take note that Elements is still very much in flux as we are inching

closer towards a version 1.0 release. The API and code is still undergoing

continuous changes, and for that matter, Elements is not yet "production

ready". But that should not prevent you from using Elements now! It is

already in a very usable form, and more people using it will ultimately make

it more robust when bugs are reported and fixed. API and usability matters

and I very much welcome suggestions and contributions. Hey, this is an open

source project! If you like the design, concepts and ideas behind Elements, I

very much welcome collaboration.



**December 5, 2023:**

The master branch now contains the code base using the Artist library for 2D canvas 

drawing (https://github.com/cycfi/artist).



For those who have not been following recently, the Artist 2D Canvas Library is an abstraction layer with an API 

inspired by the HTML5 canvas API. The library presents a lean API modeled after the HTML Canvas 2D Context 

specification. The API is a not-so-thin layer above various 2D platform-specific and cross-platform 2D 

"backend" graphics libraries, such as Skia and Quartz-2D. 



The artist library replaces the original cairo based  canvas implementation used by elements. The classic 

cairo implementation is now in the `cairo_2023` branch. At this point, as long as you are using the examples 

as a starting point and usage guide, code cairo_2023 is fully compatible with the artist based code, which 

is now in the `master` branch. 



## News



- 5 December 2023: See status above regarding the Artist 2D Canvas Library.

- 19 January 2021: Added Child Windows to develop (will merge to master in due time). [See Example](https://bit.ly/3iLMJt2).

- 25 September 2020: Added [thumbwheels](https://github.com/cycfi/elements/issues/231).

- 12 September 2020: Linux [Artist 2D Canvas Library](https://github.com/cycfi/artist)

  port feature complete.

- 10 September 2020: Windows [Artist 2D Canvas Library](https://github.com/cycfi/artist)

  port feature complete.

- 7 September 2020: MacOS [Artist 2D Canvas Library](https://github.com/cycfi/artist)

  port feature complete.

- 22 June 2020: Removed dependency on Boost. This requires some API changes to

  the `app` with additional arguments. See examples.

- 26 May 2020: Introducing the [Artist 2D Canvas

  Library](https://github.com/cycfi/artist). The Artist library will

  eventually replace Element's 2d canvas implementation.

- 23 May 2020: Work in progress `notebook` gallery factory (`notebook` branch).

- 8 April 2020: Simplified installation (Infra and Json are now header-only submodules)

- 11 March 2020: Added [Layout documentation](http://cycfi.github.io/elements/layout).

- 3 March 2020: Added [Design Aspects documentation](http://cycfi.github.io/elements/aspects).

- 23 February 2020: Setup and Installation guide updated for Windows and Linux.

- 22 February 2020: Improved font support

- 01 September 2019: Linux port completed

- 12 August 2019: Windows port completed



## Discord



Feel free to join the [discord channel](https://discord.gg/NJkadSx) for discussion and chat with the developers.



## Documentation



Documentation is work in progress. Stay tuned...



1. [Gallery](http://cycfi.github.io/elements/gallery)

2. [Setup and Installation](http://cycfi.github.io/elements/setup)

3. [Design Aspects](http://cycfi.github.io/elements/aspects)

4. [Layout](http://cycfi.github.io/elements/layout)



## About the Author



Joel got into electronics and programming in the 80s because almost

everything in music, his first love, is becoming electronic and digital.

Since then, he builds his own guitars, effect boxes and synths. He enjoys

playing distortion-laden rock guitar, composes and produces his own music in

his home studio.



Joel de Guzman is the principal architect and engineer at [Cycfi

Research](https://www.cycfi.com/) and a consultant at [Ciere

Consulting](https://ciere.com/). He is a software engineer specializing in

advanced C++ and an advocate of Open Source. He has authored a number of

highly successful Open Source projects such as

[Boost.Spirit](http://tinyurl.com/ydhotlaf),

[Boost.Phoenix](http://tinyurl.com/y6vkeo5t) and

[Boost.Fusion](http://tinyurl.com/ybn5oq9v). These libraries are all part of

the [Boost Libraries](http://tinyurl.com/jubgged), a well respected,

peer-reviewed, Open Source, collaborative development effort.



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*Copyright (c) 2014-2023 Joel de Guzman. All rights reserved.*

*Distributed under the [MIT License](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)*