Zig bindings for Pugl, a minimal portable API for embeddable GUIs

Dependencies

• Zig (main branch tracks latest stable, dev tries to keep up with nightly)
• X11 platform:
  • libX11
  • libXrender
  • libXcursor (optional, -Dxcursor=true)
  • libXrandr (optional, -Dxrandr=true)
  • libXext (optional, -Dxsync=true)
• OpenGL backend:
  • libGL
• Vulkan backend:
  • vulkan-loader
• Cairo backend:
  • with -fsys=cairo: cairo
  • otherwise: glib (Linux-only)

Usage

zig fetch --save=pugl https://github.com/bandithedoge/pugl.zig/archive/<commit>.tar.gz

In build.zig:

pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
    // ...

    const pugl = b.dependency("pugl", .{
        .target = target,
        .optimize = optimize,
        // choose your desired backends
        // multiple can be enabled and selected at runtime
        .opengl = true,
        .vulkan = false,
        .cairo = false,
        .stub = false,
        // see `build.zig` or run `zig build --help` for more options
    });

    my_exe.root_module.addImport("pugl", pugl.module("pugl"));
    // replace `opengl` with your desired backend
    my_exe.root_module.addImport("backend_opengl", pugl.module("backend_opengl"));

    // ...
}

In your source file:

const pugl = @import("pugl");
// replace with your desired backend, make sure it's enabled in build.zig!
const OpenGlBackend = @import("backend_opengl");

pub fn main() !void {
    // ...

    var world = try pugl.World.new(.program, .{});
    defer world.free();

    const view = try pugl.View.new(&world);
    defer view.free();

    try view.setStringHint(.window_title, "my awesome app");
    // set other world and view hints here

    view.setHandle(&my_app_struct); // optional

    const backend = OpenGlBackend.new();
    try view.setBackend(backend.backend);

    try view.setEventFunc(onEvent);

    try view.realize();
    try view.show(.raise);

    while (!should_close) {
        // the argument determines if this function blocks and for how long
        // audio plugins and other embedded windows should use `0` to avoid blocking the host
        try world.update(-1);
    }

    // ...
}

fn onEvent(view: *const pugl.View, event: pugl.event.Event) pugl.Error!void {
    // optional, `view.getHandle()` returns null if no handle was set
    const my_app_struct: *MyApp = @ptrCast(@alignCast(view.getHandle().?))
    // see API docs for all possible event types
    switch (event) {
        .configure => |e| {
            // ...
        },
        .expose => {
            // ...
        },
        .update => {
            // ...
        },
        .close => {
            // ...
        },
        else => {},
    }
}

The examples/ directory contains sample programs mostly rewritten from Pugl's upstream C examples.