GUI Applications

Strata lets you build desktop applications with GTK4. The built-in bindings are currently minimal, but you can still access the full GTK4 API through FFI while keeping Strata's type safety for the parts it defines.

Getting Started

To build a GUI application, you'll typically need a project structure that includes your Strata source files and any necessary assets (like .str.ui or .css files).

Requirements

Install GTK4 before building or running GUI applications:

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev

macOS:

brew install gtk4

Project Configuration

Enable the GTK extension strata_gtk and configuration in your .strata.json:

{
  "srcDir": "src",
  "buildDir": "build",
  "entryPoint": "src/app.str",
  "runtime": {
    "extensions": [
      "/path/to/strata_gtk.so"
    ],
    "ini": {
      "ffi.enable": "1"
    }
  }
}

Basic Application

A minimal GTK4 application in Strata involves initializing the App class and setting up a window in the onStartup handler.

import Strata.Gtk.App;

fn main(): Void {
    let app = App(options: [
        'prgname' => 'strata-gtk-app',
        'appname' => 'Hello Strata',
        'builder_only' => false,
    ]);

    app.onStartup(handler: (app: App) => {
        let window = app.window();
        window.title(title: 'Hello World');
        window.defaultSize(width: 480, height: 240);

        // add a simple label
        let label = app.label(text: 'Hello from Strata + GTK4!');
        window.child(child: label);

        window.show();
    });

    app.run();
}

Project Structure

For a GUI project, you might have a structure like this:

.
├── .strata.json
└── src/
    ├── app.str
    └── assets/
        ├── styles.css
        └── MainWindow.str.ui

Running the Application

You can run your GUI application using the standard run command:

strata run src/app.str

Strata will automatically:

1. Compile your code.
2. Ensure the ffi extension is loaded.
3. Discover and use your project's autoloader.
4. Copy any associated assets to the execution environment.

Additional Resources

For more detailed information on GTK4, refer to the GTK4 documentation.