Release

Release folder of all projects.

Read the LICENSE first.

Read GacUI website or the mirror website for more information.

Executables in Tools are no longer committed to this repo. Read Tools/README.md for building tools.

Download code from public releases to get the latest stable release. Code from this repo is also usable but I don't make any promise. I will only make a new release when I think the code is ready to update.

Synchronized latest releases:

1.5.1.1

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux Wayland
• GacJS

1.2.11.0

• Windows
• Linux XWindow
  • XWindow version is stopped maintaining. Please use Linux Wayland instead.

GacUI

GPU Accelerated C++ User Interface, with:

• Cross-platform supports (Windows, Linux, macOS, browsers with WebAssembly and HTML5)
  • Native Renderers
  • GacJS primarily runs the GacUI core as WebAssembly in a browser, with HTML5 rendering and optional TypeScript view models; demos are available.
  • TUI Renderers
  • Hosted Mode to render all windows in one native window (optional)
  • Core/Renderer cross-process separation (optional)
• Built-in powerful text processing libraries
• Built-in data binding and MVVM features
  • View Model could be implemented in another process with your favorate programming languages.
  • Such FFI integration starts from defining interfaces using the Workflow script
• XML UI description embedding Workflow script language
  • Dynamic loading with C++ dynamic reflection opt-in
    • Allow loading foreign UI with complex behavior in runtime
  • Generate XML and Workflow to C++ source files for static linking (recommended)
    • Allow C++ dyanmic reflection opt-out to significantly improve performance and reduce binary size

WebAssembly and HTML5 with GacJS

Running GacUI in a browser through WebAssembly is GacJS's primary purpose and most important feature. Its current demos load the GacUI core as a .wasm file in a browser worker. Both the HTML5 renderer and a TypeScript view-model host can connect to the core through exposed functions and callbacks, using GacUI Remote Protocol for rendering and Workflow RPC for view models.

WebAssembly and HTTP are alternative transports for this integration. HTTP primarily supports testing HTML5 rendering against a native core without building WebAssembly. The WebAssembly demos use a website server to serve files and do not require a separate HTTP core process. See the GacJS WebAssembly guide for the current demos and Linux build procedure.

Native and remote renderers remain available for Windows, Linux through wGac, and macOS through iGac.

Implementing View Model in Other Programming Languages

• When the view model is marked with @rpc:interface and @rpc:ctor, metadata will be printed along with GacGen or GacBuild.ps1.
• For TypeScript, code is ready in the GacJS repo, with WebAssembly as its primary browser integration and HTTP as an alternative testing transport.
• For other programming languages, a codegen could be created following GacJS/doc/rpc/README.md.
• In the instructions, materials supporting the verification is located in both Workflow and GacUI repos:
  • In the Workflow repo, there are test cases covering all aspects of the RPC protocol.
  • In GacUI/.github/Jobs/DebugRemoteProtocolWithGacJS.md, it contains instructions about how to test a real app with view model created in TypeScript.
  • GacJS could serve as an example of forgien view model implementation, the TypeScript RPC codegen is created following the same instruction here.
• According to the license, Workflow and GacUI could serve the reading and debugging purpose.
• Feed the instruction to codex and be worry free!
  • Before the next one is created, I strongly recommend planning using gpt-6 astra ultra, followed by execution using gpt-6 astra xhigh.

Sample Test Apps for Remote Protocol

• GacUI:
  • Refer to RemotingTest_Core, RemotingTest_Rendering_Win32, RemotingTest_RvmHost.
  • GacUI/.github/Jobs/DebugRemoteProtocolWithGacJS.md
  • GacUI/.github/Jobs/DebugRemoteProtocolWithNativeRenderer.md
• wGac:
  • This repos contain Wayland native renderer implementation and test apps RemotingTest_Rendering_Wayland.
• iGac:
  • This repos contain Cocoa native renderer implementation and test apps RemotingTest_Rendering_macOS.
• GacJS:
  • Its primary feature is running the GacUI core through WebAssembly with HTML5 rendering. WasmFCT, WasmRPT, and WasmRVMT in GacUI pair with browser demos in GacJS; WasmRVMT also connects a TypeScript view model to the WebAssembly core.
  • HTTP demos test the same HTML5 renderer and TypeScript view-model integration against a native core.
• According to the license, wGac, iGac and GacJS are part of the release.
• Project.md and AGENTS.md files are good entries.

Coding Agent Supports

• Rich context, instructions and documentation for developing with coding agents
• GacUI applications UI can be understand and operated by coding agents meanwhile:
  • Works even when the screen is locked.
  • Does not block you from using the computer.

Visual Studio and WinDBG/CDB Extension

Copy Vlpp.natvis to Visual Studio's visualizers folder:

• VS2022 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\Packages\Debugger\Visualizers
• VS2026 C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\18\Community\Common7\Packages\Debugger\Visualizers .nvload this file in WinDBG/CDB for better rendering of data structures, which is already embedded in copilotDebug_Start.ps1.

Using Coding Agents

Follow the guidance and here is a simplified summarization.

Both AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md are prepared so that copilot/codex/claude coding agent follow the same instruction.

The follow keywords maintain design documents in .github/TaskLogs, anything except Copilot_Scrum.md is not tracked by git, you can change the .gitignore in that folder if you like.

• Use ask ... to answer your question.
• Use review <file> for reviewing a task in a file.
• Use investigate repro ...|<file> for coding works or bug fixing.
• More use cases in AGENTS.md.

You can copy the whole .github folder to your own repo.

• .github/KnowledgeBase contains detailed documentation for the library, they will be read without having to being explicitly mentioned.
• Prompt files tell the coding agent how to work with msbuild and cdb (the CLI version of WinDBG).
  • You need to prepare VLPP_VSDEVCMD_PATH and CDBPATH environment variable
  • Building/testing/debugging is doable, for unit test, CLI or GacUI Applications.
  • Update Project.md to describe where the source code is (Example).
• .github/copilot-instructions.md and .github/Guidelines follow the pattern in all repos in this github organization, feel free to change.

Content of This Project

• Import Gaclib source code
  • Skins Predefined control templates. You will need to call vl::presentation::theme::RegisterTheme to set a default skin before creating any controls. Read WinMain.cpp for details.
• Tools
  • UiaListCli.exe Windows UI Automation console inspector with typed JSON commands, ranges and previews
  • UiaListApp.exe Windows UI Automation inspector for application windows, properties and supported actions
  • GitTui Terminal Git browser for working-tree diffs and branch history on Windows, Linux and macOS, with explicit pull commands
  • GacBuild.ps1 and GacBuild.sh Do everything for you if you don't want to understand build steps. This one builds multiple resource xml files at the same time. It calls the following tools:
    • GacGen.exe GacUI resource compiler and C++ code generator for x86 and x64
    • GacBuild.exe Incremental build and cross resource resolver for GacGen.exe
    • CppMerge.exe Merge GacUI generated code for x86 and x64 to architecture-independent code
  • GlrParserGen.exe General LR parser to C++ code generator
  • CodePack.exe Merge a group of C++ source files into multiple pairs of .h/.cpp big filesinformation.
  • GacClear.ps1 Force GacBuild.ps1 rebuilding all resource xml files for the next time.
  • CopyExecutables.ps1 Copy executables to the current folder after building Tools/Executables/Executables.sln.
  • BuildExecutables.sh Build script for Linux.
• Tutorial Sample code
  • Lib Static library projects for all tutorials
  • GacUI_HelloWorlds Different ways to create a GacUI hello world project
  • GacUI_Layout Demo how to use GacUI layout
  • GacUI_Controls Demo how to use GacUI controls
  • GacUI_ControlTemplate Demo how to create control templates (skin) for GacUI controls
  • GacUI_Xml Demo how to author GacUI XML resource file
  • GacUI_Windows Demo how to interact with native Windows OS features.

Image files are not owned by this repo or organization except for GacUI logos.

Creating a GacUI app using CMake

WARNING: it is not maintained by members in vczh-libraries organization, please check the version number before using.

Third party project for GacUI: https://github.com/mangosroom/GacUI-CMake-support

Building using vcpkg

WARNING: it is not maintained by members in vczh-libraries organization, please check the version number before using.

You can build and install vlpp using vcpkg dependency manager:

• git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
• cd vcpkg
• ./bootstrap-vcpkg.sh # ./bootstrap-vcpkg.bat for Windows
• ./vcpkg integrate install
• ./vcpkg install vlpp

Source files in the "Import" folder are grouped by different features defined in CMakeLists.txt.

The vlpp port in vcpkg is kept up to date by Microsoft team members and community contributors. If the version is out of date, please create an issue or pull request on the vcpkg repository.