Software:List of widget toolkits

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This article provides a list of widget toolkits (also known as GUI frameworks), used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of programs, organized by their relationships with various operating systems.

Low-level widget toolkits

Integrated in the operating system

  • macOS uses Cocoa. Mac OS 9 and macOS used to use Carbon for 32-bit applications.
  • The Windows API used in Microsoft Windows. Microsoft had the graphics functions integrated in the kernel until 2006[1]
  • The Haiku operating system uses an extended and modernised version of the Be API that was used by its predecessor BeOS. Haiku Inc. is expected to drop binary and source compatibility with BeOS at some future time, which will result in a Haiku API.

As a separate layer on top of the operating system

  • The X Window System contains primitive building blocks, called Xt or "Intrinsics", but they are mostly only used by older toolkits such as: OLIT, Motif and Xaw. Most contemporary toolkits, such as GTK or Qt, bypass them and use Xlib or XCB directly.
  • The Amiga OS Intuition was formerly present in the Amiga Kickstart ROM and integrated itself with a medium-high level widget library which invoked the Workbench Amiga native GUI. Since Amiga OS 2.0, Intuition.library became disk based and object oriented. Also Workbench.library and Icon.library became disk based, and could be replaced with similar third-party solutions.
  • Since 2005, Microsoft has taken the graphics system out of Windows' kernel.[2]

High-level widget toolkits

Widget toolkit comparison table
Toolkit name Windows macOS Unix-like Programming language License
AWT cross-platform Java
CEGUI Yes Yes Yes C++ MIT
Cocoa Partial Yes No Objective-C Proprietary
Elementary Yes Yes Yes C LGPL, BSD
FLTK Yes Yes Yes C++ LGPL
Fox toolkit Yes No Yes C++ LGPL
Fyne cross-platform Go BSD
GNUstep Yes Yes Yes Objective-C LGPL
GTK Yes Yes Yes C LGPL
Kivy cross-platform Python MIT
LCL Yes Yes Yes Object Pascal (Free Pascal) LGPL
IUP Yes No Yes C MIT
Juce cross-platform C++ GPL, proprietary
LessTif No No Yes C LGPL
Motif No No Yes C LGPL
MFC Yes No No C++ Proprietary
Nana C++ Yes No Yes C++ Boost license
OWL (superseded by VCL) Yes No No C++ (Borland C++) Proprietary
Pivot (WTK) cross-platform Java Apache License
Qt cross-platform C++ LGPL, proprietary
Rogue Wave Views Yes No Yes C++ proprietary
Shoes (GUI toolkit) cross-platform Ruby MIT
Swing cross-platform Java
Tk Yes Yes Yes C BSD
TnFOX Yes Yes Yes C++ LGPL
U++ cross-platform C++ BSD
VCL (supersedes OWL) Yes No No Object Pascal (Delphi) Proprietary
WTL Yes No No C++ Microsoft Public License
wxWidgets cross-platform C++ WxWindows license

OS dependent

On Amiga

  • BOOPSI (Basic Object Oriented Programming System for Intuition) was introduced with OS 2.0 and enhanced Intuition with a system of classes in which every class represents a single widget or describes an interface event. This led to an evolution in which third-party developers each realised their own personal systems of classes.
  • MUI: object-oriented GUI toolkit and the official toolkit for MorphOS.
  • ReAction: object-oriented GUI toolkit and the official toolkit for AmigaOS.
  • Zune (GUI toolkit) is an open source clone of MUI and the official toolkit for AROS.

On macOS

  • Cocoa - used in macOS (see also Aqua). As a result of macOS' OPENSTEP lineage, Cocoa also supports Windows, although it is not publicly advertised as such. It is generally unavailable for use by third-party developers.[citation needed] An outdated and feature-limited open-source subset of Cocoa exists within the WebKit project, however; it is used to render Aqua natively in Safari (web browser) for Windows.[citation needed] Apple's iTunes, which supports both GDI and WPF, includes a mostly complete binary version of the framework as "Apple Application Support".[citation needed]
  • Carbon - the deprecated framework used in macOS to port “classic” Mac applications and software to the macOS.
  • MacApp, the framework for the Classic Mac OS by Apple.
  • PowerPlant, the framework for the Classic Mac OS by Metrowerks.

On Microsoft Windows

  • The Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), a C++ wrapper around the Windows API.
  • The Windows Template Library (WTL), a template-based extension to ATL and a replacement of MFC
  • The Object Windows Library (OWL), Borland's alternative to MFC.
  • The Visual Component Library (VCL) is Embarcadero's toolkit used in C++Builder and Delphi. It wraps the native Windows controls, providing object-oriented classes and visual design, although also allowing access to the underlying handles and other WinAPI details if required. It was originally implemented as a successor to OWL, skipping the OWL/MFC style of UI creation, which by the mid-nineties was a dated design model.[3]
  • Windows Forms (WinForms) is Microsoft's .NET set of classes that handle GUI controls. In the cross-platform Mono implementation, it is an independent toolkit, implemented entirely in managed code (not wrapping the Windows API, which doesn't exist on other platforms).[4] WinForms' design closely mimics that of the VCL.
  • The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the graphical subsystem of the .NET Framework 3.0. User interfaces can be created in WPF using any of the CLR languages (e.g. C#) or with the XML-based language XAML. Microsoft Expression Blend is a visual GUI builder for WPF.
  • The Windows UI Library (WinUI) is the graphical subsystem of universal apps. User interfaces can be created in WinUI using C++ or any of the .NET languages (e.g., C#) or with the XML-based language XAML. Microsoft Expression Blend is a visual GUI builder that supports WinUI.

On Unix, under the X Window System

Note that the X Window System was originally primarily for Unix-like operating systems, but it now runs on Microsoft Windows as well using, for example, Cygwin, so some or all of these toolkits can also be used under Windows.

  • Motif used in the Common Desktop Environment.
  • LessTif, an open source (LGPL) version of Motif.
  • MoOLIT, a bridge between the look-and-feel of OPEN LOOK and Motif
  • OLIT, an Xt-based OPEN LOOK intrinsics toolkit
  • Xaw, the Project Athena widget set for the X Window System.
  • XView, a SunView compatible OPEN LOOK toolkit

Cross-platform

Based on C (including bindings to other languages)

  • Elementary, open source (LGPL), a part of the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, a fast, stable, and scalable library that can be used to create both rich and fast applications that can be used on anything from every day desktop computers to small PDA's and set-top boxes.
  • GTK, open source (LGPL), primarily for the X Window System, ported to and emulated under other platforms; used in the GNOME, Rox, LXDE and Xfce desktop environments. The Windows port has support for native widgets.
  • IUP, open source (MIT), a minimalist GUI toolkit in ANSI C for Windows, UNIX and Linux.
  • Tk, open source (BSD-style), a widget set accessed from Tcl and other high-level script languages (interfaced in Python as Tkinter).
  • XForms, the Forms Library for X
  • XVT, Extensible Virtual Toolkit

Based on C++ (including bindings to other languages)

  • CEGUI, open source (MIT License), cross-platform widget toolkit designed for game development, but also usable for applications and tool development. Supports multiple renderers and optional libraries.
  • FLTK, open source (LGPL), cross-platform toolkit designed to be small and fast.
  • FOX toolkit, open source (LGPL), cross-platform toolkit.
  • GLUI, a very small toolkit written with the GLUT library.
  • gtkmm, C++ interface for GTK
  • Juce provides GUI and widget set with the same look and feel in Microsoft Windows, X Windows Systems, macOS and Android. Rendering can be based on OpenGL.
  • Qt, proprietary and open source (GPL, LGPL) available under Unix and Linux (with X11 or Wayland), Windows (Desktop, CE and Phone 8), macOS, iOS, Android, BlackBerry 10 and embedded Linux; used in the KDE, Trinity, LXQt, and Lumina desktop environment, it's also used in Ubuntu's Unity shell.
  • Rogue Wave Views (formerly ILOG Views) provides GUI and graphic library for Windows and the main X11 platforms.
  • TnFOX, open source (LGPL), a portability toolkit.
  • U++ is an Open-source application framework bundled with an IDE (BSD license), mainly created for Win32 and unix like operating system (X11) but now works with almost any operating systems.
  • wxWidgets (formerly wxWindows), open source (relaxed LGPL), abstract toolkits across several platforms for C++, Python, Perl, Ruby and Haskell.
  • Zinc Application Framework, cross-platform widget toolkit.

Based on Python

Based on OpenGL

  • Clutter (LGPL) (in C) is an open source software library for creating fast, visually rich and animated graphical user interfaces.

Based on Flash

  • Adobe Flash allows creating widgets running in most web browsers and in several mobile phones.
  • Adobe Flex provides high-level widgets for building web user interfaces. Flash widgets can be used in Flex.
  • Flash and Flex widgets will run without a web browser in the Adobe AIR runtime environment.

Based on Go

  • Fyne, open source (BSD) is inspired by the principles of Material Design to create applications that look and behave consistently across Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Android and iOS.

Based on XML

Based on JavaScript

Main page: JavaScript library

General

RIAs

Full-stack framework

Resource-based

No longer developed

  • YUI (Yahoo! User Interface Library)

Based on SVG

  • Raphaël is a JavaScript toolkit for SVG interfaces and animations

Based on C#

  • Gtk#, C# wrappers around the underlying GTK and GNOME libraries, written in C and available on Linux, MacOS and Windows.
  • QtSharp, C# wrappers around the Qt widget toolkit, which is itself based-on the C++ language.
  • Windows Forms. There is an original Microsoft's implementation that is a wrapper around the Windows API and runs on windows, and Mono's alternative implementation that is cross platform.

Based on Java

  • The Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) is Sun Microsystems' original widget toolkit for Java applications. It typically uses another toolkit on each platform on which it runs.
  • Swing is a richer widget toolkit supported since J2SE 1.2 as a replacement for AWT widgets. Swing is a lightweight toolkit, meaning it does not rely on native widgets.
  • Apache Pivot is an open-source platform for building rich web applications in Java or any JVM-compatible language, and relies on the WTK widget toolkit.
  • JavaFX and FXML.
  • The Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) is a native widget toolkit for Java that was developed as part of the Eclipse project. SWT uses a standard toolkit for the running platform (such as the Windows API, macOS Cocoa, or GTK) underneath.
  • Codename One originally designed as a cross platform mobile toolkit it later expanded to support desktop applications both through JavaSE and via a JavaScript pipeline through browsers
  • java-gnome provides bindings to the GTK toolkit and other libraries of the GNOME desktop environment
  • Qt Jambi, the official Java binding to Qt from Trolltech. The commercial support and development has stopped[5]

Based on Object Pascal

  • FireMonkey or FMX is a cross-platform widget and graphics library distributed with Delphi and C++Builder since version XE2 in 2011. It has bindings for C++ through C++Builder, and supports Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and most recently Linux. FireMonkey supports platform-native widgets, such as a native edit control, and custom widgets that are styled to look native on a target operating system. Its graphics are GPU-accelerated and it supports styling, and mixing its own implementation controls with native system controls, which lets apps use native behaviour where it's important (for example, for IME text input.)
  • IP Pascal uses a graphics library built on top of standard language constructs. Also unusual for being a procedural toolkit that is cross-platform (no callbacks or other tricks), and is completely upward compatible with standard serial input and output paradigms. Completely standard programs with serial output can be run and extended with graphical constructs.
  • Lazarus LCL (for Pascal, Object Pascal and Delphi via Free Pascal compiler), a class library wrapping GTK+ 1.2–2.x, and the Windows API (Carbon, Windows CE and Qt4 support are all in development).
  • fpGUI is created with the Free Pascal compiler. It doesn't rely on any large 3rdParty libraries and currently runs on Linux, Windows, Windows CE, and Mac (via X11). A Carbon (macOS) port is underway.
  • CLX (Component Library for Cross-platform) was used with Borland's (now Embarcadero's) Delphi, C++ Builder, and Kylix, for producing cross-platform applications between Windows and Linux. It was based on Qt, wrapped in such a way that its programming interface was similar to that of the VCL toolkit. It is no longer maintained and distributed, and has been replaced with FireMonkey, a newer toolkit also supporting more platforms, since 2011.

Based on Objective-C

Based on Dart

  • Flutter is an open-source and cross platform framework created by Google.

Based on Swift

  • Cocoa Touch is a framework created by Apple to build applications for iOS, iPadOS and tvOS.

Based on Ruby

Not yet categorised

Comparison of widget toolkits

Toolkit Initial release Latest release Main language Bindings Tools License Pros Cons Back-end
ATL, WTL 2004 C++ Visual Studio not portable
AWT 1995 Java portable
CEGUI 2004 0.8.7 (April 28, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-04-28)) [±][6] C++ Python,[7] Lua (using tolua++)[8] CEED[9] MIT License Free license, fast, cross-platform, portable, free GUI editing tool
Clutter 2006 C Perl, Python, C#, C++, Vala, Ruby LGPL GTK and WebKit embedding
CLX C++
Elementary 2007 (EFL: 2001) 2016 C JavaScript, Python, Vala, C++ editje, edje LGPL Portable, stable, fast, finger-friendly
FLTK 1998 2019 C++ Python (pyFLTK), Perl (FLTK.pm), Ruby (Ruby/FLTK), Tcl (Tcl Fltk), Guile (guile-fltk), Eiffel (IFLTK) FLUID (Fast Light UI Designer) LGPL (with an exception that allows static linking) fast, small enough to static link limited widget selection
Flutter 2017 Dart Portable, cross platform, free license, rich widget set
FOX 1997 C++ Ruby (FXRuby), Python (FXPy), Eiffel (EiffelFox) consistent across platforms non-native look and feel
Fyne 2018 2020 (1.3.2) Go BSD consistent across platforms, no runtime dependency requires OpenGL
GLUI C++
GNUstep 1994 2017 Objective-C Java, Ruby, Scheme Gorm (computing) GPL for the apps, LGPL for the libs Portable, free license Native on macOS (with Cocoa) X11, Win32, Wayland
GTK 1997 4.6.0[10] (December 30, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-12-30)) [±] C C++ (gtkmm), Perl (Gtk2-perl), Ruby (ruby-gtk2), Python (PyGTK), Haskell (Gtk2Hs), Java (java-gnome) (not available for Microsoft Windows), C# (Gtk#), PHP (PHP-GTK), Ada (GTKAda), D (gtkD), FreeBasic (GladeToBac), Go (go-gtk), OCaml (lablgtk), JavaScript (Gjs, Seed (programming)), Fortran (gtk-fortran), Lua (lua-lgi), R (RGtk2) and others via GTK-server Glade, GNOME Builder LGPL Portable, free license Partly native only.[11][12]
IUP 1992 2019[13] C Lua (IupLua)[14] LEDC: a compiler for LED MIT Portable, lightweight, use the native API, native look&feel, free licence Non‑Unicode (only plain ASCII)[15]
Juce 2004 C++ Jucer GPL, commercial Cross-platform, with additional audio plug-in wrapping tools (VST, RTAS, AAX etc.) The free version has a splash screen.
MFC, WinAPI 1992 C++ Visual Studio not portable (but Wine implements it for X Window)
Motif, Lesstif 1980s C BX Pro
Nana C++ 2007 1.7.4 (16 May 2020; 3 years ago (2020-05-16)) [±][16] C++ VisualStudio, Dev-C++, Code::Blocks, GCC portable, lightweight, modern C++ style
Qt 1991 6.5 LTS[17] (3 April 2023; 12 months ago (2023-04-03)) [±] C++ Ruby (QtRuby), Python (PyQt, PySide, PythonQt), Ada (QtAda), c# (Qyoto), Java (Qt Jambi), Pascal (FreePascal Qt4), Perl (Perl Qt4), PHP(PHP-Qt), Haskell (Qt Haskell), Lua (lqt, QtLua), Dao (DaoQt), Tcl (qtcl), Common Lisp (CommonQt), D (QtD), Harbour (hbqt) Qt Designer, Qt Creator GPL, LGPL.[18] Portable, rich widget set, GUI builder, free license, stable API Partially native only.[19][20][21]
Rogue Wave Views 1993 2014 (5.8) C++ ivfstudio proprietary portable (Windows, Unix-like), good support commercial
Shoes (GUI toolkit) 2007 2010 Ruby MIT license/Open source Simplicity, ease of use
Swing 1996 Java Eclipse, NetBeans GPL for OpenJDK Portable (Java), advanced widgets, GUI builders
JavaFX 2008 2022 Java NetBeans, Scene Builder GPL
SWT Java D (DWT) Eclipse portable
Tk 1991 2015 C, Tcl Ruby (RubyTk), Python (Tkinter), Perl (Perl/Tk), Ada (TASH), Common Lisp (LTk), Erlang (etk), ... | BSD very portable, many language bindings
U++ 2004 2022 C++ theIDE BSD portable, NTL, free license Underdeveloped on android
VCF C++ BSD free license
VCL Delphi
Windows Forms CLI languages CLI languages Expression, Visual Studio portability issues, no MVC
WPF, XAML, Silverlight 2007 CLI languages CLI languages Expression, Visual Studio Portability issues
wxWidgets 1992 3.2.4 (11 November 2023; 5 months ago (2023-11-11)

[22]) [±]

C++ C++ (native), Ruby (wxRuby), Python (wxPython), Perl (wxPerl), Java (wxJava, jwx!), Lua (wxLua), Tcl(wxTCL), JavaScript (GLUEscript), Smalltalk (wxSqueak), Erlang (wxErlang), Haskell (wxHaskell), C (wxC), D (wxD), .NET framework (wxNet), Common Lisp (wxCL), Basic (wxBasic), BlitzMax (wxMax), Euphoria (wxEuphoria), Ada (wxAda), Pike (wxPike) VisualWx, Boa Constructor, PythonCard, Spe, XRCed, wxGlade, wxFormBuilder, DialogBlocks ($), wxDesigner ($) wxWindows License Portable, rich widget set, free licence, semantic similarities to MFC make migration easy.
Xaw, Athena 1983 1.0.13[23] C MIT X11
XUL XML, JavaScript portable
XVT 1989 2010 C and C++ Design for C and architect for C++ Proprietary Cross-platform, rich widget set, C and C++ GUI builders, very stable
Toolkit Initial release Latest release Main language Bindings Tools License Pros Cons Back-end

See also

References

  1. ↑ Microsoft: MS Windows NT Kernel-mode User
  2. ↑ Techworld: Microsoft to move graphics outside OS kernel
  3. ↑ Teixera, Pacheco, Steve, Xavier (2001). Borland Delphi 6 Developer's Guide. Sams Publishing. pp. 382. ISBN 0-672-32115-7. 
  4. ↑ This version provides the core API of the .NET Framework 2.0, but its implementation of this API is still incomplete.
  5. ↑ Qt Software to discontinue Qt Jambi after 4.5 release
  6. ↑ https://github.com/cegui/cegui/releases/tag/v0-8-7
  7. ↑ "PyCEGUI - CEGUI Wiki - Crazy Eddie's GUI System (Open Source)". http://cegui.org.uk/wiki/PyCEGUI. 
  8. ↑ "Extending your Lua Interface - CEGUI Wiki - Crazy Eddie's GUI System (Open Source)". http://cegui.org.uk/wiki/Extending_your_Lua_Interface. 
  9. ↑ "CEED - CEGUI Wiki - Crazy Eddie's GUI System (Open Source)". http://cegui.org.uk/wiki/CEED. 
  10. ↑ https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/tags/4.6.0
  11. ↑ Migrating to client-side windows : "GDK looks for the GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS environment variable and makes all windows native if it is set. It also tries to be more compatible with the way prior versions worked in some other ways."
  12. ↑ Coding Horror: Non-Native UI Sucks: "[…] has a cross-platform UI based on GTK, which produces predictably bland, least-common-denominator results:"
  13. ↑ "IUP - Browse /3.28 at SourceForge.net". https://sourceforge.net/projects/iup/files/3.28/. 
  14. ↑ "IUP - Portable User Interface". http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/iup/. 
  15. ↑ Comparing IUP with Other Interface Toolkits: "[…] it does not have support for Unicode characters."
  16. ↑ "Nana C++ Library - a modern C++ GUI library". http://www.nanapro.org/en-us/. 
  17. ↑ "Qt 6.5 Release" (in en). The Qt Company. https://wiki.qt.io/Qt_6.5_Release. 
  18. ↑ Nyström, Sebastian (14 January 2009). "Nokia to license Qt under LGPL". http://blog.qt.digia.com/blog/2009/01/14/nokia-to-license-qt-under-lgpl/. 
  19. ↑ WxWidgets Compared To Other Toolkits: "Qt doesn't have true native ports like wxWidgets does. Qt does not use system provided widgets, but emulates it with themes. What we mean by this is that even though Qt draws them quite realistically, Qt draws its own widgets on each platform."
  20. ↑ "Qt Modular Class Library". Digia. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131101011752/http://qt.digia.com/Product/Qt-Core-Features--Functions/Library/. "Qt uses the native graphics APIs of each platform it supports, taking full advantage of system resources and ensuring that applications have native look and feel." 
  21. ↑ "The Qt 4 Style API". The Qt Company. http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/qt4-styles.html. "Qt's built-in widgets use [QStyle] to perform nearly all of their drawing, ensuring that they look exactly like the equivalent native widgets." 
  22. ↑ "wxWidgets: 3.2.4 Released". 2023-11-11. https://www.wxwidgets.org/news/2023/11/wxwidgets-3.2.4-released/. 
  23. ↑ Alan Coopersmith (April 30, 2015). "[ANNOUNCE] libXaw 1.0.13". xorg-announce@lists.x.org (Mailing list). Retrieved July 1, 2020.



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