GUI Development

Project
1

What GUI development framework was used for LibrePCB

2

Qt

3

Hello Urban(ubruhin)

Are you planning to stay with Qt and C++ ?

Its now C++ and Qt

Erik

4

Hi Erik,

I’m currently moving from Qt to Slint UI and for long term also move away from C++ towards Rust. For the new UI see here:

Urban

5

Hello Urban(ubruhin),

I do understand that you moving from c++ to rust

What do you think about the tcl and tk libraries ?

Windows = Magicsplat Tcl/Tk for Windows | Magicsplat
magicsplat - Browse /magicsplat-tcl at SourceForge.net

Many persons using freebasic as programming language = windows ,linux, RaspberryPi (arm)

see

git clone https://git.code.sf.net/p/fbc/code fbc-code
FreeBASIC Compiler - Browse Files at SourceForge.net

FreeBASIC IDEs/Editors

Erik

6

Thanks for the suggestion, but to be honest, Tcl/Tk and FreeBasic are not interesting for us. LibrePCB is a giant software project with very specific needs. The chosen language and GUI toolkit is a fundamental decision which will have significant impact on the project’s future and thus have to be evaluated very seriously, based on many technical aspects but also considering the future of these toolkits. Some examples:

  • LibrePCB is the result of ~12 years of development. Switching the language has to be done step by step and will probably take more than 10 years to complete. During this time, it must be possible to mix the old with the new language so we require high compatibility between them.
  • Even just the evaluation of a new GUI toolkit took me several weeks because it is so complex.
  • I estimate at least 6 months of full-time work for migrating the major part of LibrePCB to a new UI. Migrating the whole UI will take several years.
  • Given these time frames, we require toolkits with a bright future. Although I do like old & mature toolkits, most of them will die sooner or later because modern toolkits provide a lot of advantages and will replace them step by step.