[Haskell-cafe] Re: I still cannot seem to get a GUI working under Windows.

[Heinrich Apfelmus]

Peter Verswyvelen wrote:
> Regarding GUIs, I really miss a pure functional framework for doing so.

We all do, we all do. ;)

> Currently I'm using Microsoft's WPF, and that is more or less declarative, a
> bit like BOOPSI or MUI on the good old Amiga days. But WPF has so many
> little quirks, not to mentioned a weakly typed XML-like language called
> "XAML".  Still it offers the best experiences I had so far, because it is
> very composable.
> 
> What I would love is to build GUIs the Fruit/Yampa or maybe Reactive/Elerea
> way, using a graphical editor if possible. And allow separation of data
> (model and view-model) and looks (styling, CSS, themes...)
> 
> Oh and it should preferably make use of the GPU as much as possible, where
> it makes sense at least.
> 
> Anyway knows about such a framework in Haskell? It's a gigantic undertaking,
> but maybe if someone can make the basic framework, others in the community
> will develop controls for it?

I have concocted a tiny FRP library for my little wxHaskell project, 
which works quite nicely. Its main feature is that it can hook into any 
part of wxHaskell; thanks to higher-order functions, there is absolutely 
no need to duplicate the GUI API. In a sense, the point is that FRP is 
just a different way of talking about callback functions.

It is by no means finished, though, and my project has currently hit a 
snag because wxHaskell's support for antialiased graphics routines is 
still in its infancy. No idea how to proceed yet.


Regards,
Heinrich Apfelmus

--
http://apfelmus.nfshost.com