[Haskell-cafe] Is it possible to "easily" connect Haskell to JavaScript/JavaFX in the browser and use a browser as a Windows GUI? :)

[Stephen Sinclair]

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 3:11 PM, Stephen Tetley
<stephen.tetley at gmail.com> wrote:
> Claus Reinke posted this a while ago - see the attachment at the
> bottom of the message:
>
> http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2007-July/029275.html

Thanks for that.  Here's the relevant website that he posted later in
that thread:
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/cr3/toolbox/haskell/browsing/

Of course, it would be nice to be able to write the "javascript" parts
in Haskell, and even use a Haskell framework for generating the HTML.
I'm sure this is possible with things like Yesod, etc.

Just wanted to mention, currently I am working on a project (not in
Haskell) that takes a similar approach of starting up an HTTP server
and using the browser for the GUI.  We are thinking about including a
copy of Chromium in the binary release, and launching it on
double-click with the "--app" flag which opens a "chromeless" browser
window (i.e just a window border containing an HTML renderer) looking
just like a local application.

Another option is XULRunner, which you can use to create an
application with native menus and widgets around the border, and add a
"<browser>" element to the GUI which points at your Haskell web
server.  You could probably even generate the XUL layout code in the
Haskell server if you wanted, which would provide a totally
native-looking app.  (At least for those who don't consider Firefox
very awful-looking, I know there are some Cocoa pedants around who
would complain.. ;)

Steve