Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 98 posts

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#81

Post by [deleted] »

hak8or wrote: post #60
tom_ wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you create a program that links with a GPL library, the program as a whole must itself also be GPL - which is not always acceptable. See section 5 of the GPL: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html "You may convey a work based on the Program ... provided that you also meet all of these conditions: ... c) You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy"

Not always. I believe a common understanding is if it statically links with GPL code, then it spreads to your code. If it dynamically links then your program is not hit with GPL, as the user is able to change the dynamic library with their own. If what you dewxribed were the case, then the Tivoization lawsuit would have went differently instead of GPLv3 coming out.

[deleted]

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#82

Post by hduden »

saagarjha wrote: post #22

A couple of questions I had that I didn’t seem answered in the README: * How is view positioning handled? Does Boden only allow for “list” layouts? * Can I use my own native components? * Can I call platform APIs?

Boden dev here. Boden currently supports linear layouts (horizontal and vertical). We know that more is needed for a proper UI. Feedback is appreciated - let us know what you would like to see regarding layout options.

Since all widgets are native, you can easily add your own child widgets to the containers. You can gain access to the native view objects via the "View::getCore" method. However, we do not have a good way yet to insert custom widgets into the Boden layout system. That is an area where more work is needed.

Regarding calling platform APIs: since the apps are written in C++ you can call any platform API you like. On Android you can also use the Boden helper classes (bdn::java::JClass, etc.) to make Java calls from C++. On iOS the easiest way is to create an Objective C++ file (.mm file extension). In there you can combine C++ and Objective C code freely.

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#84

Post by dom96 »

pabl0rg wrote: post #83

Kotlin multi-platform also reuses native Widgets/UI but the DX doesn’t seem very polished yet. Does something like this exist in Crystal-lang or Nim? Using native widgets to do cross-platform is appealing, but C++ ...?

For what it's worth, wrapping C++ in Nim is pretty trivial so you could use this fairly easily with Nim.

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#85

Post by saagarjha »

hduden wrote: post #82
saagarjha wrote: post #22

A couple of questions I had that I didn’t seem answered in the README: * How is view positioning handled? Does Boden only allow for “list” layouts? * Can I use my own native components? * Can I call platform APIs?

Boden dev here. Boden currently supports linear layouts (horizontal and vertical). We know that more is needed for a proper UI. Feedback is appreciated - let us know what you would like to see regarding layout options. Since all widgets are native, you can easily add your own child widgets to the containers. You can gain access to the native view objects via the "View::getCore" method. However, we do not have a good…

I'm primarily an iOS developer (though, I've started looking into Android recently), so my point of view will be skewed towards that platform. If you're trying to write an iOS app, you probably want to expose AutoLayout, or at the very least the API provided by UIStackView. Plus, you will need to handle things like the navigation hierarchy, which on iOS does a lot of layout-related things for you.

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#86

Post by hduden »

saagarjha wrote: post #85
hduden wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boden dev here. Boden currently supports linear layouts (horizontal and vertical). We know that more is needed for a proper UI. Feedback is appreciated - let us know what you would like to see regarding layout options. Since all widgets are native, you can easily add your own child widgets to the containers. You can gain access to the native view objects via the "View::getCore" method. However, we do not have a good…

I'm primarily an iOS developer (though, I've started looking into Android recently), so my point of view will be skewed towards that platform. If you're trying to write an iOS app, you probably want to expose AutoLayout, or at the very least the API provided by UIStackView. Plus, you will need to handle things like the navigation hierarchy, which on iOS does a lot of layout-related things for you.

It is an interesting thought to also use the native layout system on each platform. It might be challenging to provide an abstraction for the native layout that behaves consistently on all platforms, though.

Can you elaborate on why you feel AutoLayout support is needed? If Boden had a layout system of comparable power, would that solve this issue?

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#88

Post by Cu3PO42 »

zzo38computer wrote: post #69
fermienrico wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the spirit of open source but every time I see GPL, I feel like it is an evil license that tries to consume everything it touches - even the stuff it has absolutely no rights for. That is not the spirit of open source. It has caused ages of headaches, law firms getting rich and unintentional business losses. How about a license that says "You cannot use it for any commercial use or closed source projects" so t…

GPL is not meant to prevent commercial uses, as long as the commercial uses are still with GPL. What I generally do is release source code of my program as public domain, even if it links with GPL libraries (it will be GPL if I am modifying an existing GPL program though), although require that the combination is GPL even though the files that are entirely my own writing will be public domain. To distribute the combi…

I would like to note that it is not possible to put works entirely into the public domain in some jurisdictions. The only such legislation that I am familiar with, is the German "Urheberrecht". In particular you cannot renounce certain "moral rights" [1] you have to your works.

Since it is not possible to actually put the works into the public domain, this typically means that you retain all rights and license no rights to user. As such you should always include a fallback license, for example Apache or MIT or whatever you feel comfortable with for these jurisdictions.

[1] https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhg/englisch_ur... (Subchapter 2)

Re: Boden cross-platform framework: Native C++11, native widgets, no JavaScript

#90

Post by saagarjha »

hduden wrote: post #86
saagarjha wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm primarily an iOS developer (though, I've started looking into Android recently), so my point of view will be skewed towards that platform. If you're trying to write an iOS app, you probably want to expose AutoLayout, or at the very least the API provided by UIStackView. Plus, you will need to handle things like the navigation hierarchy, which on iOS does a lot of layout-related things for you.

It is an interesting thought to also use the native layout system on each platform. It might be challenging to provide an abstraction for the native layout that behaves consistently on all platforms, though. Can you elaborate on why you feel AutoLayout support is needed? If Boden had a layout system of comparable power, would that solve this issue?

> Can you elaborate on why you feel AutoLayout support is needed?

That's simply how most apps are designed these days, since it makes it easy to support the ever-growing list of device sizes that iOS apps need to support.

> If Boden had a layout system of comparable power, would that solve this issue?

Sure, but you might need to keep in mind that iOS developers are used to using AutoLayout and need to learn how to do things in your new layout system.

Post reply on HN