DFL, the D Forms Library, is an easy to use user interface toolkit for the D programming language.
It brings you a high level, easy to use interface, abstracted from the native API.
"Thanks for allowing me to be in the world of Windows. I hated Windows programming until DFL."
-- User
"DFL is very easy to use once you see how it works. It's even similar to Windows Forms of .NET.
So I think of D+DFL as a good alternative to C#+.NET.
Also, DFL has Entice Designer which makes it even easier."
-- User
With DFL you can:
- Create and manage your GUI application with a simple, object-oriented interface.
- Attach event handlers to many objects, such as controls, forms, and menus, for practically any event.
- Dock controls on the parent form, so resize code isn't needed.
- Use sockets that do not block the GUI thread.
- Much more!
New:
DFL Tutorial
DFL released after a very long duration of snapshot-only updates.
During this time there has been a lot of changes in DFL and a code review has been completed
to ensure consistency, dead code removal, and overall fixing of bugs along the way.
I hope future releases won't take so much time in snapshot testing.
DFL now works with the Tango library! See the
DFL Tango page for more information.
Either Phobos (std) or Tango can be used as you prefer.
Entice Designer also released; a new version
of the GUI builder.
Now I'll finally announce the DFL chat room;
there's an IRC channel dedicated to DFL over on freenode.
Feel free to drop by #DFL
The DFL IRC client example has been updated to join
#DFL so an easy way to reach the channel is by
simply downloading
DFL-IRC.
Please note that you need to be patient when using IRC.
Although it is a real-time chat environment, we are not
always able to answer immediately.
As before, there's always new conversations happening over in the
DFL forum.
Download DFL 0.9.7.01 installer
or DFL 0.9.7.01 zip archive
Tested with
DMD
1.028
Tested with Phobos and Tango 0.99.5
Please donate to support the development of Entice Designer and DFL.
Be sure to read the
DFL tutorial for setup and usage instructions.
The included examples are a good starting point.
The download includes:
- The DFL library that can be used with closed source and commercial applications.
- dfl.exe tool that should simplify compiling DFL projects.
- Source code for DFL and many examples.
Should work on Microsoft Windows 95 and above.
However, on Windows 95, some features require an up to date
version of Internet Explorer to be installed.
There are functions to call to test for these features.
New to DFL? Need to get started?
First, check out the
DFL tutorial,
which also includes setup and usage instructions.
The installer will give you start menu shortcuts, one of which takes you to the Examples Folder.
The provided DFL examples show how to use a lot of the features,
as they are used to test the library between releases.
The
online documentation
can be used to find the available members.
The documentation is far from complete, but can be edited by those who wish to contribute.
Entice Designer, a Form Designer for DFL,
is also helpful to newcomers because the properties
are easily accessible in a convenient list including descriptions.
Entice also has a tutorial available.
Also new to the D language? Check out the "New D Users" section on the
dprogramming.com home page.
Classic hello world example:
import dfl.all;
int main()
{
Form myForm;
Label myLabel;
myForm = new Form;
myForm.text = "DFL Example";
myLabel = new Label;
myLabel.font = new Font("Verdana", 14f);
myLabel.text = "Hello, DFL World!";
myLabel.location = Point(15, 15);
myLabel.autoSize = true;
myLabel.parent = myForm;
Application.run(myForm);
return 0;
}
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There are many more examples in the DFL download.
More screenshots are here.
Q.
What changed since the last version of DFL? /
How do I ensure my code is still compatible with DFL?
A.
See the
changelog
for a list of library changes.
Q.
Does DFL work with the Tango library?
A.
DFL does support the
Tango library now!
See the
DFL Tango page for more information.
Either Phobos (std) or Tango can be used as you prefer.
Q.
Is Unicode supported?
A.
Yes!
On Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista, Unicode is fully supported;
on Windows 95/98/ME, DFL translates to and from ANSI as necessary to support Unicode (much like MSLU and Phobos).
The Unicode translation appropriate for the Windows version is automatic and
both Windows types are supported simultaneously.
To override this, such as to build an exe for only NT+,
versions can be set.
Q.
Will there be a linux version?
A.
Porting has
begun!
(Posted May 2007)
Q.
I've added an event handler using the delegate keyword
or a nested function
and I'm getting access violations. Why is this?
A.
Delegate literals and nested functions only work if you're sure the event
won't be fired after the function it's in returns. Use a non-static member function:
class MyForm: Form
{
this()
{
click ~= &form_click; // Add click event handler.
}
private void form_click(Object sender, EventArgs ea)
{
// Handle event here.
}
}
Q.
How do I safely load regular text files or other 8-bit text into a DFL control?
A.
Because DFL (and most of D) expects clean UTF-8, this can be a problem when working with external text.
This is covered on the
load 8-bit text page.
DFL forum
hosted by dsource.org!
Check out the new Entice Designer project! A GUI Builder for DFL.
DFL Wiki.
The start of new documentation is available here.
It doesn't explain much yet, but it's often easier than going through the code,
and you're welcome to add directly to it.
Please report bugs and comments to the
forum
or the contact form.
You can make requests and I'll see what I can do to get them
in the next release.
See the snapshots for changes in the next DFL release.
Previous DFL versions:
