Native UI

A window can show a user interface that MyGo draws itself instead of a web page. You write it in Go with package ui: there is no HTML, no JavaScript and no frontend build, and the window starts no webview, so it opens at once and uses little memory. MyGo draws it on the GPU, with Metal on macOS, Direct3D 11 on Windows and OpenGL on Linux.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"log"

	"github.com/egoist/mygo"
	"github.com/egoist/mygo/ui"
)

// counter is the app's state.
type counter struct{ n int }

// view builds the window's interface from the state, for every frame.
func (app *counter) view(c *ui.Context) {
	ui.Column(c).Fill().Center().Gap(12).Children(func() {
		ui.Text(c, fmt.Sprint(app.n)).FontSize(40).Bold()
		if ui.PrimaryButton(c, "Increment").Clicked() {
			app.n++
		}
	})
}

func main() {
	app := &counter{}
	mygo.App.WhenReady(func() {
		mygo.NewWindow(mygo.WindowOptions{
			Title:   "Counter",
			Width:   320,
			Height:  240,
			Content: ui.View(app.view),
		})
	})
	if err := mygo.App.Run(); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
}

Reading the examples. The examples in these guides are parts of a view such as counter.view: c is the view's *ui.Context, and app its receiver, the value of your own type that holds the state. A field such as app.volume or a method such as app.save() is one you declare on that type, as counter declares n; Views says more.

mygo init -template native my-app starts a native UI project (see the CLI). The counter example includes a view test, and the gallery shows the controls and layouts.

One app can have windows of both kinds. Native UI suits tools, settings, inspectors and utilities, and apps that must start instantly; a web page suits rich documents, existing web code and anything that needs what only a browser has. Screen readers and other assistive technology read native UI as they read other apps (see Accessibility).

Guides

Actions

Choices

Text input

Code

Documents

Dates and colors

Collections

Containers

Navigation

Dialogs and messages

Status

Charts

Images