ImRAD

ImRAD is a GUI builder for the ImGui library. It generates and parses C++ code which can be directly used in your application.

Unlike other tools ImRAD can be used for continuous modification of the generated UI. Data binding, events and even manual UI code additions are well supported.

ImRAD runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Features

• Supports designing all kinds of windows

  • Floating windows, popups and modal popups. These are ImGui backend independent
  • MainWindow with GLFW integration. ImRAD generates GLFW calls which will synchronize ImGui window with its OS window (title bar, resizability flags, autosize etc.)
  • Activity. This is an undecorated window which fills the entire viewport area. Only one activity can be shown at the time. Used mainly for Android apps
  • contains a GLFW template for generating generic main.cpp
  • contains an android template for generating generic MainActivity.java, AndroidManifest.xml, main.cpp and CMakeLists.txt

• Supports wide range of widgets

  • basic widgets like Text, Checkbox, Combo, Button, Slider, ColorEdit etc.
  • container widgets like Child, Table, CollapsingHeader, TreeNode, TabBar,
  • more exotic widgets such as Splitter
  • MenuBar and context menu editing
  • CustomWidget (a placeholder to user code)

• Generates layout using SameLine/Spacing/NextColumn instead of absolute positioning

  • this ensures widgets respect item spacing and frame padding in a consistent way
  • there is a clear relationship between parent - child widget as well as children ordering which is important for container widgets like Table
  • alternative positioning where widget keeps relative distance from a selected parent's scorner

• Supports box layout

  • powerful and simple to use layout mechanism implemented on top of ImGui functionality
  • stretch any sizeable widget in horizontal or vertical direction
  • insert spacers to achieve alignment
  • alternatively you can use Table Layout Helper to generate horizontal layout using invisible Table

• Supports property binding

  • because ImGui is an immediate mode GUI library widget state like input text or combobox items must be set at the time of drawing from within the generated code through property binding.
  • class variables can be managed through simple class wizard or from binding dialog
  • using property binding generated UI becomes dynamic and yet it can still be designed at the same time

• Supports generating event handlers and other support code

  • for example modal dialog will automatically generate an OpenPopup member function with a lambda callback called when the dialog is closed
  • event handlers allow event handling user code to be separated from the generated part so the designer still works

• Generated code is delimited by comment markers and user can insert additional code around and continue to use ImRAD at the same time

  • this can be used to call dependent popup Draw calls or to calculate some variables
  • it is also possible to use CustomWidget which will delegate to a user callback function

• Target window style is fully configurable

  • apart from default styles provided by ImGui user can define new style and save it as an INI file under the style folder. Colors, style variables and used fonts can all be configured.
  • ImRAD will follow chosen style settings when designing your UI
  • stored style can be loaded in your app by using simple imrad.h functionality

• Generated code is ready to use in your project and depends only on ImGui library and one accompanying header file (imrad.h)

  • some features such as MainWindow or Image widget require GLFW dependency. Compile your code with IMRAD_WITH_GLFW to activate it
  • currently Image widget requires stb library as well. Compile your code with IMRAD_WITH_STB or supply your own LoadTextureFromFile()
  • optional support for the popular fmt library can be activated by defining IMRAD_WITH_FMT. This will allow you to use formating flags throughout all string properties

• ImRAD tracks changes to the opened files so files can be designed in ImRAD and edited in your IDE of choice at the same time

  • maybe the auto-save feature would be useful to have

License

• ImRAD source code is licensed under the GPL license
• Any code generated by the tool is excluded from GPL and can be included in any project either open-source or commercial and it's up to the user to decide the license for it.
• Additionally since imrad.h is used by the generated code it is also excluded from the GPL license

Download binaries

For up-to date version clone & build the repository using CMake. Don't forget to fetch submodules in the 3rdparty directory too.

Somewhat older version can be downloaded from Releases

How to build

Windows

1. Use CMake GUI to configure and generate sln file
2. Open the generated sln file in Visual Studio 2017 or newer (you can use Express or Community editions which are downloadable for free)
3. Build the INSTALL project in Release mode. It may require running VS with admin rights
4. If you didn't alter CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX variable ImRAD will be installed into C:\Program Files\imrad\latest

Linux

1. Due to the GTK FileOpen dialog dependency you need to apt install these packages first (exact list depends on your OS):

   pkg-config gtk-3-dev libsystemd-dev libwebp-dev libzstd-dev

2. Run the provided installation script (script parameter is the ImRAD version you want to name the folder)

   sudo ./release-linux 0.8

3. ImRAD will be installed into ./install/imrad-0.8

How to debug

Windows

1. Build the INSTALL target in VS as described above
2. Set imrad as startup project, set its working directory to the installed folder
3. Debug & Run

How to use generated code

Add all generated code into your project. Generated code #includes imrad.h so you need to set an include directory and point it to the include folder in the ImRAD installation folder. Based on your setup set project-wide preprocessor defines IMRAD_WITH_GLFW/IMRAD_WITH_STB/IMRAD_WITH_FMT.

Add dependency to ImGui and GLFW (whether you build it as separate libraries or directly add to your project is up to you). Stb and fmt dependencies are optional.

Please check wiki for tutorials and more detailed content.

Screenshots

Sponsorship

Development of ImRAD happens in my free time outside of my regular job, yoga, volunteering and other activities.

If you like the tool and want to support its further development please do. If you use it regularly you can even setup a monthly donation if it's convenient for you.

Credits

Design and implementation - Tomas Pecholt

Thanks to Omar Cornut for Dear ImGui