SpartanJ/eepp is a cross-platform C++ framework for developing games and applications, with a strong emphasis on creating rich graphical user interfaces. It targets developers looking for a hardware-accelerated UI toolkit with a familiar layout system and extensive styling capabilities, aiming to simplify the creation of complex UIs for desktop and mobile applications.

How It Works

eepp employs a node-based scene management system and a comprehensive UI module that handles input events, animations, scaling, and theming. Its rendering capabilities span multiple OpenGL versions and ES, utilizing a batch renderer for efficiency. UI layouts are defined in XML and styled using a custom CSS implementation supporting many CSS2 and some CSS3 features, including animations and custom properties. The framework also includes a virtual file system for resource management and optional physics and map modules.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Install/Run: Build from source using premake5 and a C++ compiler (GCC, Clang, MSVC, MinGW).
• Prerequisites: SDL2 library with headers, premake5.
• Build: premake5 gmake2 then make -C make/linux config=release (Linux example).
• Docs: https://github.com/SpartanJ/eepp/tree/develop/docs
• Demos: Live emscripten demos available: https://github.com/SpartanJ/eepp#live-demos-using-emscripten

Highlighted Details

• Cross-platform support: Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and HTML5 (via emscripten).
• UI system inspired by Android layouts (LinearLayout, RelativeLayout, GridLayout) and styled with CSS.
• Includes tools for UI editing, texture atlas creation, and map editing.
• 7GUIs benchmark implemented, demonstrating UI capabilities.

Maintenance & Community

The project is primarily developed by SpartanJ, with acknowledgements to numerous contributors and libraries. The author notes the API is not fully stable but close to it, and the project is actively seeking contributors.

Licensing & Compatibility

• License: MIT License.
• Compatibility: Permissive MIT license allows for commercial use and integration into closed-source projects.

Limitations & Caveats

The author states the API is not fully stable, and documentation is only about 50% complete, with a focus on improving the UI module. Some older C++ practices exist in the codebase, though newer code is more modern. The Maps module may be deprecated in favor of UI system improvements.