Interface Kit

API for displaying a graphical user interface. More...

Modules
	Layout API
	Provides classes for automatically laying out UIs.

Files
file	AffineTransform.h
	Undocumented file.
file	Alert.h
	BAlert class definition and support enums.
file	Alignment.h
	Undocumented file.
file	Bitmap.h
	Defines the BBitmap class and global operators and functions for handling bitmaps.
file	Box.h
	Defines the BBox class.
file	Button.h
	Describes the BButton class.
file	CardLayout.h
	Provides the BCardLayout class.
file	ChannelControl.h
	Undocumented file.
file	ChannelSlider.h
	Undocumented file.
file	CheckBox.h
	Defines the BCheckBox class.
file	ColorControl.h
	BColorControl class definition and support enums.
file	Control.h
	BControl class definition and support enums.
file	Deskbar.h
	Undocumented file.
file	Dragger.h
	Provides the BDragger class.
file	Font.h
	BFont class definition, unicode_block class definition, and font-related struct and enum definitions.
file	GraphicsDefs.h
	Graphics-related functions and variables used by the Interface Kit.
file	GroupView.h
	Provides the BGroupView class.
file	IconUtils.h
	Vector icon handling utility class.
file	Input.h
	Undocumented file.
file	InterfaceDefs.h
	Defines standard interface definitions for controls.
file	ListItem.h
	ListItem class definition.
file	ListView.h
	ListView class definition.
file	Menu.h
	BMenu class definition and support structures.
file	MenuBar.h
	BMenuBar class definition and support structures.
file	MenuField.h
	BMenuField class definition and support structures.
file	MenuItem.h
	BMenuItem class definition.
file	OptionControl.h
	Undocumented file.
file	OptionPopUp.h
	BOptionPopUp class definition.
file	OutlineListView.h
	Provides the BOutlineListView class.
file	Picture.h
	BPicture class definition.
file	PictureButton.h
	BPictureButton class definition and support structures.
file	Point.h
	BPoint class definition.
file	Polygon.h
	BPolygon class definition.
file	PopUpMenu.h
	BPopUpMenu class definition and support structures.
file	RadioButton.h
	BRadioButton class definition.
file	Rect.h
	BRect class definition.
file	Region.h
	BRegion class definition.
file	Screen.h
	Defines the BScreen class and support structures.
file	ScrollBar.h
	BScrollBar class definition.
file	ScrollView.h
	BScrollView class definition.
file	SeparatorItem.h
	BSeparatorItem class definition.
file	SeparatorView.h
	Undocumented file.
file	Shape.h
	BShape and BShapeIterator class definitions.
file	Size.h
	BSize class definition and related enum definition.
file	StatusBar.h
	Undocumented file.
file	StringItem.h
	BStringItem class definition.
file	StringView.h
	BStringView class definition.
file	TabView.h
	Provides the BTab and BTabView classes.
file	TextControl.h
	Provides the BTextControl class.
file	TextView.h
	Provides the BTextView class and associated structs.
file	View.h
	BView class definition and support data structures.
file	Window.h
	BWindow class definition and support data structures.

Classes
class	BAffineTransform
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BAlert
	The BAlert class defines a modal alert dialog which displays a short message and provides a set of labeled buttons that allow the user to respond. More...
class	BAlignment
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BBitmap
	Access and manipulate digital images commonly known as bitmaps. More...
class	BBox
	A rectangular view with a border and an optional label to group related subviews visually. More...
class	BButton
	A control used to initiate an action. More...
class	BChannelControl
	BChannelControl is the base class for controls that have several. More...
class	BChannelSlider
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BCheckBox
	A user interface element used to make a binary decision. More...
class	BColorControl
	BColorControl displays an on-screen color picker. More...
class	BControl
	BControl is the base class for user-event handling objects. More...
class	BDeskbar
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BDragger
	A view that allows the user drag and drop a target view. More...
class	BFont
	Represents a typeface including its family, style and size. More...
class	BGroupView
	Container view for a collection of views organized in a horizontal or vertical row. More...
class	BIconUtils
	The BIconUtils class provide utility methods for managing and drawing vector icons. More...
class	BInputDevice
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BListItem
	A list item, a member of a BListView or BOutlineListView. More...
class	BListView
	Displays a list of items that the user can select and invoke. More...
class	BMenu
	Displays a list of menu items including additional menus arranged hierarchically. More...
class	BMenuBar
	A window's root menu. More...
class	BMenuField
	A labeled pop-up menu. More...
class	BMenuItem
	Display item for the BMenu class. More...
class	BOptionControl
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BOptionPopUp
	A BMenuField based BControl implementation. More...
class	BOutlineListView
	Expands upon BListView to display a hierarchical list of items. More...
class	BPicture
	Records a series of drawing instructions that can be "replayed" later. More...
class	BPictureButton
	A button draw with a BPicture image instead of a text label. More...
class	BPoint
	A point on a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. More...
class	BPolygon
	A closed, many-sided figure which defines an area in a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. More...
class	BPopUpMenu
	Displays a pop-up menu. More...
class	BRadioButton
	A user interface control used to select between a set of mutually exclusive options. More...
class	BRect
	Defines a rectangular area aligned along pixel dimensions. More...
class	BRegion
	An area composed of rectangles. More...
class	BScreen
	The BScreen class provides methods to retrieve and change display settings. More...
class	BScrollBar
	User interface element used to scroll a target view vertically or horizontally. More...
class	BScrollView
	A convenience class used to add scrolling to a target view. More...
class	BSeparatorItem
	Display separator item for BMenu class. More...
class	BSeparatorView
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BShape
	Encapsulates a Postscript-style "path". More...
class	BShapeIterator
	Allows you to iterate through BShape operations. More...
class	BSize
	A two-dimensional size. More...
class	BStatusBar
	Undocumented class. More...
class	BStringItem
	A list item of a text string used as a member of a BListView or BOutlineListView. More...
class	BStringView
	Draws a non-editable single-line text string, most commonly used as a label. More...
class	BTab
	A tab that goes in a BTabView. More...
class	BTabView
	A container for BTab objects to display all tabs. More...
class	BTextControl
	Displays a labeled text view control. More...
class	BTextView
	Displays and manipulates styled text. More...
class	BView
	View base class. More...
class	BWindow
	Window base class. More...
struct	edge_info
	The distance that a character outline is inset from its escapement boundaries. More...
struct	escapement_delta
	A struct that allows you to specify extra horizontal space to surround each character with. More...
struct	font_cache_info
	Font cache parameters. More...
struct	font_height
	The amount of vertical space surrounding a character. More...
struct	menu_info
	Information about a menu such as font size and family, background color, and flags. More...
struct	pattern
	A pattern to use when drawing. More...
struct	rgb_color
	Structure representing a 32 bit RGBA color. More...
struct	text_run
	text run struct More...
struct	text_run_array
	text run array struct More...
struct	tuned_font_info
	Tuning information of fonts used to make it look better when displayed on-screen. More...
class	unicode_block
	Describes the blocks of Unicode characters supported by a font. More...

Detailed Description

API for displaying a graphical user interface.

Introduction to the Interface Kit

Overview

The Interface Kit holds all the classes you'll need to develop a GUI. Building on the messaging facilities provided by the Application Kit, the Interface Kit can be used to create a responsive and attractive graphical user interface.

The most important class in the Interface Kit is the BView class, which handles drawing and user interaction. Pointer and keyboard events are processed in this class.

Another important class is the BWindow class, which holds BViews and makes them visible to the user. The BWindow class also handles BView focusing and BMessage dispatching, among other things.

A new addition Haiku has added over the BeOS API is the Layout API, which is based around the BLayoutItem and BLayout classes. These classes will take care of making sure all your GUI widgets end up where you want them, with enough space to be useful. You can start learning the Layout API by reading the Introduction to the Layout API.

Coordinate spaces

All APIs using coordinates (such as BRect or BPoint) refer to a specific space where these coordinates are interpreted. BView and BWindow provide various conversion function to translate coordinates between different spaces, as needed, or provide separate methods such as BView Bounds() and Frame(), returning results in different spaces as needed.

The initial coordinate space, from which all others are derived, is the screen space. Its origin is at the center of the screen's top-left pixel. Coordinates can be converted between this and a specific window or view space using the ConvertToScreen and ConvertFromScreen methods of the corresponding object.

Each BWindow has its own coordinate space. Its origin is at the center of the top-left pixel of the window client area (just inside the window border). Root level views added to the window have their frame rectangle defined in this space.

Each BView also gets its own coordinate space. The origin is initially at the top left of the view, but this can be changed by scrolling the view (programatically using ScrollBy or ScrollTo, or by the user acting on a scrollbar).

Additionally, each BView also has a drawing space. This is further transformed from the BView coordinate space by calls to SetOrigin, SetScale, SetTransform, ScaleBy, RotateBy, and TranslateBy. The effects of the first two of these methods are independant from the other four, and it's not recommended to mix the two types of transformations in the same BView. Note that this is the only space that can be scaled and rotated, and translated by non-integer units. All other coordinate spaces are only translations of the screen one and remain aligned on pixels.

All drawing operations in a BView use coordinates specified in the drawing space. However, the update rect passed to the Draw method (or passed to the Invalidate method) is in the BView base coordinate space. Conversion between the two can be done using the affine transform returned by BView::TransformTo.