# Slint Build Guide This page explains how to build and test Slint. ## Prerequisites ### Installing Rust Install Rust by following the [Rust Getting Started Guide](https://www.rust-lang.org/learn/get-started). If you already have Rust installed, make sure that it's at least version 1.73 or newer. You can check which version you have installed by running `rustc --version`. Once this is done, you should have the `rustc` compiler and the `cargo` build system installed in your path. ### Dependencies * **FFMPEG** * **Skia** (only few available binaries): | Platform | Binaries | | --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Windows | `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` | | Linux Ubuntu 16+
CentOS 7, 8 | `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu` | | macOS | `x86_64-apple-darwin` | | Android | `aarch64-linux-android`
`x86_64-linux-android` | | iOS | `aarch64-apple-ios`
`x86_64-apple-ios` | | WebAssembly | `wasm32-unknown-emscripten` | - Use Skia capable toolchain `rustup default stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` ### Linux For Linux a few additional packages beyond the usual build essentials are needed for development and running apps: - xcb (`libxcb-shape0-dev` `libxcb-xfixes0-dev` on debian based distributions) - xkbcommon (`libxkbcommon-dev` on debian based distributions) - fontconfig library (`libfontconfig-dev` on debian based distributions) - (optional) Qt will be used when `qmake` is found in `PATH` - FFMPEG library `clang` `libavcodec-dev` `libavformat-dev` `libavutil-dev` `libavfilter-dev` `libavdevice-dev` `libasound2-dev` `pkg-config` `xcb` and `xcbcommon` aren't needed if you are only using `backend-winit-wayland` without `backend-winit-x11`. ### macOS - Make sure the "Xcode Command Line Tools" are installed: `xcode-select --install` - (optional) Qt will be used when `qmake` is found in `PATH` - FFMPEG `brew install pkg-config ffmpeg` ### Windows - See [System Link](#symlinks-in-the-repository-windows) - Make sure the MSVC Build Tools are installed: `winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools` - (optional) make sure Qt is installed and `qmake` is in the `Path` - FFMPEG - Option 1: - install [vcpkg](https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg#quick-start-windows) - `vcpkg install ffmpeg --triplet x64-windows` - Make sure `VCPKG_ROOT` is set to where `vcpkg` is installed - Make sure `%VCPKG_ROOT%\installed\x64-windows\bin` is in your path - Option 2: - Download FFMPEG 4.4 shared and extract (https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases/tag/latest) - Add FFMPEG to path: `*\ffmpeg\bin` `*\ffmpeg\include\libavutil` `*\ffmpeg\lib` ### C++ API (optional) To use Slint from C++, the following extra dependencies are needed: - **[cmake](https://cmake.org/download/)** (3.21 or newer) - **[Ninja](https://ninja-build.org)** (Optional, or remove the `-GNinja` when invoking `cmake`) - A C++ compiler that supports C++20 (e.g., **MSVC 2022 17.3** on Windows, or **GCC 10**) ### Node.js API (optional) To use Slint from Node.js, the following extra dependencies are needed. - **[Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/)** (including npm) At this time you will need to use the version 16. - **[Python](https://www.python.org)** ### Symlinks in the repository (Windows) The Slint repository makes use of symbolic links to avoid duplication. On Windows, this require to set a git config before cloning, and have Windows switched in developer mode or do the git clone as Administrator ```sh git clone -c core.symlinks=true https://github.com/slint-ui/slint ``` More info: ## Building and Testing Most of the project is written in Rust, and compiling and running the test can done with cargo. ```sh cargo build cargo test ``` ### Building workspace ** Not recommended ** To build all examples install the entire workplace to executables (excluding [UEFI-demo](https://github.com/slint-ui/slint/tree/master/examples/uefi-demo) - different target) - Build workspace ```sh cargo build --workspace --exclude uefi-demo --release ``` **Important:** Note that `cargo test` does not work without first calling `cargo build` because the the required dynamic library won't be found. ### C++ Tests The C++ tests are contained in the `test-driver-cpp` crate. It requires the Slint C++ library to be built, which isn't done by default. Build it explicitly before running the tests: ```sh cargo build --lib -p slint-cpp cargo test -p test-driver-cpp ``` ### Node.js Tests The Node.js tests are contained in the `test-driver-nodejs` crate. The node integration will be run automatically when running the tests: ```sh cargo build -p test-driver-nodejs ``` ### More Info About Tests For more details about the tests and how they are implemented, see [testing.md](./testing.md). ## C++ API Build The Slint C++ API is implemented as a normal cmake build: ```sh mkdir cppbuild && cd cppbuild cmake -GNinja .. cmake --build . ``` The build will call cargo to build the Rust libraries, and build the examples. To install the libraries and everything you need, use: ```sh cmake --install . ``` You can pass `-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` in the first cmake command in order to choose the installation location. ### Node.js API Build The Slint Node.js API is implemented as npm build. You can build it locally using the following command line: ```sh cd api/node npm install ``` To build your own project against the Git version of the Slint Node.js API, add the path to the `api/node` folder in the dependencies section of your `package.json`: ```json "dependencies": { "slint-ui": "/path/to/api/node" }, ``` ## Cross-Compiling Slint can be cross-compiled to different target architectures and environments. For the Rust build we have had a good experience using [`cross`](https://github.com/rust-embedded/cross). For convenience we're including a `Cross.toml` configuration file for `cross` in the source tree along with Docker containers that allow targeting a Debian ARMv7 and ARMv8 based Distribution with X11 or Wayland, out of the box. If you want to use the default Cross containers or your own, make sure the [dependencies](#Prerequisites) are in the container. This includes for example the Raspberry Pi OS. Using the following steps you can run the examples on a pi: ```sh cross build --target armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf --workspace --exclude slint-node --exclude pyslint --release scp target/armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf/release/printerdemo pi@raspberrypi.local:. ``` Finally on a shell on the Pi: ```sh DISPLAY=:0 ./printerdemo ``` ## Examples See the [examples](/examples) folder for examples to build, run and test. ## Running the Viewer Slint also includes a viewer tool that can load `.slint` files dynamically at run-time. It's a cargo-integrated binary and can be run directly on the `.slint` files, for example: ```sh cargo run --release --bin slint-viewer -- examples/printerdemo/ui/printerdemo.slint ``` ## Generating the Documentation The Slint documentation consists of five parts: - The tutorials - The Rust API documentation - The C++ API documentation - The Node.js API documentation - The DSL documentation ### Tutorials There are three tutorials built with mdbook, one for each of the three languages supported by Slint. **Prerequisites**: - [mdbook](https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/guide/installation.html) #### Rust tutorial ```shell mdbook build docs/quickstart/rust ``` #### C++ tutorial ```shell mdbook build docs/quickstart/cpp ``` #### NodeJS tutorial ```shell mdbook build docs/quickstart/node ``` ### Slint DSL docs **Prerequisites**: - [pipenv](https://pipenv.pypa.io/en/latest/) - [Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/) Use the following command line to build the documentation for the Slint DSL using `rustdoc` to the `target/slintdocs/html` folder: ```shell cargo xtask slintdocs --show-warnings ``` ### Rust API docs Run the following command to generate the documentation using rustdoc in the `target/doc/` sub-folder: ```sh RUSTDOCFLAGS="--html-in-header=$PWD/docs/resources/slint-docs-preview.html --html-in-header=$PWD/docs/resources/slint-docs-highlight.html" cargo doc --no-deps --features slint/document-features,slint/log ``` Note: `--html-in-header` arguments passed to rustdoc via `RUSTDOCFLAGS` are used to enable syntax highlighting and live-preview for Slint example snippets. ### C++ API docs **Prerequisites**: - [Doxygen](https://www.doxygen.nl/download.html) Run the following command to generate the documentation using sphinx/exhale/breathe/doxygen/myst_parser in the `target/cppdocs` sub-folder: ```sh cargo xtask cppdocs ``` ### Node.js API docs Run the following commands from the `/api/node` sub-folder to generate the docs using [typedoc](https://typedoc.org/) in the `/api/node/docs` sub-folder: ```sh npm install npm run docs ```