GUI Programming

GUI Frameworks

AmigaOS has a number of GUI frameworks (or toolkits) available. Many other GUI frameworks may exist but only the ones which are installed by default are documented here.

Each framework has its own strengths and weaknesses. Frameworks may also be combined and elements may even be shared between them. It is up to the programmer to choose the GUI framework that works best for their application and end customers.

The following GUI frameworks are installed and available by default on AmigaOS:

• Intuition
• GadTools
• BOOPSI
• ReAction
• MUI

Much more info. coming soon...

Intuition

Up until Release 1.3, the only way to program a GUI on the Amiga was to use basic Intuition elements. Intuition is the collective name for the function libraries, data structures and other elements needed to create a graphical interface for Amiga applications. It is described more fully in the Amiga Graphical User Interface.

Intuition provides the following GUI elements:

• Screens
• Windows
• Menus
• Gadgets
• Images
• IntuiText
• Borders
• Requesters
• Alerts

All the other GUI frameworks build upon these basic Intuition GUI elements.

Context and Input/Output

Describe how I/O works including how the input.device Task is involved.