IUP is a portable toolkit for building
graphical user interfaces. It offers APIs in three basic languages: C,
Lua and
LED.
Its library contains about 100 functions
for creating and manipulating dialogs.
IUP's purpose is to allow a program to run in different systems without changes - the
toolkit provides the application portability. Supported systems include: GTK+, Motif and Windows.
IUP uses an abstract layout model based on
the boxes-and-glue paradigm from the TEX text editor. This model, combined with the dialog-specification
language (LED)
or with the Lua binding (IupLua)
makes the dialog creation task more flexible
and independent from the graphics system's resolution.
Currently available interface elements can
be categorized as follows:
- Primitives (effective user interaction): dialog, label, button, text, multi-line, list, toggle, canvas, frame, image.
- Composition (ways to show the elements): hbox, vbox, zbox, fill.
- Grouping (definition of a common functionality for a group of elements):
radio.
- Menu (related both to menu bars and to pop-up menus): menu, submenu, item, separator.
- Additional (elements built outside the main library): dial, gauge, matrix, tabs, valuator, OpenGL canvas, color
chooser, color browser.
- Dialogs (useful predefined dialogs): file selection, message, alarm, data input, list selection.
Hence IUP has some advantages over other
interface toolkits available:
- Simplicity: due to the small number of functions and to its attribute mechanism, the learning curve
for a new user is often faster.
- Portability: the same functions are implemented in each one of the platforms, thus assuring the
interface system's portability.
- Customization: the dialog specification language (LED)
and the Lua binding (IupLua)
are two mechanisms in which it is possible
to customize an application for a specific user with a simple-syntax text file.
- Flexibility: its abstract layout mechanism provides flexibility to dialog creation.
- Extensibility: the programmer can create new interface elements as needed.
IUP is free software, can be used for public and commercial applications.
The library is available for several compilers:
- GCC and CC, in the UNIX environment
- Visual C++, Borland C++, Watcom C++ and GCC (Cygwin and MingW), in the Windows environment
The library is available for several operating systems:
- UNIX (SunOS, IRIX, and AIX) using Motif 2.x
- UNIX (FreeBSD and Linux) using GTK+ (since 3.0)
- Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 using the Win32 API
The official support mechanism is by e-mail, using
iup@tecgraf.puc-rio.br.
Before sending your message:
- Check if the reported behavior is not described in the user guide.
- Check if the reported behavior is not described in the specific control or driver characteristics.
- Check the History to see if your version is updated.
- Check the To Do list to see if your problem has already been reported.
If all these points were checked, you can
report your problem. Please specify in your message: function, attribute, callback, platform and
compiler.
We host the IUP support features at SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/iup/. It provides us
Mailing List, CVS Repository and Downloads.
The discussion list is available at:
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/iup-users.
Source code, pre-compiled binaries and documentation can be downloaded at:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=241310.
The CVS can be browsed at:
http://iup.cvs.sourceforge.net/iup/.
If you want us to develop a specific feature for the toolkit, Tecgraf is available for partnerships and
cooperation. Please contact tcg@tecgraf.puc-rio.br.
Lua documentation and resources can be found at http://www.lua.org/.
This work was developed at Tecgraf by means of the partnership with PETROBRAS/CENPES.
Library Authors:
- Marcelo Gattass
- Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo
- Carlos Henrique Levy
- Antonio Scuri
We must also mention engineer Enio Emanuel Russo, from PETROBRAS, who effectively contributed to the system's
specification and project.
Thanks to the people that worked and contributed to the library:
- André Carregal
- André Clinio
- André Costa
- André Derraik
- Carlos Augusto Mendes
- Carlos José Pereira de Lucena
- Claudio Coutinho de Biasi
- Danny Reinhold
- Diego Nehab
- Diogo Martinez
- Guilherme Fonseca Alvarenga
- Henrique Dalcin Mendes Pinheiro
- Heesob Park
- Leonardo Constantino Oliveira
- Luiz Cristóvão Gomes Coelho
- Luiz Martins
- Marian Trifon
- Mark Stroetzel Glasberg
- Mauricio Oliveira Carneiro
- Milton Jonathan
- Neil Armstrong Rezende
- Nicolas Noble
- Otfried Cheong
- Rafael Rieder
- Renato Borges
- Renato Cerqueira
- Roberto Beauclair
- Steve Donovan
- Tomas Guisasola Gorham
- Vinicius Almendra
- Warren Music
Thanks for the SourceForge for
hosting the support features. Thanks for the
LuaForge team for previously hosting the support features for many
years.
IUP is registered at the National Institute of Intellectual Property in
Brazil (INPI) under the number 07569-0, and so it is protected against illegal
use. See the Tecgraf Library License for further
usage information and Copyright.
This toolkit is available at http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/iup.
The full documentation can be downloaded from the Download Files. The documentation is also available in Adobe Acrobat and Windows HTML Help formats.
The HTML navigation uses the WebBook tool, available at
http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/webbook.
This product stimulated the following
scientific publications:
- Scuri, A. "IUP - Portable User Interface". Software Developer's Journal. Dec/2005. [http://en.sdjournal.org/products/articleInfo/2]
[iup_sdj2005.pdf]
- Levy, C. H.; Figueiredo, L. H.; Gattass, M.; Lucena, C.; and Cowan, D. "IUP/LED: A Portable User Interface
Development Tool". Software: Practice & Experience, 26 #7 (1996) 737-762. [spe95.pdf]
- Oliveira Prates, R.; Figueiredo, L. H.; and Gattass, M. "Especificação de Layout Abstrato por Manipulção
Direta". Proceedings of VII SIBGRAPI (1994), 165-172. [sib94.pdf
in Portuguese]
- Oliveira Prates, R.; Gattass, M. ;and Figueiredo, L. H. "Visual LED: uma ferramenta interativa para geração de
interfaces gráficas". M.Sc. dissertation, Computer Science Department, PUC-Rio, 1994. [prates94.pdf
in Portuguese]
- Levy, C. H. "IUP/LED: Uma Ferramenta Portátil de Interface com Usuário".
M.Sc. dissertation, Computer Science
Department, PUC-Rio, 1993.[levy93.pdf
in Portuguese]
- Figueiredo, L. H.;Gattass, M.; and Levy, C.H. "Uma Estratégia de Portabilidade para Aplicações Gráficas
Interativas".
Proceedings of VI SIBGRAPI (1993),
203-211. [sib93.pdf in Portuguese]