UI Frameworks

Empty Keys UI v1.7.5 is out with better styling support, tab navigation, performance changes and few fixed bugs. Simple Tetris game was ported from WPF to MonoGame example just for fun. :slight_smile:

Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afc/382
Examples on GitHub - https://github.com/EmptyKeys/UI_Examples
New MonoGame only NuGet - https://www.nuget.org/packages/EmptyKeysUI_MonoGame

Empty Keys UI v1.8 is out with ScrollViewer panning support, Slider ticks and fixed bugs. NuGet updated.

Release Notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afpgj/2#410

Old post, but I am really surprised there isnā€™t a monogame editor like this already. Unity has one but its code is really terrible. Monogame has way better design and supports .NET 4.5. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Also @filcon ā€¦ really interested in EmptyKeys. Looks really good. Iā€™ll be checking that out. Is there a reason why it is not opensource? I think youā€™ll get more donations that way. :smiley:

No time or resources to make it open source and to be honest no reason to do so. UI Generator is open source so you can make your own custom controls etc. without main lib source. I might open source engine specific libs in future tho.

No reason to do so? Hahaā€¦ I think thatā€™s debatable, to put it lightly. There is way more to gain from open source code than not. If you donā€™t have the time and resources to make it open source, others can help you. Thatā€™s the point of it.

Having a closed spirit towards your products is kind of old skool, and feels a little backwards these days. IMO, of course. :stuck_out_tongue: Additionally, I also think itā€™s a disservice to close source something that is based on an idea/product that is open source and available as such. Just something to consider. :smile:

Donā€™t get me wrong, I fully intend on donating to your cause if I end up using your project. I just know that you would probably get more donations from users if it was open source. At the very least, you would get a better/bigger community created around it ā€“ which ultimately leads to a better product!

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe when code is clean and nice, meantime anyone can use ILSpy to check it out.

Iā€™ve created a number of open source projects in my time and itā€™s never as simple as it sounds. In my experience just shoving the code on github is not enough to make a successful open source project. You need to actively put in effort to build a community around it and manage contributors. Itā€™s surprising how much work is involved. It really does take more time and resources than keeping the code closed.

I agree that keeping things closed is a bit old skool these days. It really depends on the type of product youā€™re creating though. Some products work better open source and others donā€™t. I wouldnā€™t really call it a disservice to keep the code closed. It either solves your problem or it doesnā€™t. Simple as that.

Maybe, maybe not. Even in the biggest, most successful open source projects the donations tend to be pretty small. Building a big community is definitely a good thing, but usually donations are not the main source of revenue. Often the community is built around an open source free product and the revenue comes from selling other things, sometimes closed source software.

When I look around the icons on my desktop, about half of the software I use regularly is open source and the other half is closed source commercial products. The fact is, Iā€™m happy to pay for software if it solves my problems, even if thereā€™s an open source free alternative. Open source is not always the better product.

Disservice might be a little strong, then. Perhaps better spoken is ā€œcuts against the grain ofā€¦ā€ :smile:

True, and thank you for your great feedback/input. I have not ran an open source project with multiple contributors so I should keep my mouth shut. :stuck_out_tongue:

I guess my biggest perceived benefit of open source is accessibility and quality. If I run into a problem I can submit a PR or just compile the code myself with the fix (in case the repo is stale). But that doesnā€™t have to be the case in a closed source product that has active owners.

On that note, the reason why I am even considering @filconā€™s product is that it is the most active and project with the most recent activity. I also appreciated that he constantly posted on this thread when a new release was made. Heā€™s serious about it! I hope to look into it soon and see what itā€™s all about.

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I have not ran an open source project with multiple contributors so I should keep my mouth shut.

Yeah, running an open source project certainly isnā€™t easy. Iā€™ve had a few attempts and learned a lot in the process. The latest one is MonoGame.Extended which is going pretty well. Thereā€™s a few contributors already and I think itā€™ll benefit many MonoGame users as it grows.

I follow this thread because Iā€™m very interested making tools and libraries for MonoGame developers. Adding some sort of UI support to MonoGame.Extended is on the cards. Maybe itā€™ll be an extension to Empty Keys, maybe itā€™ll be something else entirely. Iā€™m not sure yet.

Here we go

Core, MonoGame and Paradox3d libraries. Still not happy about some implementations there, but it works.

Empty Keys UI v1.9 is out, ScrollViewer fixes, DataGrid sorting command and much more. NuGet updated.

Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afpgj/2#1552

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Empty Keys UI v1.10 is out, new Radio Button, support for custom mouse Cursors, Data Grid Length, new NuGet packages and fixed bugs.

Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afpgj/2#1620
NuGet packages - http://www.nuget.org/profiles/EmptyKeys

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Good work on keeping updates flowing for this library. It looks great.

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Empty Keys UI v1.11 is out with new Chart and GroupBox controls, fixed Popup control and changes in UI Generator.

Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afc/1649
NuGets - https://www.nuget.org/profiles/EmptyKeys

A few days ago, bindings for noesisGUI were released.

Contact us if you want more information, trial, licenses, etc.

Empty Keys UI v1.12 is out with support for Behaviors, better Chart control, new routed events and fixed bugs.

Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afc/1739
NuGets - https://www.nuget.org/profiles/EmptyKeys

UI v1.13 is out with new TextBox features (selection, copy/cut/paste, undo/redo), better tab navigation and much more.

MonoGame NuGet supports UAP now.

Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afc/1853
NuGet - https://www.nuget.org/packages/EmptyKeysUI_MonoGame/

Empty Keys UI v2.0 is out with Compile time generated bindings support and fixed bugs.

Compile time generated bindings info - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/139
Release notes - http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afpgj/3#1889

Empty Keys UI 2.1 is out with new ListBox selection mode, better drag & drop, UWP example and more. This release was tested on MonoGame 3.5.1.

Release notes: http://emptykeys.com/Community/aft/11/afpgj/3#1925
NuGets: http://www.nuget.org/profiles/EmptyKeys