Cpp20 Modules

@page cpp20-modules C++20 Modules

[!WARNING] This feature is still in development, and the API may change in future releases. Your contribution is needed to help us improve the compatibility and usability of C++ modules in FTXUI. If you encounter any issues or have suggestions, please open an issue.

FTXUI experimentally supports C++20 modules to reduce compilation times and improve code organization. Each part of the library has a corresponding module, split into partitions per each header.

Use the FTXUI_BUILD_MODULES option to build the FTXUI project itself to provide C++20 modules, for example with CMake and Ninja:

cmake \
    -DCMAKE_GENERATOR=Ninja \
    -DFTXUI_BUILD_MODULES=ON \
    ..

ninja

[!NOTE] To use modules, you need a C++≥20 compatible compiler, CMake version 3.20 or higher, and use a compatible generator like Ninja. Note that Makefile generators do not support modules.

Then, in your own code you can consume the modules and code as normal:

import ftxui;

using ftxui::Button;
using ftxui::App;

int main() {
  auto screen = App::TerminalOutput();
  auto button = Button("Click me", screen.ExitLoopClosure());
  screen.Loop(button);
  return 0;
}

Note, the ftxui convenience module which simply pulls together all the modules:

export import ftxui.component;
export import ftxui.dom;
export import ftxui.screen;
export import ftxui.util;

You can instead import only the module(s) you need if desired.

To properly find and link the modules with CMake, use target_link_libraries to get the right compiler, linker, etc. flags.

target_link_libraries(my_executable
    #...whatever...
    PRIVATE ftxui::modules
)

Module list

The modules directly reference the corresponding header, or a group of related headers to provide a more convenient interface. The following modules are available:

• ftxui
  • ftxui.component
  • ftxui.dom
  • ftxui.screen
  • ftxui.util