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Documentation Index

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LWXGL (Lightweight X11 Graphics Library) is a single shared library that wraps Xlib to give you a simple, procedural C API for building desktop GUI applications on Linux. Add a window, drop in buttons, text fields, checkboxes, image canvases, and consoles — all managed through integer element IDs and a straightforward render loop.

Quickstart

Create your first LWXGL window and run a render loop in minutes.

Build & Install

Compile libLWXGL.so from source and install the header system-wide.

UI Elements Guide

Buttons, text labels, input fields, checkboxes, rectangles, and consoles.

API Reference

Full reference for every function exported by libLWXGL.

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What LWXGL Provides

LWXGL gives you everything needed to build functional X11 GUI applications without dealing with Xlib directly:

Window Management

Create, title, resize, and destroy X11 windows with a handful of calls.

UI Widgets

Buttons, text labels, input fields, checkboxes, and rectangle containers — all with hover and click states.

Image Canvases

Pixel-addressable canvases for custom 2D graphics, with primitives for rects, circles, lines, and sprites.

Event System

Attach callbacks for keyboard, mouse, window close, and resize events.

16-Color Palette

A built-in 16-color palette that can be queried and modified at runtime.

Virtual Screens

Group elements into virtual screens and switch between them dynamically.

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Getting Started

1

Build and install the library

Clone the repository, compile the shared library, and install it:
git clone https://github.com/DRessedAlarm184/LWXGL.git
cd LWXGL
make build
sudo make install
2

Include the header

Add libLWXGL.h to your C or C++ source file:
#include <libLWXGL.h>
3

Create a window and run the loop

#include <libLWXGL.h>

void on_frame(int tick, float dt) {
    // your per-frame logic here
}

int main() {
    GCreateWindow(640, 480, "My Window", 0);
    GSimpleWindowLoop(60, on_frame);
    GTerminateWindow();
    return 0;
}
4

Compile and link

gcc -o myapp main.c -lLWXGL
./myapp
LWXGL requires Xlib (-lX11) at runtime. Ensure libx11-dev (or equivalent) is installed on your system before building.

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