[Library] Neutron.ahk - AutoHotkey Web GUIs on Steroids (now for v2!)
Posted: 04 Jun 2020, 00:06
Welcome to Neutron
See HERE for AHKv2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neutron provides a powerful set of tools for build HTML-based user interfaces with AutoHotkey. It leverages the Trident engine, known for its use in Internet Explorer, because of its deep integration with the Microsoft Windows operating system and its wide availability across systems.
Notable features:
Listen and watch about Neutron on YouTube, from the May 2020 webinar recording. This was for a very early version of Neutron but it still contains many of the core concepts.
Getting Started with Neutron
The Neutron library is designed to be minimally invasive, easily included into existing scripts without major modifications. Neutron GUIs are created and managed similarly to native AutoHotkey GUIs.
Because all controls are now created through the HTML you provide to Neutron, you're going to need a new way to set up event handlers like the button gLabels you may be familiar with from native GUIs. Neutron provides the HTML/JS with a way to call functions defined in your AutoHotkey source. This is a very convenient method to set up event handlers.
The AHK function will receive any parameters passed by the JavaScript, with an extra "neutron" parameter passed in first that contains the Neutron instance that triggered the event.
Neutron offers a number of shorthands and utility methods to make it easier to interact with the page from AutoHotkey. A non-exhaustive list of these is below:
There's plenty more to be learned about Neutron from browsing its source and examples. Neutron's source is commented with great detail, and many methods have full runnable usage examples in the comments alongside them.
Neutron Examples
Neutron comes with a few example scripts to demonstrate how to use the library in a variety of situations. None of them are a one-size-fits-all solution, but they can be a great starting point for building your own Neutron UIs.
Template
Complexity: 1 / 5
Complexity: 2 / 5
Complexity: 2 / 5
Complexity: 4 / 5
Compiling Neutron Scripts
Some Neutron scripts may require many dependencies, such as HTML, CSS, JS, SVG, and image files. By following a few rules, your Neutron script can be compiled into a portable exe that contains all these dependencies internally, without needing to extract them to a temporary directory for use. Follow these rules to make your script work best when compiled:
Copyright Disclaimer
The core components of this library have been released under the MIT license, but some examples contain third party code where other or additional license restrictions may apply.
Examples/Bootstrap/bootstrap.min.css
Examples/Bootstrap/bootstrap.min.js
Examples/Bootstrap/jquery.min.js
Download Neutron
See HERE for AHKv2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neutron provides a powerful set of tools for build HTML-based user interfaces with AutoHotkey. It leverages the Trident engine, known for its use in Internet Explorer, because of its deep integration with the Microsoft Windows operating system and its wide availability across systems.
Notable features:
- Create GUIs with HTML, CSS, JS, and AHK all working together.
- Make responsive user interfaces that reflow when you resize the window, and scroll when elements go out of view.
- Full customization of the title bar including fonts and colors.
- Make better looking interfaces easily with web frameworks like Bootstrap.
- Compile resources into your script and access them without extracting. Very useful for including images in the script!
Listen and watch about Neutron on YouTube, from the May 2020 webinar recording. This was for a very early version of Neutron but it still contains many of the core concepts.
Getting Started with Neutron
The Neutron library is designed to be minimally invasive, easily included into existing scripts without major modifications. Neutron GUIs are created and managed similarly to native AutoHotkey GUIs.
Code: Select all
; --- Creating a GUI ---
; Traditional syntax:
Gui, name:New,, title
Gui, name:Add, ...
; Neutron syntax:
name := new NeutronWindow("html", "css", "js", "title")
; or
name := new NeutronWindow("<!DOCTYPE html><html>full html document</html>")
; or
name := new NeutronWindow()
name.Load("file.html")
; --- Giving Window Options ---
; Traditional syntax:
Gui, name:+Option +Option
; Neutron syntax:
name.Gui("+Option +Option")
; --- Showing the GUI ---
; Traditional syntax:
Gui, name:Show, w800 h600
; Neutron syntax:
name.Show("w800 h600")
; --- Handling Events ---
; Traditional syntax:
Gui, name:+LabelNamedGui
return
NamedGuiClose:
NamedGuiEscape:
NamedGuiDropFiles:
MsgBox, Events!
return
; Neutron syntax:
name.Gui("+LabelNamedGui")
return
NamedGuiClose:
NamedGuiEscape:
NamedGuiDropFiles:
MsgBox, Events!
return
; --- Hiding the GUI ---
; Traditional syntax:
Gui, name:Hide
; Neutron syntax:
name.Hide()
; --- Destroying the GUI ---
; Traditional syntax:
Gui, name:Destroy
; Neutron syntax:
name.Destroy()The AHK function will receive any parameters passed by the JavaScript, with an extra "neutron" parameter passed in first that contains the Neutron instance that triggered the event.
Code: Select all
neutron := new NeutronWindow("<button onclick='ahk.Clicked(event)'>Hi</button>")
neutron.Show()
return
Clicked(neutron, event)
{
MsgBox, % "You clicked: " event.target.innerText
}Code: Select all
neutron := new NeutronWindow("<span>a</span><span>b</span><span>c</span>")
; neutron.doc
; Equivalent to "document" in JS, used to access page contents
MsgBox, % neutron.doc.body.outerHTML
; neutron.wnd
; Equivalent to "window" in JS, used to access JS functions and variables
neutron.wnd.alert("Hi")
; neutron.qs("CSS Selector")
; Equivalent to "document.querySelector" in JS
element := neutron.qs(".main span")
; neutron.qsa("CSS Selector")
; Equivalent to "document.querySelectorAll" in JS
elements := neutron.qsa(".main span")
; neutron.Each(collection)
; Allow enumeration of JS arrays / element collections
for index, element in neutron.Each(elements)
MsgBox, % index ": " element.innerText
; neutron.GetFormData(formElement)
; More easily processing of form data
formData := neutron.GetFormData(formElement)
MsgBox, % formData.fieldName ; Pull a single field
for name, value in formData ; Iterate all fields
MsgBox, %name%: %value%
; Escape values to place into HTML
; neutron.EscapeHTML("unsafe text")
neutron.qs(".main").innerHTML := "<div>" neutron.EscapeHTML("a<'&>z") "</div>"
; neutron.FormatHTML("format string", "unsafe text 1", "unsafe text 2", ...)
neutron.qs(".main").innerHTML := neutron.FormatHTML("<div>{}</div>", "a<'&>z")Neutron Examples
Neutron comes with a few example scripts to demonstrate how to use the library in a variety of situations. None of them are a one-size-fits-all solution, but they can be a great starting point for building your own Neutron UIs.
Template
Complexity: 1 / 5
ImagesThis example is designed to show how to use the default Neutron template page. Because it uses the default template, it is also the simplest example to use and tweak as a beginner. It is also designed to show how you would apply your own theming to the template without having to modify it directly, by applying CSS styling to the built-in template title bar elements.
Complexity: 2 / 5
SimpleThis example demonstrates displaying images through a tabbed multi-page interface. When compiled, this image gallery will stay contained in the exe file without having to extract the image resources to use them on the page.
Complexity: 2 / 5
BootstrapThis example, while named Simple, is not the most simplistic example. Instead, it is designed to demonstrate all of Neutron's built in behavior as a single custom page. It is meant to be simple by comparison to other examples like the Bootstrap example which demonstrate extending Neutron's functionality with third party web frameworks.
Complexity: 4 / 5
This example is designed to show how you can use third party frameworks like Bootstrap to build advanced user interfaces, while still keeping all the code local. This script can be compiled and still function fine without the need to extract any files to a temporary directory. As this example is more advanced, it assumes a stronger familiarity with the technology and may gloss over some parts more than other examples. If you're just getting started it may be helpful to work with some of the other example scripts first.
Compiling Neutron Scripts
Some Neutron scripts may require many dependencies, such as HTML, CSS, JS, SVG, and image files. By following a few rules, your Neutron script can be compiled into a portable exe that contains all these dependencies internally, without needing to extract them to a temporary directory for use. Follow these rules to make your script work best when compiled:
- Any dependent files must be in the same directory as your AutoHotkey script file.
- Reference dependent files by name only, without any path portion.
- In AHK: neutron.Load("index.html")
- In HTML: <script src="index.js">, <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet">, <img src="image.jpg">
- Have a FileInstall for each dependent file somewhere in the script. Put this somewhere that it won't be reached, such as just below the return after your auto-execute section.
Copyright Disclaimer
The core components of this library have been released under the MIT license, but some examples contain third party code where other or additional license restrictions may apply.
Examples/Bootstrap/bootstrap.min.css
Code: Select all
/*!
* Bootstrap v4.5.0 (https://getbootstrap.com/)
* Copyright 2011-2020 The Bootstrap Authors
* Copyright 2011-2020 Twitter, Inc.
* Licensed under MIT (https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/LICENSE)
*/Code: Select all
/*!
* Bootstrap v4.3.1 (https://getbootstrap.com/)
* Copyright 2011-2019 The Bootstrap Authors (https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/graphs/contributors)
* Licensed under MIT (https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/LICENSE)
*/Code: Select all
/*! jQuery v3.5.1 | (c) JS Foundation and other contributors | jquery.org/license */Download Neutron
.
Just ran all the examples, awesome indeed. Thank you!
moefr01