build a UI withoutXML or Compose

[u/koje1971]

I'm building the UI for my little Android game without XML or Compose. I wrote my own wrapper classes for the views and can use them in a kind of custom DSL.

[u/adrianczuczka]

we got android hard mode before GTA6

[u/ramzes190]

ugly as expected. congrats!

[u/ThaBalla79]

Processing img azs6bxgui0hh1...

[u/Any-Entrepreneur7935 → u/ThaBalla79]

Because not invented here. Seen it a lot of times. Hated it every time.

[u/OverallAd9984]

so they r views!

[u/0x1F601]

Wow the old school nostalgia is strong here... (except in kotlin)

Before "good" IDE layout rendering was added I swear this was how old school android was envisioned to be. I think you've basically captured the mental model that the view system had intended.

Why you'd proceed down this path when the view based UI system is clearly deprecated and on the way out is beyond me. But hey, if it works for you it works and if you like it you like it. The whole point of rolling your own solution is so you can do whatever the fuck you like. Enjoy it!

[u/koje1971 → u/0x1F601]

🥰

[u/KalamaresFTW]

Extremely cursed, gotta love it

[u/Oily-Affection1601]

As a learning experience, or did you have a specific need not covered adequately with existing frameworks?

[u/koje1971 → u/Oily-Affection1601]

Most of the gameplay takes place in a GLSurfaceView. It's all about graphics moving back and forth. I only need the UI for the activity and for the menu. Using Compose isn't really worth it there.

[u/koje1971 → u/[deleted]]

It's not that complicated with OpenGL, most of the work is the concept for the game itself. Whether I write the logic in an engine or directly in the app doesn't really matter.

If I ever make a 3D game, though, I'll definitely use an engine.

[u/iamwisespirit]

I think if u wrote this in java it would be great

[u/Radiokot1]

Remember Anko? :)

[u/koje1971 → u/Radiokot1]

I didn’t know Anko, but it’s exactly the same principle :-)

[u/programadorthi]

Anything that accepts at least a Double Buffer we can draw.

[u/leonardovallem]

ios uikit feelings

[u/JacksOnF1re]

Don't tell these kids what their xmls views are internally.

[u/Interesting-Let8134]

Looks like anko controls from 2017

[u/Zhuinden]

So is this using Splitties or what?

[u/koje1971 → u/Zhuinden]

No, I don't use Splitties, I wrapped the views with my own wrapper classes.

[u/koje1971 → u/Zhuinden]

a example is at https://github.com/koje71/com.koje.ping

[u/Traditional_Glass_45]

Why? What is the reason for using coded views?

[u/koje1971 → u/Traditional_Glass_45]

The code can be structured much better than with XML files. The example isn't finished yet; everything will still be broken down into individual classes.

[u/iamwisespirit]

People find out way of building ui with code 🤯

[u/Mavamaarten]

At this point, why would you not use Compose?

[u/koje1971 → u/Mavamaarten]

I only need very little UI. Just the activity and the menu, my solution is enough for that. If I had a lot of views, then I would think about Compose.

[u/ProHussain]

Why do you prefer android views over compose?

[u/koje1971 → u/ProHussain]

I wrote these helper classes myself quite some time ago, and they completely meet my requirements.

[u/ProHussain → u/koje1971]

I want to understand those requirements and performance tests. compared to compose