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Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2022 2:08 pm**

Mod-Info-Header

Name: Poly Modding Framework
Version: 0.1.0
Factorio-Version: 1.1.61
Description:
License: MIT
Release: 2022-08-20
Download-Url: Download
Website: https://biterunion.github.io/poly
Dependencies: None.
Category: Lib.

I started writing a base planner mod a few weeks ago and realized that I spent most of my time writing boring, boilerplate GUI code. To speed-up implementation and also to have a more clean and structured approach to GUIs, I moved all GUI code to a separate framework mod. This has now evolved into a first proof-of-concept implementation called Poly: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/poly.

The main advantage of Poly (in my opinion) is that it allows to write GUIs in a declarative style instead of LuaGuiElement's low-level imperative style. This allows for cleaner code that is much easier to understand. This is a simple example to give you an idea how it looks:
Code: Select all
```
Window:new {
    -- configure window's titlebar
    titlebar = { title = 'Counter' },

    -- add content to the window
    Frame:new {
        name = 'content',
        direction = 'horizontal',
        style = { 'inside_shallow_frame_with_padding' },

        Flow:new {
            name = 'counter',
            style = 'player_input_horizontal_flow',

            Label:new { name = 'counter_caption', caption = 'My Counter' },
            -- add button for opening CaptionDialog
            SpriteButton:new { style = 'tool_button', sprite = 'utility/rename_icon_normal',
                               on_gui_click = EventHandler:register(WindowManager, 'open',
                               -- WindowManager:open's arguments:
                                       WindowManager.Anchor.screen(player), CaptionDialog) },
            SpinnerLabel:new { name = 'counter_value', initial_value = 0 }
        }
    }
}
```
Poly also has convenient APIs for event handling and managing multiple windows, e.g., to show modal dialogs. You can find more details in the docs.

I wanted to post this here to maybe get some feedback.
Is there any demand for a framework like this?
What do you think of the declarative style?
Do you have any suggestions?

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:19 pm**

On the surface, this looks similar to the gui framework provided in Factorio Library (FLIB), used by mods like Factory Planner, in a more compact style. It will be interesting to see the differences in implemtation and developer preference. Thank you for sharing!

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:45 pm**

I didn't know about flib, thanks for the link! It does indeed look quite similar.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:05 am**

I had a closer look at flib and think I have a better understanding now of the differences to my mod. My goal for Poly is to provide concepts on how to implement whole aspects of mods (e.g. multiple GUIs or how to store data in global in a concise way) instead of loosely coupled utilities like in flib. I think there are use-cases for both approaches.

I am currently working on cleaning up and testing my proof-of-concept implementation and will post updates once new functionality has been added.

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Poly Modding Framework

Poly Modding Framework

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