Canvas (GUI)

In computer science and visualization, a canvas is a container that holds various drawing elements (lines, shapes, text, frames containing other elements, etc.). It takes its name from the canvas used in visual arts. It is sometimes called a scene graph because it arranges the logical representation of a user interface or graphical scene. Some implementations also define the spatial representation and allow the user to interact with the elements via a graphical user interface.[1]

Library support

Various free and open-source canvas or scene-graph libraries allow developers to construct a user interface and/or user-interface elements for their computer programs.[2]

Examples of free and open-source scene-graph canvas options include:

• in C, Evas (in EFL) from the Enlightenment project
• in C, Clutter, associated with the GNOME project
• in C, GTK+ Scene Graph Kit (GSK)
• in C++ or optionally in Qt's own markup language QML: Qt Quick, provides a scenegraph associated with the Qt project
• in C++, OpenSceneGraph, a 3D graphics API using OpenGL
• in C++, the OGRE engine, based on a scene graph, supports multiple scene managers
• in C++, OpenSG, a scene-graph system for real-time graphics, with clustering support and multi-thread safety
• in C++, the FlightGear Flight Simulator uses a custom Canvas system (LGPL'ed via SimGear[3]) that is hardware-accelerated using OpenSceneGraph/OpenGL, OpenVG/ShivaVG:[4] The FlightGear Canvas system
• in Java, the Java FX scene graph with 2D and 3D functionality
• in Tcl and other languages such as Perl, Python (Tkinter[5]), and Ruby, the Tk toolkit provides a canvas widget for 2D graphics [6][7]
• in Tcl[8] and other languages such as Perl[9] and Python,[10] TkZinc is an extended replacement for the Tk canvas, which adds support for hierarchical grouping, clipping, affine transformations, anti-aliasing, and specific items for air traffic control.

Some canvas modules within various libraries do not provide the power of a full scene-graph - they operate at a lower level which requires programmers to provide code such as mapping mouse-clicks to objects in the canvas. Examples of libraries which include such a canvas module include:

• in C++, KDE Plasma Workspaces Corona canvas
• the Canvas element in HTML5
• for Java, the AWT library Canvas
• for Java, the Java FX library Canvas
• for Java, the Swing library Canvas
• for Java, the SWT library Canvas, associated with Eclipse
• for Java-like JavaScript, the GWT library Canvas
• in C++, the papyrus Canvas library which renders using the Cairo (graphics) library
• in C, crcanvas, a GTK+ canvas widget which renders using the Cairo (graphics) library
• in C, GooCanvas, a GTK+ canvas widget which renders using the Cairo (graphics) library

Proprietary canvas libraries include, for example:

• the Microsoft Windows Win32 Canvas

References

1. "tk-zinc-3.303 - TkZinc is another Canvas which proposes many new functions, some based on openGL - metacpan.org". metacpan.org.
2. "Snelle WordPress hosting bij mijn.host". mijn.host. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2016-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "Canvas Development - FlightGear wiki". wiki.flightgear.org.
5. "GUI Programming with Python: Canvas Widget". python-course.eu.
6. "TkDocs - Tk Tutorial - Canvas". tkdocs.com.
7. "canvas manual page - Tk Built-In Commands". tcl.tk.
8. "zinc". wiki.tcl-lang.org.
9. "tk-zinc-3.303 - TkZinc is another Canvas which proposes many new functions, some based on openGL - metacpan.org". metacpan.org.
10. "TkZinc - Python Wiki". wiki.python.org.