Kontra

A modern C++ Terminal UI library
because `std::cout` just doesn't cut it anymore.

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🚀 What is Kontra?

Kontra is a C++ library for building sleek terminal UIs - no GUI bloat, no weird DSLs. Just clean code, styled boxes, smooth input, and full control - all in your terminal.

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🚀 Installation & Usage

Getting Kontra TUI into your project is designed to be simple and modern using CMake. Here are the two recommended ways to get started.

Method 1: The Modern Way with CPM.cmake (Recommended ✨)

This is the fastest and easiest way to integrate Kontra. It automatically fetches the library from GitHub when you configure your project.

Prerequisites:

• A C++17 compatible compiler.
• CMake (version 3.16 or higher).

Steps:

1. Download CPM.cmake Download the latest CPM.cmake script from its GitHub repository and place it in a cmake folder within your project.

   YourCoolApp/
   ├── main.cpp
   ├── CMakeLists.txt
   └── cmake/
       └── CPM.cmake
   

2. Add Kontra to your CMakeLists.txt Add the following block to your project's CMakeLists.txt. It will include CPM, download Kontra, and link it to your application.

   # YourCoolApp/CMakeLists.txt
   
   cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
   project(YourCoolApp LANGUAGES CXX)
   
   set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
   set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
   
   # Tell CMake where to find the CPM.cmake script
   list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake")
   include(CPM)
   
   # ----------------------------------------------------
   # ✨ Add Kontra TUI to your project!
   # ----------------------------------------------------
   # This command tells CPM to fetch the Kontra library directly from GitHub.
   # We recommend pinning to a specific version/release tag for stability.
   CPMAddPackage(
       NAME Kontra
       GITHUB_REPOSITORY parv141206/kontra
       GIT_TAG master
   )
   
   # Create your application executable
   add_executable(YourCoolApp main.cpp)
   
   # Link against the 'kontra' library. CPM makes this target available automatically!
   target_link_libraries(YourCoolApp PRIVATE kontra)

3. Configure and Build That's it! Now, when you run CMake to configure your project, it will automatically download and set up Kontra.

   # Create a build directory
   cmake -S . -B build
   
   # Build your project
   cmake --build build

Method 2: The Classic Way with git submodule 📦

This method is great if you want to work offline or have a local copy of the library source code locked to your project's git history.

Prerequisites:

• git installed on your system.
• A C++17 compatible compiler.
• CMake (version 3.16 or higher).

Steps:

1. Add Kontra as a Git Submodule From the root directory of your project, run the following command. This will clone the Kontra repository into a subfolder named external/kontra.

   git submodule add https://github.com/parv141206/kontra.git external/kontra
   git submodule update --init --recursive

   Your project structure will now look like this:

   YourCoolApp/
   ├── main.cpp
   ├── CMakeLists.txt
   └── external/
       └── kontra/
           └── (Kontra TUI source code...)
   

2. Add the Subdirectory in CMakeLists.txt Modify your project's CMakeLists.txt to include the downloaded library as part of your build.

   # YourCoolApp/CMakeLists.txt
   
   cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
   project(YourCoolApp LANGUAGES CXX)
   
   set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
   set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
   
   # ----------------------------------------------------
   # 📦 Add the Kontra TUI subdirectory
   # ----------------------------------------------------
   # This command tells CMake to find and process the CMakeLists.txt
   # inside the submodule folder. This creates the 'kontra' library target.
   add_subdirectory(external/kontra)
   
   # Create your application executable
   add_executable(YourCoolApp main.cpp)
   
   # Link against the 'kontra' library target, which is now available.
   target_link_libraries(YourCoolApp PRIVATE kontra)

3. Configure and Build The process is the same. Because the files are already local, no download will occur.

   # Create a build directory
   cmake -S . -B build
   
   # Build your project
   cmake --build build

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Happy building! 💖 I am excited to see what you create with Kontra TUI :)