GUI Library for MonoGame

Question

Is there any GuiLibrary available, which works with MonoGame? I know there are some GUI Libraries for XNA but I assume most will not work with MonoGame.

Even simple stuff like Buttons and Inputfields would help me...

Thanks.

Answer 1

I asked myself the exact same question a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that suited my needs but what I did find might help.

Here are a few XNA GUI projects I've found that might be compatible with MonoGame. I'm not really sure which ones are better than others and I haven't really tried them, but I've collected a few options.

Sorry, I don't have enough rep to post hyperlinks.

xWinForms (sourceforge.net/projects/xwinforms/)

XNA Simple GUI (simplegui.codeplex.com)

Window System for XNA (wsx.codeplex.com)

Squid (www.ionstar.org)

Ruminate XNA 4.0 GUI (xnagui.codeplex.com)

Nuclex Framework (nuclexframework.codeplex.com)

CEGUI# (sourceforge.net/projects/ceguisharp/) a port of CEGUI (http://www.cegui.org.uk)

MQuickGUI (www.ogre3d.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=MQuickGUI) made for the Ogre / Mogre engine but could be adapted to XNA.

Xpf by Red Badger (red-badger.com/blog/2012/07/05/xpf-to-be-open-sourced/) - An implementation of WPF for mobile devices. It looks good but I can't see a way to download it. It was announced to be open sourced on 5 July 2012 but I don't think that has happened yet.

I collected these links recently because I'm currently in the process of developing a GUI system for MonoGame specifically for mobile devices. I don't think any of the existing GUI options suit mobile devices very well.

It's only in the very early stages of development and I can't say when it will be ready for use. You can read about it on my blog.

http://www.craftworkgames.com/blog/

If rendering text is good enough to get you started I've posted a tutorial on my blog about text rendering with MonoGame using BMFont.

http://www.craftworkgames.com/blog/tutorial-bmfont-rendering-with-monogame/

I'll be following this question in case someone else comes up with a better answer. If not, at least I know that developing my own GUI system is not a terrible idea.

Answer 2

One option that you have is GWEN port for the .Net if you don't mind writing the MonoGame adaptation layer. The original C++ library is written by Garry Newman. The layer is easy to create, and there are plenty of examples available in the code base.

While GWEN might not be outright better than other GUI libraries, it has following advantages:

• Simple
• Easy to theme
• Has quite many controls available
• It is not a framework, rather a library
• Doesn't rely on XML or any other kind of markup

On the other hand, I've found out following downsides:

• It may not be as flexible as other GUI libraries
• It does not come with ready made layout managers
• No XML

Answer 3

NuclearWinter works with MonoGame.