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# Ooui
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Ooui (pronounced *weeee!* ) is a small cross-platform UI library for .NET that uses web technologies.
It presents a classic object-oriented UI API that controls a dumb browser. With Ooui, you get the full power of your favorite .NET programming language *plus* the ability to interact with your app using any device.
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## Try it out!
```
dotnet restore
dotnet run --project Samples/Samples.csproj
```
Then open your browser to `http://localhost:8080`
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## Quick Example
```csharp
using Ooui;
// Create the UI
var button = new Button($"Click me!");
// Add some logic to it
var count = 0;
button.Clicked += (s, e) => {
count++;
button.Text = $"Clicked {count} times";
};
// Publishing makes an object available at a given URL
// The user should be directed to http://localhost:8080/button
UI.Publish("/button", button);
```
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With just that code, the user will be presented with a silly click counting button.
In fact, any number of users can hit that URL and start interacting with the same button. That's right, automatic collaboration!
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If you want each user to get their own button, then you will `Publish` a function to create it instead:
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```csharp
Button MakeButton() {
var button = new Button($"Click me!");
var count = 0;
button.Clicked += (s, e) => {
count++;
button.Text = $"Clicked {count} times";
};
return button;
}
UI.Publish("/button", MakeButton);
```
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Now every user (well, every load of the page) will get their own button.
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## How it works
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When the user requests a page, Ooui will connect to the client using a Web Socket. This socket is used to keep an in-memory model of the UI (the one you work with as a programmer) in sync with the actual UI shown to the user in their browser. This is done using a simple messaging protocol with JSON packets.
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When the user clicks or otherwise interacts with the UI, those events are sent back over the web socket so that your code can deal with them.
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## Comparison
< table >
< thead > < tr > < th > UI Library< / th > < th > Ooui< / th > < th > Xamarin.Forms< / th > < th > ASP.NET MVC< / th > < / tr > < / thead >
< tr >
< th > How big is it?< / th >
< td > 50 KB< / td >
< td > 2,000 KB< / td >
< td > 5,000 KB< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > Where does it run?< / th >
< td > Everywhere< / td >
< td > iOS, Android, Mac, Windows< / td >
< td > Windows, Linux, Mac< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > How do I make a button?< / th >
< td > < pre > new Button()< / pre > < / td >
< td > < pre > new Button()< / pre > < / td >
< td > < pre > < button /> < / pre > < / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > Does it use native controls?< / th >
< td > No, HTML5 controls< / td >
< td > Yes!< / td >
< td > HTML5 controls< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > What controls are available?< / th >
< td > All of those in HTML5< / td >
< td > Xamarin.Forms controls< / td >
< td > All of those in HTML5< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > Which architecture will you force me to use?< / th >
< td > None, you're free< / td >
< td > MVVM< / td >
< td > MVC/MVVM< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > What's the templating language?< / th >
< td > C#< / td >
< td > XAML< / td >
< td > Razor< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > How do I style things?< / th >
< td > CSS baby!< / td >
< td > XAML resources< / td >
< td > CSS< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > Is there databinding?< / th >
< td > No :-(< / td >
< td > Yes!< / td >
< td > Debatable< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > Do I need to run a server?< / th >
< td > Nope< / td >
< td > Heck no< / td >
< td > Yes< / td >
< / tr >
< tr >
< th > Is it web scale?< / th >
< td > How much money do you have?< / td >
< td > What's the web?< / td >
< td > Sure< / td >
< / tr >
< / table >