Metadata-Version: 2.4
Name: mkui
Version: 0.1.36
Summary: Config-driven, zero-dependency web GUI framework with dockable panes
Author: Mark Kim
License-Expression: Apache-2.0
Project-URL: Homepage, https://github.com/markuskimius/mkui
Project-URL: Repository, https://github.com/markuskimius/mkui
Keywords: gui,web,framework,dockable,config-driven
Classifier: Development Status :: 3 - Alpha
Classifier: Intended Audience :: Developers
Classifier: Programming Language :: JavaScript
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3
Classifier: Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP
Classifier: Topic :: Software Development :: User Interfaces
Requires-Python: >=3.9
Description-Content-Type: text/markdown
License-File: LICENSE
Dynamic: license-file

# mkui

[![PyPI](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/mkui)](https://pypi.org/project/mkui/)
[![Python](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/mkui)](https://pypi.org/project/mkui/)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/pypi/l/mkui)](https://github.com/markuskimius/mkui/blob/main/LICENSE)

A config-driven, dependency-free web GUI framework with a floating-frame
workspace and dockable panes inside each frame. Designed to pair with
[mkio](https://pypi.org/project/mkio/) — the same project's TOML-driven microservice backend —
but works against any backend (or none at all).

## Model

```
mkui-app
├── mkui-menubar
├── mkui-workspace
│   ├── mkui-frame  ← floating, movable, resizable. Clamped to workspace.
│   │   └── layout tree
│   │       └── TabGroup
│   │           ├── tab bar
│   │           └── mkui-pane  ← leaf content host
│   ├── mkui-frame
│   │   └── split (h | v)
│   │       ├── TabGroup → panes
│   │       └── TabGroup → panes
│   └── ...
└── mkui-statusbar
```

Top-level windows are **frames** — floating chrome with 8-way resize.
There is no dedicated titlebar: every tab bar at the top edge doubles
as a drag region, and the right-most one also carries the window
controls. Frames don't dock into each other. Inside each frame lives
an independent, normalized layout tree of **splits**, **tab groups**,
and **panes**. Docking — splitting, tabbing, tearing out — happens
entirely inside frames.

**Design commitments** (things meant to hold up indefinitely):

- **Structural invariant**: every pane leaf sits inside a tab group. A
  single-pane frame is a single-tab group. This removes a whole class of
  special cases from the renderer and the drop logic.
- **Proportional resize by construction**: frame positions are fractions
  of the workspace rect, and split ratios sum to 1. Resizing the browser
  rescales every frame, every split, and every pane with no extra code.
- **Viewport clamping invariant**: every frame move/resize passes through
  a single `clampToDock` helper. Frames cannot escape the workspace —
  shrinking the viewport drags stragglers back in.
- **Stable pane identity**: pane elements live in a workspace-owned pool
  and are re-parented via `appendChild` when re-docked. Content state,
  subscriptions, scroll position, and DOM focus all survive.
- **Zero runtime dependencies.** Web Components, so it drops into
  React / Vue / Svelte / vanilla identically.

## Interactions

- **Top tab row** → drag the whitespace next to the tabs to move the
  frame (clamped). **Double-click** the same region to toggle maximize.
  **Frame edges/corners** → 8-way resize (clamped, min 160×80).
- **Dragging a tiled or maximized frame** restores it to its pre-tile
  size under the cursor on first motion. Resize handles or explicit
  maximize-toggle also clear the restore state.
- **Frame close button** → closes the frame; panes inside are parked in
  the pool (state preserved) and can be brought back by code.
- **Tab click** → switch active pane in that tab group.
- **Tab drag within the bar** → reorders the tab in its group. If the
  cursor leaves the tab bar by more than a few pixels, the pane is
  **torn out** into a new frame at the cursor.
- **Alt+Shift+Left / Alt+Shift+Right** → move the active tab left or
  right within its group (acts on the top-most frame).
- **Dragging a torn-out (or any single-pane) frame over another frame**
  shows drop zones: edges split, center adds as a tab. Release to dock.
- **Splitter drag** → resize the ratio between two children of a split.
- **Any mousedown inside a frame** raises it to the top of the z-order.
  The top frame gets an accent border; within it, the last-clicked tab
  group's active-tab underline stays at full accent while others dim —
  that's the bar keyboard hotkeys act on.

## Configs

mkui's runtime input is JSON. When the backend is mkio, add `config_dir`
to your `server.toml` and point your HTML at `/config/client.json` — mkio
reads `client.toml` from that directory and serves it as JSON. The browser
never needs a TOML parser. For other backends, author or generate
`client.json` directly.

Minimal config:

```json
{
  "app":     { "title": "Trading desk", "theme": "dark" },
  "menubar": [{ "label": "File", "items": [{ "label": "Quit", "action": "app.quit" }] }],
  "statusbar": { "left": [{ "type": "text", "bind": "status.message" }] },

  "panes": {
    "orders":    { "title": "Orders", "type": "mkio-table", "service": "all_orders", "protocol": "query" },
    "chart":     { "title": "Chart",  "widgets": [{ "type": "text", "text": "Chart goes here" }] },
    "inspector": { "title": "Inspector", "widgets": [{ "type": "text", "text": "Properties" }] }
  },

  "frames": [
    {
      "id": "main",
      "x": 0.05, "y": 0.05, "w": 0.65, "h": 0.9,
      "layout": { "type": "tabs", "active": 0, "children": ["orders", "chart"] }
    },
    {
      "id": "aux",
      "x": 0.72, "y": 0.05, "w": 0.23, "h": 0.9,
      "layout": { "type": "tabs", "children": ["inspector"] }
    }
  ],

  "mkio": { "url": "ws://localhost:8080/ws" }
}
```

Frame positions (`x`, `y`, `w`, `h`) are fractions of the workspace rect.

## Statusbar

`statusbar` is a top-level object with `left` and `right` widget arrays,
plus an optional `bindStyle` map that binds CSS properties to state paths:

```json
"statusbar": {
  "left":  [{ "type": "text", "bind": "status.message" }],
  "right": [{ "type": "text", "text": "v0.1" }],
  "bindStyle": { "background": "status.background", "color": "status.color" }
}
```

Each `bindStyle` entry subscribes to the given state path. When the value
changes, the CSS property is set as an inline style on `<mkui-statusbar>`.
Setting the state value to `null` (or empty string `""`) removes the inline
override, reverting to the stylesheet default. Empty string is treated as
null to support TOML configs, which have no null literal.

## mkio connection state

When `config.mkio.url` is set, `<mkui-app>` automatically connects to the
mkio server and verifies its identity. Connection is two-phase:

1. **Connect** — WebSocket opens, `mkio.connected` becomes `true`, and the
   `connected` state map is applied immediately.
2. **Verify** — an async `_mkio` request confirms the server is a genuine
   mkio server and optionally checks its name, version, and protocol against
   expectations declared in `config.mkio.expect`. On success `mkio.verified`
   becomes `true`; on failure the `incompatible` state map is applied.
   Verification re-runs on every reconnect.

```json
"mkio": {
  "url": "ws://localhost:8080/ws",
  "expect": {
    "name": "order-book",
    "version": "1.0",
    "protocol": "1.0",
    "mkio": "0.1"
  },
  "connected":    { "status.message": "Connected", "status.background": null },
  "incompatible": { "status.message": "Wrong server", "status.background": "#cc0000" },
  "disconnected": { "status.message": "Disconnected", "status.background": "#858585" }
}
```

The `expect` keys are all optional. `name` is checked by exact match;
`version`, `protocol`, and `mkio` use semver-compatible matching (delegated
to the server's `_mkio` service). When `expect` is absent, the `_mkio`
query still runs to confirm it is an mkio server and to populate
`mkio.server.*` state paths (name, version, protocol, mkio).

The `_mkio` request has a configurable timeout (`config.mkio.timeout`,
default 5000 ms) — non-mkio servers that don't respond are detected as
incompatible.

State maps default to `{ "status.message": "Connected" }`,
`{ "status.message": "Disconnected" }`, and
`{ "status.message": "Incompatible server" }`. Combine with
`statusbar.bindStyle` to change the statusbar appearance on disconnect or
server mismatch.

## Menubar

`menubar` is a top-level array. Each element is a dropdown menu with a
`label` and an `items` array:

```json
"menubar": [
  {
    "label": "File",
    "items": [
      { "label": "New Frame", "action": "demo.newFrame" },
      { "sep": true },
      { "label": "Open Recent", "items": [
          { "label": "foo.txt", "action": "demo.open", "args": "foo.txt" }
        ]
      },
      { "label": "Quit", "action": "app.quit" }
    ]
  },
  {
    "label": "Window",
    "items": [
      { "label": "Cascade", "action": "window.cascade" },
      { "label": "Tile", "items": [
          { "label": "Horizontal", "action": "window.tileH" },
          { "label": "Vertical",   "action": "window.tileV" },
          { "label": "Grid",       "action": "window.grid" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]
```

Item keys:

| Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `label` | string | Display text |
| `action` | string | Action name fired on click (leaf items only) |
| `args` | any | Optional argument passed to the action handler |
| `items` | array | Child items — makes this a submenu (opens on hover) |
| `sep` | boolean | `true` renders a horizontal separator line |

Any item with an `items` array is a submenu; submenus nest arbitrarily.
Leaf items (no `items`) fire `action` on click via `app.fireAction()`.

**Built-in actions:** `app.quit`, `pane.show` (takes a pane ID as
`args` — switches to that pane's tab and raises its frame, or opens a
new frame if the pane is parked/closed), `window.tileH`, `window.tileV`,
`window.grid`, `window.cascade`. Register custom actions with
`app.registerAction(name, fn)`.

A typical Window menu lists each pane for quick access:

```json
{ "label": "Window", "items": [
  { "label": "Explorer",  "action": "pane.show", "args": "explorer" },
  { "label": "Console",   "action": "pane.show", "args": "console" },
  { "sep": true },
  { "label": "Cascade",   "action": "window.cascade" }
]}
```

## Themes

`dark` and `light` are built-in. To ship additional themes, list them under
`app.themes` — each entry is a flat object of CSS custom property overrides,
applied as inline styles on `<mkui-app>` so every descendant inherits them:

```json
{
  "app": {
    "theme": "solarized",
    "themes": {
      "solarized": {
        "--mkui-bg":        "#002b36",
        "--mkui-bg-alt":    "#073642",
        "--mkui-bg-hover":  "#0a4350",
        "--mkui-fg":        "#93a1a1",
        "--mkui-fg-mute":   "#586e75",
        "--mkui-border":    "#0a4350",
        "--mkui-accent":    "#268bd2",
        "--mkui-accent-fg": "#fdf6e3",
        "--mkui-focus":     "#eee8d5"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Any variable from `styles/mkui.css` (`--mkui-*`) may be overridden. Missing
keys fall back to the default (dark) values. Switch themes at runtime with
`appEl.setTheme("solarized")`.

## Standalone mode

```html
<!doctype html>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/mkui/styles/mkui.css">
<script type="module" src="/mkui/src/index.js"></script>
<mkui-app config="/mkui/client.json"></mkui-app>
```

## Library mode

```js
import { registerPaneType } from "mkui";
import "mkui";   // side-effect: registers custom elements

registerPaneType("clock", (spec, app, host) => {
  const el = document.createElement("div");
  host.appendChild(el);
  setInterval(() => { el.textContent = new Date().toLocaleTimeString(); }, 1000);
});

const root = document.querySelector("mkui-app");
await customElements.whenDefined("mkui-app");
root.setConfig({
  panes:  { clock: { title: "Clock", type: "clock" } },
  frames: [{ id: "f1", x: 0.3, y: 0.3, w: 0.3, h: 0.3,
             layout: { type: "tabs", children: ["clock"] } }],
});

// Add more frames at runtime:
root.workspace.addFrame({ x: 0.5, y: 0.1, w: 0.4, h: 0.4,
                          layout: { type: "tabs", children: ["other-pane"] } });
```

## Built-in widgets and pane types (v1)

- Widgets (lightweight content inside a pane or statusbar slot):
  - `text` — static or `bind`-ed to a state path
  - `button` — fires an action by name
- Pane types (whole-pane custom rendering):
  - `mkio-table` — subscribes to an mkio service (query, subpub, or stream) and renders a live-updating table with flash animations for inserts, deletes, and field changes. Row identity is per-protocol: query uses `_mkio_row`, stream uses `_mkio_ref`, subpub uses `_mkio_topic`. Column headers render immediately when `columns` is configured; optional `labels` maps column keys to display text (e.g. `{ "ts": "Timestamp" }`). Subscriptions are deferred until the pane is first visible, unsubscribed immediately when the frame is closed, and dropped after 5 minutes of being hidden (e.g. inactive tab) — brief tab switches preserve the live connection. Large query snapshots render progressively in chunked batches to avoid freezing the UI. Stream tables support time-anchored paged navigation with a toolbar showing `◀ Earlier | time range | Later ▶ | ● Live | ⟳`. By default, the initial fetch starts from local midnight (`start: "today"`); `start: ""` starts from the beginning of the buffer. The toolbar displays the time range of visible rows in the browser's local timezone with adaptive precision — `HH:MM` down to nanoseconds in 3-digit increments depending on how close the boundary timestamps are; cross-day ranges include the date. Boundary indicators (`(start)`, `(end)`, `(all)`) show when you've reached the edges of the dataset. The `⟳` button re-fetches the current page. Navigation is ref-based (each page fetches relative to the first or last row's `_mkio_ref`), with `before: true` for backward fetches, so pages stay correct even when records are added or deleted mid-session. When navigating backward yields no data, the previous page is automatically restored and the Earlier button is disabled. A toggleable "Live" button switches to real-time streaming from the current page's last ref; in live mode, clicking Earlier uses a separate subscription to fetch and prepend historical pages without interrupting the live stream (toolbar shows `HH:mm – Live`). Exiting live mode re-fetches the saved page from the server so that rows inserted or deleted during live mode are reflected. When the WebSocket disconnects while live mode is active, the toolbar shows "Disconnected" (or `HH:mm – Disconnected` with earlier pages) in muted text instead of the green blinking "Live" indicator — live mode stays active for seamless reconnect. Stream tables track the last received ref and use it on re-subscribe to avoid duplicate data transfer — existing rows are preserved and only new records are fetched. Query and subpub snapshots fully replace the table on each arrival, so records deleted on the server between disconnect and reconnect are properly removed.
- Dialogs:
  - `openDialog(spec, context, app, extra)` — config-driven modal dialog with typed fields (text, number, select, checkbox, textarea, readonly, hidden), validation, conditional visibility (`showWhen`), async service-backed options (`optionsFrom`), and RPC submission with error handling. A **pin button** (📌) in the titlebar keeps the dialog open after successful submission — when active, the pin rotates 45° counterclockwise with a smooth transition; the form resets to defaults only after the server confirms success; errors leave the form intact for retry.
- Custom pane types are the primary extensibility surface. Register with
  `registerPaneType(name, factory)`; reference from config as `type = "<name>"`.

## Quick start

```
pip install mkui mkio
mkui init myapp
mkui serve myapp
# http://localhost:8080/
```

`mkui init` scaffolds a complete project:

```
myapp/
  server.toml          ← mkio server config (schema, services, routes)
  config/
    client.toml        ← mkui app config (panes, menus, layout)
  static/
    index.html         ← entry point
```

`mkui serve` starts an [mkio](https://pypi.org/project/mkio/) server that
handles static files, config serving (TOML→JSON), the WebSocket endpoint,
and the mkio client JS — all from one process, one port.

## Installation

```
pip install mkui mkio
```

### CLI

```
mkui init [dir]               # scaffold a new project (default: .)
mkui serve [dir] [-p PORT]    # serve with mkio backend (default port from server.toml)
mkui --version
```

`serve` reads `server.toml` in the project directory, resolves the
`<mkui.static_dir>` placeholder to the installed package path, and
delegates to `mkio.create_app()`. The `--port` flag overrides the
port in `server.toml`.

### Library usage

For custom backends (no mkio), serve the static assets directly:

```python
import mkui

# With FastAPI / Starlette:
from starlette.staticfiles import StaticFiles
app.mount("/mkui", StaticFiles(directory=mkui.static_dir))
```

## Running the examples

The standalone and library examples need only a static file server:

```
cd mkui/static
python3 -m http.server 8000
# http://localhost:8000/examples/standalone-json/
# http://localhost:8000/examples/library-js/
```

The mkio-table example requires [mkio](https://pypi.org/project/mkio/):

```
cd mkui/static/examples/mkio-table
mkio                # starts on port 8080 (configured in server.toml)
python seed.py      # (optional) populates sample orders in a loop
# http://localhost:8080/
```

## Project layout

```
mkui/                    Python package (pip install mkui)
  __init__.py            Exposes static_dir path and version
  __main__.py            CLI: init + serve commands
  static/
    src/
      core.js            State store, registries, App class
      index.js           Side-effect entry point
      layout/
        tree.js          Normalized tree math
        drag.js          clampToDock, snap, dropZoneFor, frac↔rect
      components/
        app.js           <mkui-app> — the shell
        menubar.js       <mkui-menubar>
        statusbar.js     <mkui-statusbar>
        workspace.js     <mkui-workspace> — frame list, arrangement, snap
        frame.js         <mkui-frame> + <mkui-pane>
      widgets/
        text.js  button.js  mkio-table.js  mkui-dialog.js
      mkio-bridge.js     Lazy-loads mkio's /mkio.js client
    styles/mkui.css      Default theme (CSS custom properties)
    examples/
      standalone-json/   Loaded from a static config
      library-js/        Built imperatively from JS
      mkio-table/        Live table backed by mkio query/subpub services
pyproject.toml           Python build config
tests/
  layout.test.js         Layout tree unit tests (node:test)
  state.test.js          State + connection lifecycle tests (node:test)
  table.test.js          mkio-table pane tests (node:test)
  dialog.test.js         Dialog expression + submission tests (node:test)
  test_cli.py            CLI init/serve tests (unittest)
```
