Introduction

LVGL is capable of loading UI elements written in XML. The XML file can be written by hand, but it's highly recommended to use LVGL's UI |nbsp| Editor to write the XML files. The UI Editor provides features like:

  • Instant preview of the XML files

  • Autocomplete and Syntax highlighting

  • Online preview for collaboration and testing

  • Figma integration to easily reimplement the designs

Warning

The UI Editor and the XML loader are still under development and not production-ready. Consider them as an open beta, or experimental features.

Describing the UI in XML in a declarative manner offers several advantages:

  • XML files can be loaded at runtime (e.g., from an SD card) to change the application build.

  • XML is simpler to write than C, enabling people with different skill sets to create LVGL UIs.

  • XML is textual data, making it easy to parse and manipulate with a large number of programming and scripting languages.

  • XML can be used to generate LVGL code in any language.

  • XML helps to separate the view from the internal logic.

Concept

The XML files are Component-oriented. To be more specific, they are Component-Library oriented. That is, they are structured in a way to make it easy to create reusable Component Libraries.

For example, a company can have a Component Library for the basic Widgets for all its products (generic widgets for all smart devices), and create other industry-specific Libraries (smart-home specific, smart-watch specific, etc.) containing only a few extra Widgets and Components.

These Component Libraries are independent, can be reused across many products, and can be freely versioned and managed.

Imagine a Component Library as a collection of XML files that describe Widgets, Components, Screens, images, fonts, and other assets stored in a git repository, which can be a submodule in many projects.

If someone finds a bug in the Component Library, they can just fix it in one place and push it back to the git repository so that other projects can be updated from it.

The built-in Widgets of LVGL are also considered a Component Library which is always available.

A UI Editor project can have any number of Component Libraries but will always have at least 2:

  • LVGL's built-in Widgets, and

  • XML-based definitions of Screen contents, along with other project-specific Components.

Widgets, Components, and Screens

It is important to distinguish between Widgets, Components, and Screens.

Widgets

Widgets are the core building blocks of the UI and are not meant to be loaded at runtime but rather compiled into the application. The main characteristics of Widgets are:

  • In XML, they start with a <widget> root element.

  • They are similar to LVGL's built-in Widgets.

  • They are built using lv_obj_class objects.

  • They have custom and complex logic inside.

  • They cannot be loaded from XML at runtime because the custom code cannot be loaded.

  • They can have a large API with set/get/add functions.

  • They can themselves contain Widgets as children (e.g., Tabview's tabs, Dropdown's lists).

Any handwritten Widget can be accessed from XML by:

  1. Defining its API in an XML file.

  2. Writing and registering an XML parser for it. See some examples here.

Components

Components are built from other Components and Widgets, and can be loaded at runtime. The main characteristics of Components are:

  • In XML, they start with a <component> root element.

  • They are built in XML only and cannot have custom C code.

  • They can be loaded from XML as they don't contain custom C code, only XML.

  • They are built from Widgets or other Components.

  • They can be used for styling Widgets and other Components.

  • They can contain (as children) Widgets or other Components.

  • They can have a simple API to pass properties to their children (e.g., btn_text to a Label's text).

Regardless of whether the XML was written manually or by the UI Editor, the XML files of Components can be registered in LVGL, and after that, instances can be created. In other words, LVGL can just read the XML files, "learn" the Components from them, and thereafter create children as part of Screens and other Components.

Screens

Screens are similar to Components:

  • In XML, they start with a <screen> root element.

  • They are built from Widgets or other Components to describe the Screen.

  • They can be loaded from XML at runtime as they describe only visual aspects of the UI.

  • They do not have an API.

  • They can be referenced in Screen load events.

Syntax Teaser

Each Widget, Component, or Screen XML file describes a single UI element. The root element for Widgets, Components, and Screens is <widget>, <component>, and <screen>, respectively. Other than that, the contained XML elements are almost identical. This is a high-level overview of the most important XML elements that will be children of these root elements:

<api>:

Describes the properties that can be set for a Widget or Component. Properties can be referenced by $. For Widgets, custom enums can also be defined with the <enumdef> tag.

<consts>:

Specifies constants (local to the Widget or Component) for colors, sizes, and other values. Constant values can be referenced using #.

<styles>:

Describes style (lv_style_t) objects that can be referenced (and shared) by Widgets and Components later.

<view>:

Specifies the appearance of the Widget or Component by describing the children and their properties.

This is a simple example illustrating what an LVGL XML Component looks like. Note that only the basic features are shown here.

<component>
    <consts>
        <px name="size" value="100"/>
        <color name="orange" value="0xffa020"/>
    </consts>

    <api>
        <prop name="btn_text" default="Apply" type="string"/>
    </api>

    <styles>
        <style name="blue" bg_color="0x0000ff" radius="2"/>
        <style name="red" bg_color="0xff0000"/>
    </styles>

    <view extends="lv_button" width="#size">
        <style name="blue"/>
        <style name="red" selector="pressed"/>
        <my_h3 text="$btn_text"
               color="#orange"
               align="center"/>
    </view>
</component>

Usage Teaser

LVGL's UI Editor can be used in two different ways.

Export C and H Files

The Widgets, Components, Screens, images, fonts, etc., can be converted to .C/.H files having plain LVGL code. The exported code works the same way as if it was written by the user.

In this case, the XML files are not required anymore to run the C code (unless modifications may be made later and code is exported again).

The XML files were used only during editing/implementing the Widgets and Components to save recompilation time and optionally leverage other useful UI Editor features.

Load the UI from XML

Although the Widgets' code always needs to be exported in C and compiled into the application (just like the built-in LVGL Widgets are also part of the application), the Components' XML can be loaded and any number of instances can be created at runtime.

In the simplest case, a Component can be registered with lv_xml_component_register_from_file(path) and an instance can be created with lv_obj_t * obj = lv_xml_create(parent, "my_button", NULL).

Note that loading the UI from XML practically has no impact on performance. Once the XML files are registered and the UI is created, it behaves the same way as if it were created from C code.

Registering XMLs and creating instances is not memory hungry nor slow. The biggest memory overhead is that the <view> of the Components is saved in RAM (typically 1–2 kB/component).