The release of the project Cambalache 0.90 has been announced by Juan Pablo Ugarte. Cambalache is a rapid development tool designed for GTK 3 and GTK 4, utilizing the MVC paradigm and the philosophy of paradise of the data model. Unlike Glade, Cambalache supports multiple user interfaces within a single project. The code is written in Python and is released under the lgplv2.1 license. The Flatpak package for installation is available here.
Cambalache does not rely on GTKBuilder and Gobject, but instead provides a data model that aligns with the Gobject type system. The data model can import and export multiple interfaces, supports objects, properties, and signals of GTKBuilder, offers operations like UNDO/Redo, and the ability to compress command history. Cambalache-DB utility is provided to generate data from GIR files, while DB-Codegen utility generates Gobject classes from the data model.
The interface can be generated based on either GTK 3 or GTK 4, depending on the project’s specified version. To support various GTK branches, the working area formation involves the Broadway bacent, which enables rendering the output of the GTK library in a web browser window. The main Cambalache process features a strapping based on Webkit WebView, with the Merengue process output displayed via Broadway, directly contributing to user interaction.
The latest version has seen the CAMBALACHE user interface translated to the GTK 4 library. The widget catalog has been updated for GNOME SDK 46, with enhancements like attaching actions to context menu elements and translating pop-up hints to buttons. The choice of version number 0.90 following version 0.1x is indicative of Cambalache’s readiness for the forthcoming release of Cambalache 1.0.
