egui_tool_windows

Floating tool windows for egui that can be used in containers, like resize, scroll-area, frame, etc.

• Simple API for adding multiple windows inside a container.
• Independent z-ordering, when clicked they are sent to the front.
• Collapsible.
• Resizable.
• Draggable.
• Floats on top of content.
• Constrained to the container.
• Clipped to the container.
• Tool windows are moved if the container is resized too small.

Regular egui::Window and egui::Area instances can be placed above them, they do not clash.

Basic API usage

egui::ScrollArea::both()
    .auto_shrink([false, false])
    .scroll_bar_visibility(ScrollBarVisibility::AlwaysVisible)
    .show(ui, |ui|{

        ui.strong("Content inside a frame");
        
        ToolWindows::new()
            .windows(ui, |builder|{
                builder
                    .add_window("id_salt_1")
                    .show("Title 1".to_string(), |ui| {
                        ui.label("Tool window 1");
                    });

                builder
                    .add_window("id_salt_2")
                    .show("Title 2".to_string(), {
                        ui.label("Tool window 2");
                    });
            });
    });

You can call ToolWindows::new() as many times as you like, e.g. if you have multiple containers that each need their own tool windows.

Status

This crate is work-in-progress, but usable, see below.

Limitations

• If one window obscures another, hovering of elements in the obscured window 'bleeds-though'. e.g. if there's a table with resizable columns obscured by another tool window, when you hover over the obscured column divider the mouse pointer changes and allows obscured columns to be resized, when it should not.
• Due to similar bleed-though of egui sense due to lack of z-ordering, non-top-most tool windows cannot be resized or dragged; you have to click the window first. there are visual cues for top-most tool windows however. It's perfectly usable, but not ideal.

So currently, if what you want to put in tool windows isn't affected by the current limitations, then this is usable right now for you.

Once the above issues are solved more attention will be given to additional planned features such as:

• additional API methods.
• persistence.

Demos

The crate contains 3 demos.

• simple - shows the current state and behavior of the tool windows when used in a container.
• inside_windows - attempts to use the tool windows inside egui::Window instances.
• inside_dock - attempts to use the tool windows inside an egui_dock, when the tabs are popped out egui::Window instances are used. This is most complicated scenario.

Refer to the demos folder.

Screenshots

Here's a recent screenshot of the simple demo:

Here's a recent screenshot of the inside_dock demo:

License

Available under APACHE or MIT licenses.

• APACHE
• MIT

Authors

• Dominic Clifton - Project founder and primary maintainer.

Changelog

0.2.0

• Add support for egui 0.32.0.
• Update inside_dock example to use egui_dock 0.17

0.1.3

• New - Added a persistence feature, for use with the egui feature of the same name.

0.1.2

• Fixed - Added support for rendering inside an egui::Window.
• New - Added a an inside_dock example.

0.1.1

• Changed - Usability improvements.
• New - Tool windows have visual shadows.
• New - API improvements for default_size and default_pos.
• Fixed - Not being able to bring a tool window to the front by clicking in its title-bar.

0.1.0

First release

Timeline

2025/06/27 - Crate created!

Links

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MakerPnP
• Github: https://github.com/MakerPnP
• Discord: https://discord.gg/ffwj5rKZuf
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MakerPnP
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/MakerPicknPlace

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute, please raise an issue or a PR on the github issue tracker, work-in-progress PRs are fine to let us know you're working on something, and/or visit the discord server. See the section above.