Using Granite with a different language besides Vala

Question

I am interested in developing for elementary OS, but what's holding me back from doing so is that I can't figure out how to use the Granite widgets from C++. I would prefer to use this instead of Vala.

Answer 1

Granite is written in Vala, so it provides a C API which you can use from C++. Using it should be fairly straightforward; just #include <granite.h> in your code, and build with something like

g++ -o test test.cpp `pkg-config --libs --cflags granite`

Then, you should be able to use Granite:

#include <granite.h>

void do_stuff (int w, int h) {
  GraniteDrawingBufferSurface* bs = granite_drawing_buffer_surface_new(w, h);
  granite_drawing_buffer_surface_clear(bs);
  g_object_unref(bs);
}

I chose Granite.Drawing.BufferSurface because it's the first class in the VAPI, but you can use any public API this way.