Desktop Support ?

[wakaztahir]

I would like Sora Editor to work on desktop, I propose using Kotlin Multiplatform for this....

[Rosemoe]

Currently, major functionality implementation in sora-editor is platform-dependent:

• rendering process uses Android specific skia API, and some Android internal graphics and text API
• user input are delivered by Android platform API
• user interaction logic is for touchscreen (though basic mouse support is recently added)

So we are unable to migrate sora-editor to a Kotlin Multiplatform application quickly.

However, we are planning to extract the common part of code editor and make a code editor library with Jetpack Compose to finally achieve the multiplatform goal.

[wakaztahir]

1 - Jetpack compose uses skia for rendering actually, so you can use skia using Jetpack Compose
2 - expect functions and expect classes allow for taking input from multiple platforms, using different code
3 - Jetpack compose UI works with both (touch screen and mouse)

I want you to know that when using Kotlin Multiplatform, The platform dependent API's for example function calls can be made like

in common code

expect fun platformAdd(x : Int, y : Int) : Int

in android code

actual fun platformAdd(x : Int, y : Int) {
    // you can use android api's here with IDE support
    return x + y;
   // but note that context is not part of common code, so having a context parameter is not possible
   // by using jetpack compose, you can create composable functions, which allow you to gain context using LocalContext.current
}

in jvm code

actual fun platformAdd(x : Int, y : Int) {
    // on jvm or desktop it will minus the thing
    return x - y;
}

You can also write expect classes so it should be really easy !

[wakaztahir]

Since you are already working with Jetpack Compose, I'll recommend that you add multiplatform support from the beginning so you don't use platform dependent API's deep in the code which will cause you to create "big refactors" later when porting to multiplatform

[Rosemoe]

Since you are already working with Jetpack Compose

Actually, the new project haven't started yet... I'm planning to start the new project after code folding is done in sora-editor.

And thanks for your advice. The expect and actual declaration helps a lot in platform-specific logic.