• Dear_Bindings_Build
  • Zig fetch
  • Frontends and Backends
  • Available libraries list at this moment
  • Prerequisites
  • Compiling
  • Build and run
  • Examples screen shots
    • zig_imknobs
    • zig_imtoggle
    • zig_imspinner
    • Raylib example
    • Raylib + ImGui + rlImGui
    • zig_imfiledialog
    • zig_imgui_markdown
    • zig_iconfontviewer
    • zig_imcolortextedit
    • zig_imguizmo
    • zig_imnodes
    • zig_implot / zig_implot3d
    • Image load / save (OpenGL, SDL3, SDL3GPU)
    • zig_glfw_opengl3
  • Hiding console window
  • SDL libraries
  • My tools version
  • Similar project ImGui / CImGui
  • SDL game tutorial Platfromer

Dear_Bindings_Build

This project aims to simply and easily build Dear ImGui examples with C and Zig using Dear_Bindings as first step. And one can use many other libaries and examples with less external dependencies.

DearBindings: dear_bindings_v0.17_ImGui_v1.92.4-docking
Dear ImGui: 1.92.4

Zig fetch

---

1. Zig fetch dear_bindings_build

   mkdir myapp
   cd myapp
   zig init
   
   zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/dinau/dear_bindings_build

2. Add dependencies to build.zig

   const dear_bindings_build = b.dependency("dear_bindings_build", .{});
   const dependencies = .{
       "appimgui",      // Simple app framework
       "imspinner",     // ImSpinner
       "imknobs",       // ImKnobs
       "imtoggle",      // ImToggle
    // "another_lib",
   };
   inline for (dependencies) |dep_name| {
       const dep = dear_bindings_build.builder.dependency(dep_name, .{
           .target = target, 
           .optimize = optimize, 
       });
       exe.root_module.addImport(dep_name, dep.module(dep_name));
   }
   exe.subsystem = .Windows; // Hide console window

   You can set dependencies (additional libraries), see dear_bindings_build/build.zig.zon

   "appimgui"     <- Simple app framework for GLFW and OpenGL backend
   "imspinner"    <- ImSpinner
   "imguizmo"     <- ImGuizmo
   "imknobs"      <- ImKnobs 
   "imnodes"      <- ImNodes
   "implot"       <- ImPlots
   "implot3d"     <- ImPlot3D
   "imtoggle"     <- ImToggle
   "rlimgui"      <- rlImgui
   ... snip  ...

3. Edit src/main.zig

   const app = @import("appimgui");
   const ig = app.ig;
   const spinner = @import("imspinner"); // ImSpinner
   const knobs = @import("imknobs"); // ImKnobs
   const tgl = @import("imtoggle"); // ImToggle
   
   // gui_main()
   pub fn gui_main(window: *app.Window) void {
       var col: f32 = 1.0;
       var fspd: bool = false;
       var speed: f32 = 2.0;
       var spn_col: spinner.ImColor = .{ .Value = .{ .x = col, .y = 1.0, .z = 1.0, .w = 1.0 } };
       while (!window.shouldClose()) { // main loop
           window.pollEvents();
           window.frame(); // Start ImGui frame
   
           ig.ImGui_ShowDemoWindow(null); // Show ImGui demo window
   
           ig.ImGui_SetNextWindowSize(.{ .x = 0.0, .y = 0.0 }, 0); // Fit window size depending on the size of the widgets
           _ = ig.ImGui_Begin("Demo", null, 0); // Show demo window
           spinner.SpinnerAtomEx("atom", 16, 2, spn_col, speed, 3);
           ig.ImGui_SameLine();
           _ = tgl.Toggle("Speed", &fspd, .{ .x = 0.0, .y = 0.0 });
           if (fspd) speed = 6.0 else speed = 2.0;
           if (knobs.IgKnobFloat("Color", &col, 0.0, 1.0, 0.05, "%.2f", knobs.IgKnobVariant_Stepped, 0, 0, 10, -1, -1)) {
               spn_col.Value.x = col;
           }
           ig.ImGui_End();
   
           window.render(); // render
       } // end while loop
   }
   
   pub fn main() !void {
       var window = try app.Window.createImGui(1024, 900, "ImGui window in Zig lang.");
       defer window.destroyImGui();
   
       _ = app.setTheme(.dark); // Theme: dark, classic, light, microsoft
   
       gui_main(&window); // GUI main proc
   }

4. Build and run

   pwd
   myapp
   
   zig build run     # or zig build --release=fast
   

   

Frontends and Backends

---

Frontends	Backends
GLFW3	OpenGL3, SDL3
SDL3	OpenGL3, SDL3GPU
Win32	DirectX 11(D3D11)

Available libraries list at this moment

---

Library name / C lang. wrapper

• ImGui / Dear_Bindings
• ImGui-Knobs / CImGui-Knobs (2025/07)
• ImGuiFileDialog / CImGuiFileDialog (2025/07)
• ImGui_Toggle / CimGui_Toggle (2025/07)
• ImSpinner / CImSpinner (2025/07)
• ImGuiColorTextEdit / cimCTE (2025/08)
• ImGuizmo / CImGuizmo (2025/08)
• ImNodes / CImNodes (2025/08)
• ImPlot / CImPlot (2025/08)
• ImPlot3d / CImPlot3d (2025/08)
• ImGui_Markdown (2025/09 WIP)

Additional examples

• Raylib, raylib-zig, rlImGui (2025/11)

Prerequisites

---

• Install Zig Compiler
  Windows: zig-x86_64-windows-0.15.2.zip
  Linux: zig-x86_64-linux-0.15.2.tar.xz

• Windows11

  • Optional: MSys2/MinGW basic commands (make, rm, cp ...)

    pacman -S make 

• Linux OS: Debian13 Trixie / Ubuntu families

  sudo apt install make gcc lib{opengl-dev,gl1-mesa-dev,glfw3,glfw3-dev}

  • SDL3
    If you are using Debian13 Trixie, add

    sudo apt install libsdl3-dev

    otherwise install SDL3 manually

Compiling

---

• Zig compiler

  Example name	Windows	Linux
  zig_*	Y	Y

• Zig cc compiler

  Using Zig module in C source code.

  example	Windows	Linux
  glfw_*	Y	Y
  sdl3_*	Y	WIP
  win32_*	Y	-

Build and run

---

git clone https://github.com/dinau/dear_bindings_build

cd dear_bindings_build/examples/glfw_opengl3           # for example
zig build run --release=fast                           # or make run

Examples screen shots

zig_imknobs

---

zig_imknobs

zig_imtoggle

---

zig_imtoggle

zig_imspinner

---

zig_imspinner

Raylib example

---

raylib_basic

raylib_cjk: Showing multi byte(CJK) fonts

Raylib + ImGui + rlImGui

---

main.zig

zig_imfiledialog

---

zig_imfiledialog

zig_imgui_markdown

---

• Work in progress

zig_imgui_markdown

zig_iconfontviewer

---

zig_iconfontviewer

• Incremantal search
• Magnifing glass

zig_imcolortextedit

---

zig_imcolortextedit

zig_imguizmo

---

zig_imguizmo

zig_imnodes

---

zig_imnodes

zig_implot / zig_implot3d

---

zig_implot / zig_implot3d

zig_imPlotDemo written in Zig.

Image load / save (OpenGL, SDL3, SDL3GPU)

---

Language	GLFW	Magnifing glass	Image load /save
C lang.	glfw_opengl3_image_load	-	Y
C lang.	glfw_opengl3_image_save	-	Y
Zig lang.	zig_glfw_opengl3_image_load	Y	Y
Zig lang.	zig_sdl3_sdlgup3	-	load

• Image file captured will be saved in current folder.
• Image format can be selected from JPEG / PNG / BMP / TGA.

zig_glfw_opengl3

---

• Basic example

Language	GLFW	SDL3
C lang.	glfw_opengl3, glfw_opengl3_jp	sdl3_opengl3
Zig lang.	zig_glfw_opengl3	zig_sdl3_opengl3

Hiding console window

---

• Zig lang. examples
  Open build.zig in each example folder and enable option line as follows,

  ... snip ...
  exe.subsystem = .Windows;  // Hide console window
  ... snip ...

  and execute make.

• C lang. examples
  Open Makefile in each example folder and change option as follows,

  ... snip ...
  HIDE_CONSOLE_WINDOW = true
  ... snip ...

  and execute make.

SDL libraries

---

https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL
https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases

My tools version

---

• gcc.exe (Rev2, Built by MSYS2 project) 15.2.0
• make: GNU Make 4.4.1
• Python 3.12.10

Similar project ImGui / CImGui

---

Language		Project
Lua	Script	LuaJITImGui
NeLua	Compiler	NeLuaImGui
Nim	Compiler	ImGuin, Nimgl_test, Nim_implot
Python	Script	DearPyGui for 32bit WindowsOS Binary
Ruby	Script	igRuby_Examples
Zig, C lang.	Compiler	Dear_Bindings_Build
Zig	Compiler	ImGuinZ

SDL game tutorial Platfromer

---

Language		SDL	Project
LuaJIT	Script	SDL2	LuaJIT-Platformer
Nelua	Compiler	SDL2	NeLua-Platformer
Nim	Compiler	SDL3 / SDL2	Nim-Platformer-sdl2/ Nim-Platformer-sdl3
Ruby	Script	SDL3	Ruby-Platformer
Zig	Compiler	SDL3 / SDL2	Zig-Platformer