LuaRT, the opensource Windows programming framework for Lua, is now available as alpha 1.9.0 !

▶️ Download it now here [Login to see the link]

This is an alpha version of LuaRT 1.9.0. It will probably contain some bugs. Feel free to report them here or on the Discord server.
This version has been a lot of work for me, as it fixes a lot of bugs but also brings a lot of exciting new features!
Please note that this alpha version does not come with any documentation (work in progress!), but you can easily try to find the new features by your self 👀

Here is the full changelog :

LuaRT v1.9.0 (alpha release)

Highlights

New C module for C FFI (foreign functions interface)
New keyboard module to read or send keys
New sysutils module for various Windows functionalities, including Process launch and control
LuaRT now uses the latest Lua 5.4.7 VM
Drag and drop operations are now implemented in desktop applications (text and file list format)
Better Windows clipboard support (text and file list format)
Record sounds with various encodings in audio module
Compiled executables with rtc can now embed and use DLL dependencies seamlessly
Faster canvas module with lots of bugfixes

LuaRT interpreter

Console luart.exe and desktop wluart.exe interpreters now use latest Lua 5.4.7 VM

LuaRT Studio

Updated: LuaRT Studio is now using the LuaRT 1.9.0 toolchain

rtc

New: sys.File() constructor now checks for files embedded in the compiled executable if they do not exist
Updated: DLL binary modules dependencies are now resolved transparently in the embedded content

QuickRT

New: QuickRT uses now an asynchronous loop, to use Task instances and any other asynchronous functions
Fixed: Objets are now correctly pretty printed (Fixes #221)

LuaRT C API

New: lua_wait() to wait for a Task to finish from the C side
Updated: lua_pushTask() now push a Task with the provided continuation C function and starts it, with a context and optional cleanup lua_CFunction

`C` module

New C module for foreign functions interface (FFI)
Still a work in progress (bugs may occur)
Call C functions directly from Lua using Library object and functions prototypes definition
Define C data structures with Struct and Union objects
Automatic type conversion between Lua and C types with Value object

`sysutils` module

New sysutils module that provides various system utility functions and properties
New Process object to start and manage a new process

`keyboard` module

New keyboard module with keyboard management functions and properties
Get keyboard status, wait for keypress asynchronously, bind Lua functions to key presses
Send virtual key presses to any Windows application

`string` module

New: string.normalize() function to replace accentued characters by non accentued ones in a string

`sys` module

New: Buffer.encoding property to specify an encoding value, to be used when converting the Buffer to a string
New: sys.locale property to get/set current locale for Datetime format and error messages from sys.error and net.error
New: COM objects now support calling items-like properties to access sub items (as Range, Cells and so on...)
New: File:copytask() and Directory:copytask() methods to copy files and directories asynchronously (without blocking)
Updated: sys.clipboard property now returns the kind of clipboard data and its content
Updated: File:copy() and Directory:copy() now returns a booleanvalue indicating if the operation succeeded or not
Updated: Pipe:read() now returns both stderr and stdout output (Pipe:readerror() have been removed)
Fixed: Task switching is now faster (Fixes #210)
Fixed: Task objects don't cause memory leaks anymore (Fixes #209)
Fixed: COM objects methods now uses more than one argument (Fixes #205)

`console` module

Fixed: Using an unknown color with console.bgcolor, console.color, console.clear() and console.writecolor() won't crash anymore (Fixes #211)
Fixed: Console.x and Console.y properties now return a correct cursor position (Fixes #212)

`crypto` module

Fixed : Cipher.constructor() won't crash anymore if the mode parameter is invalid

`ini` module

Updated : INI property names and values are now trimmed

`json` module

Fixed : JSON numbers are now correctly parsed (Fixes #217)

`webview` module

New : Webview.useragent property to get/set the user agent string

`canvas` module

Updated: canvas.onPaint() event is now called constantly, providing faster drawing operations
Removed: canvas.sync property have been removed
Removed : canvas.flip(), canvas.begin(), canvas.map() functions have been removed
Fixed: Canvas dpi support don't use wrong pixel coordinates anymore (Fixes #224)
Fixed: Canvas rendering is now way faster (Fixes #207)
Fixed: Canvas widget don't blinks anymore when parent Windows goes fullscreen (Fixes #206)
Fixed: LinearGradient, RadialGradient and Image objects are now drawn correctly when the Canvas is resized

`audio` module

New: audio.playdevice and audio.recdevice properties to set/get the current playback and record devices
New: audio.devices property to enumerate audio devices
New: audio.record.start() and audio.record.stop() methods to record and encode audio
Updated: Sound.play() now returns a Task that will complete once the sound has finished playing.

`ui` module

New: Window.notify() to send Windows toast notifications
New: ui.drag() function to start a drag and drop operation
New: Widget.allowdrop property to set the widget as a drop target
New: Widget.onDrop() event, thrown when the user dropped the mouse on the widget
New: Edit.hscroll() and Edit.vscroll() horizontal and vertical scrolling functions
New: Edit.mousepos property to get the nearest character position from the current mouse screen coordinates
Removed: Edit.scroll() method have been removed
Updated: Widget:onHover() events now provides argument for mouse button status
Updated: Entry.onSelect() event is now fired too when the widget has lost the focus
Updated: Widget.cursor property now can be set/ can return nil in case no cursor is displayed
Fixed: ui.opendialog() and ui.savedialog() don't uses old Windows 3.1 theme anymore (Fixes #223)
Fixed: Calendar widget now supports dark mode (Fixes #218)
Fixed: Combobox won't draw white background in dark mode anymore (Fixes #202)
Fixed: Using Entry widget in dark mode won't crash application anymore (Fixes #201)
Fixed: Picture.resize() now works as expected (Fixed #213)
Fixed: Label.textalign property now is respected when Label text is changed (Fixes #208)

LuaRT v1.9.0 (alpha release)

Highlights

LuaRT interpreter

LuaRT Studio

rtc

QuickRT

LuaRT C API

C module

sysutils module

keyboard module

string module

sys module

console module

crypto module

ini module

json module

webview module

canvas module

audio module

ui module