Pianotoy in C++ using GTK

Prerequisites

1. About the Program
2. Running the Application
   1. via building the source files
   2. via running the .exe file
3. Parts of the application
4. Oddities

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1. About the Program

This is meant to be a simple program to demonstrate my abilities to use C++ and the GTK UI framework to display a UI. It is a simple small keyboard that displays 7 buttons, each of which plays a *.wav audio file when pressed. Each key has a letter on it corresponding to the note to play. The pitch of the notes that are played can be altered through the Note button in the menubar.

The program was also used as a final project for my C++ class, specifically CS 361. As such, some additional features were added in order to hit what was required, such as the Shapes button in the menubar. While these do not have much to do with a keyboard, they were added for that reason, and can be removed if desired.

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2. Running the Application

In order to run the application, it requires a Windows installation with MSYS2 MINGW64installed. For either 2.1 or 2.2, the following must be downloaded and prepped in the MSYS2 MINGW64 environment.

To prep you must open the MSYS2 MINGW64terminal and run the following commands:

pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gtk4
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain base-devel

2.1 via building the source files

• Download the source files from where ever you got them from
• Unzip the source files
  • The files must be set as follows

    src
    ├── main.cpp
    ├── shapes.h
    ├── audio.h
    └── pianokeys
        └── *Holds audio files in .wav*
  

• Then the main.cpp file can be ran from IDE of choice
  • You must set up the environment to use the MSYS2 MINGW64 environment
    • In CLion you can do this by
      • Changing the environment in the settings by going to File > Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > Toolchains
      • Then you can add a new toolchain by clicking the + button
      • Then you can select the MSYS2 MINGW64 by changing Toolset to point to C:\msys64\mingw64
      • CLion will automatically detect the build tool, C compiler, and C++ compiler at this point
      • Then you can click OK and then Apply
      • Make sure the toolchain is at the top of the list!

2.2 via running the .exe file

• Download the files and extract them to a folder.
• Open the MSYS2 MINGW64 terminal and navigate to the folder.
  • ex: cd C:\Users\user\MyCppProgram
• Run the program from the directory by doing:

   {path to the folder}/cppproject.exe

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3. Parts of the application

The main application uses GTK4 to create the GUI. The GUI is made up of 3 main parts.

• The main window
• The piano keys
  • A series of buttons that play a note when clicked
• The menubar
  • A menu bar that has a few options
    • Note - Displays a menu that lets you change note pitches
    • Note > * Pitch - Changes the note pitch to the number (*) selected
    • Shapes - Displays a menu that will draw a shape in console
    • Shapes > Diamond - Draws a Diamond in console using * as the character
    • Shapes > Triangle - Draws a right triangle using a recursive function, using * as the character

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4. Oddities

Why shapes in console?

• This is mainly to hit a pre-requisite for the class, as it requires shapes in console drawn, using recursive or nested functions.

Why is the audio not working?

• Make sure the audio files are in the structure as shown in 2.1. It is also required that you are running Windows, if you do not, then there is a chance audio will not play without changing the source code.

Why does Gtk-CRITICAL **: xx:xx:xx.xxx: gtk_main_quit: assertion 'main_loops != NULL' failed show up in the console?

• This is because clicking the X button is undefined in the program. GTK will try to insinuate its to close the program, and thus will throw the error. This is not a problem, and can be ignored.

Must the program be ran in the MSYS2 MINGW64 environment?

• At this point in time, the program must be ran in the environment. While it is possible to generate a exe file that will not require the environment, it is not currently set up to do so. This would require alot more time out of my schedule that I do not have at this time. This can, however, be done later or by a user if wanted.