.. _simulator:

===============
Simulator on PC
===============

You can try out LVGL **using only your PC** (i.e. without any
development boards). LVGL will run on a simulator environment on the PC
where anyone can write and experiment with real LVGL applications.

Using the simulator on a PC has the following advantages:

- Hardware independent: Write code, run it on the PC and see the result on a monitor.
- Cross-platform: Any Windows, Linux or macOS system can run the PC simulator.
- Portability: The written code is portable, which means you can simply copy it when migrating to embedded hardware.
- Easy Validation: The simulator is also very useful to report bugs because it
  provides a common platform for every user. So it's a good idea to
  reproduce a bug in the simulator and use that code snippet in the
  `Forum <https://forum.lvgl.io>`__.


Select an IDE
-------------

The simulator is ported to various IDEs (Integrated Development Environments).
Choose your favorite IDE, read its README on GitHub, download the project, and load it to the IDE.

- `Eclipse with SDLdriver <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_sim_eclipse_sdl>`__: Recommended on Linux and Mac
- `CodeBlocks <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_sim_codeblocks_win>`__: Recommended on Windows
- `VisualStudio <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_sim_visual_studio_sdl>`__: For Windows
- `VSCode with SDL driver <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_sim_vscode_sdl>`__: Recommended on Linux and Mac
- `PlatformIO with SDL driver <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_platformio>`__: Recommended on Linux and Mac
- `MDK with FastModel <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_port_an547_cm55_sim>`__: For Windows

External project not maintained by the LVGL organization:

- `QT Creator <https://github.com/Varanda-Labs/lvgl-qt-sim>`__: Cross platform

You can use any IDE for development but, for simplicity, the
configuration for Eclipse CDT is what we'll focus on in this tutorial.
The following section describes the set-up guide of Eclipse CDT in more
detail.

:Note: If you are on Windows, it's usually better to use the Visual
       Studio or CodeBlocks projects instead. They work out of the box without
       requiring extra steps.**

Set-up Eclipse CDT
------------------

Install Eclipse CDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`Eclipse CDT <https://eclipse.org/cdt/>`__ is a C/C++ IDE.

Eclipse is a Java-based tool so be sure **Java Runtime Environment** is installed on your system.

On Debian-based distros (e.g. Ubuntu): ``sudo apt-get install default-jre``

:note: If you are using other distros, then please install a 'Java
       Runtime Environment' suitable to your distro. Note: If you are using
       macOS and get a "Failed to create the Java Virtual Machine" error,
       uninstall any other Java JDK installs and install Java JDK 8u. This
       should fix the problem.

You can download Eclipse's CDT from:
https://www.eclipse.org/cdt/downloads.php. Start the installer and
choose *Eclipse CDT* from the list.

Install SDL 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The PC simulator uses the `SDL2 <https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php>`__ cross-platform library to
simulate a TFT display and a touchpad.

Linux
^^^^^

On **Linux** you can easily install SDL2 using a terminal:

1. Find the current version of SDL2: ``apt-cache search libsdl2 (e.g. libsdl2-2.0-0)``
2. Install SDL2: ``sudo apt-get install libsdl2-2.0-0`` (replace with the found version)
3. Install SDL2 development package: ``sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev``
4. If build essentials are not installed yet: ``sudo apt-get install build-essential``

Windows
^^^^^^^

If you are using **Windows** firstly you need to install
MinGW (`64 bit version <https://www.mingw-w64.org/downloads/#msys2>`__). After
installing MinGW, do the following steps to add SDL2:

1. Download the development libraries of SDL. Go to
   https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php and download *Development Libraries: SDL2-devel-2.0.5-mingw.tar.gz*
2. Decompress the file and go to *x86_64-w64-mingw32* directory (for 64 bit MinGW) or to *i686-w64-mingw32* (for 32 bit MinGW)
3. Copy *mingw32/include/SDL2* folder to *C:/MinGW/…/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include*
4. Copy *mingw32/lib/* content to *C:/MinGW/…/x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib*
5. Copy *mingw32/bin/SDL2.dll* to *{eclipse_workspace}/pc_simulator/Debug/\_*. Do it later when Eclipse is installed.

:Note: If you are using **Microsoft Visual Studio** instead of Eclipse
       then you don't have to install MinGW.

OSX
^^^

On **OSX** you can easily install SDL2 with brew: ``brew install sdl2``

If something is not working, then please refer `this tutorial <http://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/01_hello_SDL/index.php>`__ to
get started with SDL.

Pre-configured project
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A pre-configured graphics library project (based on the latest release)
is always available to get started easily. You can find the latest one
on `GitHub <https://github.com/lvgl/lv_sim_eclipse_sdl>`__.
(Please note that, the project is configured for Eclipse CDT).

Add the pre-configured project to Eclipse CDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Run Eclipse CDT. It will show a dialogue about the **workspace path**.
Before accepting the path, check that path and copy (and unzip) the
downloaded pre-configured project there. After that, you can accept the
workspace path. Of course you can modify this path but in that case copy
the project to the corresponding location.

Close the start-up window and go to **File->Import** and choose
**General->Existing project into Workspace**. **Browse the root
directory** of the project and click **Finish**

On **Windows** you have to do two additional things:

-  Copy the **SDL2.dll** into the project's Debug folder
-  Right-click on the project -> Project properties -> C/C++ Build ->
   Settings -> Libraries -> Add … and add *mingw32* above SDLmain and
   SDL. (The order is important: mingw32, SDLmain, SDL)

Compile and Run
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now you are ready to run LVGL on your PC. Click on the Hammer Icon on
the top menu bar to Build the project. If you have done everything
right, then you will not get any errors. Note that on some systems
additional steps might be required to "see" SDL 2 from Eclipse but in
most cases the configuration in the downloaded project is enough.

After a successful build, click on the Play button on the top menu bar
to run the project. Now a window should appear in the middle of your
screen.

Now you are ready to use LVGL and begin development on your PC.
