windigo

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Published: Oct 1, 2025 License: MIT

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Windigo

Win32 API and GUI in idiomatic Go.

Windigo is designed to be familiar to C/C++ Win32 programmers, using the same concepts, and an API as close as possible to the original Win32 API. This allows most C/C++ Win32 tutorials and examples to be translated to Go.

Notably, Windigo is written 100% in pure Go – CGo is not used, just native syscalls.

Install

go get -u github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo

Examples

In the examples below, error checking is ommited for brevity.

GUI window
GUI window

The example below creates a window programmatically, and handles the button click. Also, it uses the minimal.syso provided in the _resources folder.

Screen capture

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"runtime"

	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/co"
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/ui"
)

func main() {
	runtime.LockOSThread() // important: Windows GUI is single-threaded

	ShowMainWindow()
}

// This struct represents our main window.
type MyWindow struct {
	wnd     *ui.Main
	lblName *ui.Static
	txtName *ui.Edit
	btnShow *ui.Button
}

// Displays the main window, blocking until it is closed.
func ShowMainWindow() int {
	wnd := ui.NewMain( // create the main window
		ui.OptsMain().
			Title("Hello you").
			Size(ui.Dpi(340, 80)).
			ClassIconId(101), // ID of icon resource, see _resources folder
	)

	lblName := ui.NewStatic( // create the child controls
		wnd,
		ui.OptsStatic().
			Text("Your name").
			Position(ui.Dpi(10, 22)),
	)
	txtName := ui.NewEdit(
		wnd,
		ui.OptsEdit().
			Position(ui.Dpi(80, 20)).
			Width(ui.DpiX(150)),
	)
	btnShow := ui.NewButton(
		wnd,
		ui.OptsButton().
			Text("&Show").
			Position(ui.Dpi(240, 19)),
	)

	me := &MyWindow{wnd, lblName, txtName, btnShow}
	me.events()
	return wnd.RunAsMain()
}

func (me *MyWindow) events() {
	me.btnShow.On().BnClicked(func() {
		msg := fmt.Sprintf("Hello, %s!", me.txtName.Text())
		me.wnd.Hwnd().MessageBox(msg, "Saying hello", co.MB_ICONINFORMATION)
	})
}

To compile the final .exe file, run the command:

go build -ldflags "-s -w -H=windowsgui"
Registry access
Registry access
package main

import (
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/co"
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/win"
)

func main() {
	// Open a registry key

	hKey, _ := win.HKEY_CURRENT_USER.RegOpenKeyEx(
		"Control Panel\\Mouse",
		co.REG_OPTION_NONE,
		co.KEY_READ) // open key as read-only
	defer hKey.RegCloseKey()

	// Read a single value from this key

	regVal, _ := hKey.RegQueryValueEx("Beep") // data can be string, uint32, etc.

	if strVal, ok := regVal.Sz(); ok { // try to extract a string value
		println("Beep is", strVal)
	}

	// Enumerate all values under this key

	namesVals, _ := hKey.RegEnumValue()
	for _, nameVal := range namesVals {
		if str, ok := nameVal.Val.Sz(); ok { // does it contain a string?
			println("Value str", nameVal.Name, str)
		} else if num, ok := nameVal.Val.Dword(); ok { // does it contain an uint32?
			println("Value int", nameVal.Name, num)
		} else {
			println("Value other", nameVal.Name)
		}
	}
}
Enumerating running processes
Enumerating running processes

The example below takes a process snapshot to list the running processes:

package main

import (
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/co"
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/win"
)

func main() {
	hSnap, _ := win.CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(co.TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0)
	defer hSnap.CloseHandle()

	processes, _ := hSnap.EnumProcesses()
	for _, nfo := range processes {
		println("PID:", nfo.Th32ProcessID, "name:", nfo.SzExeFile())
	}

	println(len(processes), "found")
}
Taking a screenshot
Taking a screenshot

This complex example takes a screenshot using GDI and saves it to a BMP file.

package main

import (
	"unsafe"

	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/co"
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/win"
)

func main() {
	cxScreen := win.GetSystemMetrics(co.SM_CXSCREEN)
	cyScreen := win.GetSystemMetrics(co.SM_CYSCREEN)

	hdcScreen, _ := win.HWND(0).GetDC()
	defer win.HWND(0).ReleaseDC(hdcScreen)

	hBmp, _ := hdcScreen.CreateCompatibleBitmap(int(cxScreen), int(cyScreen))
	defer hBmp.DeleteObject()

	hdcMem, _ := hdcScreen.CreateCompatibleDC()
	defer hdcMem.DeleteDC()

	hBmpOld, _ := hdcMem.SelectObjectBmp(hBmp)
	defer hdcMem.SelectObjectBmp(hBmpOld)

	_ = hdcMem.BitBlt(
		win.POINT{X: 0, Y: 0},
		win.SIZE{Cx: cxScreen, Cy: cyScreen},
		hdcScreen,
		win.POINT{X: 0, Y: 0},
		co.ROP_SRCCOPY,
	)

	bi := win.BITMAPINFO{
		BmiHeader: win.BITMAPINFOHEADER{
			Width:       cxScreen,
			Height:      cyScreen,
			Planes:      1,
			BitCount:    32,
			Compression: co.BI_RGB,
		},
	}
	bi.BmiHeader.SetSize()

	bmpObj, _ := hBmp.GetObject()
	bmpSize := bmpObj.CalcBitmapSize(bi.BmiHeader.BitCount)

	rawMem, _ := win.GlobalAlloc(co.GMEM_FIXED|co.GMEM_ZEROINIT, bmpSize)
	defer rawMem.GlobalFree()

	bmpSlice, _ := rawMem.GlobalLockSlice()
	defer rawMem.GlobalUnlock()

	_, _ = hdcScreen.GetDIBits(
		hBmp,
		0,
		int(cyScreen),
		bmpSlice,
		&bi,
		co.DIB_COLORS_RGB,
	)

	var bfh win.BITMAPFILEHEADER
	bfh.SetBfType()
	bfh.SetBfOffBits(uint32(unsafe.Sizeof(bfh) + unsafe.Sizeof(bi.BmiHeader)))
	bfh.SetBfSize(bfh.BfOffBits() + uint32(bmpSize))

	fout, _ := win.FileOpen(
		"C:\\Temp\\screenshot.bmp",
		co.FOPEN_RW_OPEN_OR_CREATE,
	)
	defer fout.Close()

	_, _ = fout.Write(bfh.Serialize())
	_, _ = fout.Write(bi.BmiHeader.Serialize())
	_, _ = fout.Write(bmpSlice)
}
Component Object Model (COM)
Component Object Model (COM)

Windigo has full support for C++ COM objects. The cleanup is performed by a win.OleReleaser object, which calls Release on multiple COM objects at once, much like an arena allocator. Every function which produces a COM object requires a win.OleReleaser to take care of its lifetime.

The example below uses COM objects to display the system native Open File window:

package main

import (
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/co"
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/win"
)

func main() {
	runtime.LockOSThread() // important: Windows GUI is single-threaded

	_, _ := win.CoInitializeEx(
		co.COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED | co.COINIT_DISABLE_OLE1DDE)
	defer win.CoUninitialize()

	releaser := win.NewOleReleaser() // will release all COM objects created here
	defer releaser.Release()

	var fod *win.IFileOpenDialog
	_ = win.CoCreateInstance(
		releaser,
		co.CLSID_FileOpenDialog,
		nil,
		co.CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,
		&fod,
	)

	defOpts, _ := fod.GetOptions()
	_ = fod.SetOptions(defOpts |
		co.FOS_FORCEFILESYSTEM |
		co.FOS_FILEMUSTEXIST,
	)

	_ = fod.SetFileTypes([]win.COMDLG_FILTERSPEC{
		{Name: "Text files", Spec: "*.txt"},
		{Name: "All files", Spec: "*.*"},
	})
	_ = fod.SetFileTypeIndex(1)

	if ok, _ := fod.Show(win.HWND(0)); ok { // in real applications, pass the parent HWND
		item, _ := fod.GetResult(releaser)
		fileName, _ := item.GetDisplayName(co.SIGDN_FILESYSPATH)
		println(fileName)
	}
}
COM Automation
COM Automation

Windigo has bindings to IDispatch COM interface and VARIANT parameters, allowing you to invoke Automation methods.

The example below manipulates an Excel spreadsheet, saving a copy of it:

package main

import (
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/co"
	"github.com/rodrigocfd/windigo/win"
)

func main() {
	_, _ = win.CoInitializeEx(
		co.COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED | co.COINIT_DISABLE_OLE1DDE)
	defer win.CoUninitialize()

	rel := win.NewOleReleaser()
	defer rel.Release()

	clsId, _ := win.CLSIDFromProgID("Excel.Application")

	var excel *win.IDispatch
	_ = win.CoCreateInstance(
		rel,
		clsId,
		nil,
		co.CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER,
		&excel,
	)

	books, _ := excel.InvokeGetIDispatch(rel, "Workbooks")
	file, _ := books.InvokeMethodIDispatch(rel, "Open", "C:\\Temp\\foo.xlsx")
	_, _ = file.InvokeMethod(rel, "SaveAs", "C:\\Temp\\foo copy.xlsx")
	_, _ = file.InvokeMethod(rel, "Close")
}

Architecture

The library is divided in four packages:

Package Description
co Native Win32 constants, all typed.
ui High-level UI windows and controls.
win Native Win32 structs, handles and functions.
wstr String and UTF-16 wide string management.

Package dependency:

flowchart BT
    internal/utl([internal/utl]) --> co
    ui --> win
    win --> internal/dll([internal/dll])
    win --> internal/utl
    win --> wstr

License

Licensed under MIT license, see LICENSE.md for details.

Directories

Path Synopsis
This package contains native Win32 constants.
This package contains native Win32 constants.
internal
dll
utl
This package contains high-level abstractions for GUI windows and controls.
This package contains high-level abstractions for GUI windows and controls.
This package contains native Win32 functions, structs and handles.
This package contains native Win32 functions, structs and handles.
This package provides support to convert between Go strings and native, null-terminated Windows UTF-16 strings.
This package provides support to convert between Go strings and native, null-terminated Windows UTF-16 strings.

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