helium/docs/Shell.md

Shell

The shell module is basically abstractions over state and input subscriptions for common elements

In practice the result is that lenghty code like:

local input = require('helium.core.input')

local x = function()
	local elementState = useState({down = false, over = false})
	input('clicked', function()
		elementState.down = true
		return function()
			elementState.down = false
		end
	end)
	input('hovered', function()
		elementState.over = true
		return function()
			elementState.over = false
		end
	end)

	return function()
		if elementState.down then
			love.graphics.setColor(1, 0, 0)
		else
			love.graphics.setColor(0, 1, 1)
		end
		love.graphics.print(elementState.over and 'Thanks' or 'Hover over me!')
	end
end

Gets simplified down to:

local useButton = require('helium.shell.button')

local x = function()
	local buttonState = useButton()

	return function()
		if buttonState.down then
			love.graphics.setColor(1, 0, 0)
		else
			love.graphics.setColor(0, 1, 1)
		end
		love.graphics.print(buttonState.over and 'Thanks' or 'Hover over me!')
	end
end

For a more detailed description of each shell function check out the individual files in /shell/

If you're looking to build a big library of widgets with helium this pattern is certainly something i think you should look in to using, you can build your own set of shell functions, you can use any of the helium hooks, inputs, etc in there just fine.

For an idea of a 'shell' I can imagine creating a style abstraction hook with contexts

local context = require('helium.hooks.context')

return function()
	--This assumes an existing context named style
	local ctx = context.get('style')

	return {
		setPrimaryFont = function() love.graphics.setFont(ctx.primaryFont) end,
		setPrimaryColor = function() love.graphics.setColor(ctx.primaryColor) end,
	}
end

The rest of the functions you can let your imagination run wild, but after creating those you'd

#1 have a common repository of all those values

#2 change those values everywhere at once