Develop GUI Applications

With dev environments, you can develop not only web applications but also applications with native user interface. This is possible with the help of VNC or RDP technologies. The idea is to install a VNC server to a dev environment, forward the server port to your localhost, and use a local VNC client to work with the dev environment's remote desktop.

On your local machine, install a VNC client. For example, VNC Viewer from RealVNC.
Open your project in a dev environment.
Install and run a VNC server in a dev environment. For example, X11VNC server:
1. In the IDE, open Terminal and run apt update && apt install x11vnc xvfb
2. Run the server: x11vnc --create The VNC server will run on port 5900.
To simplify further use of such a dev environment, you might want to include the VNC server in the dev environment Docker image.
Configure port forwarding for the port 5900.
On your local machine, run the VNC client and connect to localhost:{forwarded_port}. This will run the VNC terminal window.
Use the VNC terminal window to build and run the UI application you develop in the dev environment.

Last modified: 16 April 2024