FastWindow 0.1.2 — Ultra-Fast Win32 Native Window Engine for Java

---

⚡ Ultra-high performance Win32 native window engine specifically designed as the core windowing foundation for FastVulkan, FastGraphics, DirectX and hardware-accelerated composition pipelines.

FastWindow provides zero-overhead, kernel-direct Win32 native window creation (FastWindow.create(...)), bypassing Java AWT/Swing entirely. It guarantees flicker-free resizing, seamless Dark Mode and DWM styling, dynamic Unicode titling, and clean HWND lifecycle management.

Watch the Demo | Watch JMH Benchmark (YouTube)

---

Quick Start

import fastwindow.FastNativeWindow;
import fastwindow.FastWindow;
import fasttheme.FastTheme;

public class NativeExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try (FastNativeWindow window = FastWindow.create("FastWindow — Native Engine for FastVulkan", 1024, 600)) {
            long hwnd = window.getHWND();
            
            // Dark Mode & Black Titlebar via FastTheme
            FastTheme.setTitleBarDarkMode(hwnd, true);
            FastTheme.setTitleBarColor(hwnd, 20, 20, 20);
            FastTheme.setTitleBarTextColor(hwnd, 240, 240, 240);
            FastTheme.setCornerStyle(hwnd, 2); // Windows 11 Rounded Corners
            
            // Show window seamlessly once styled
            window.setVisible(true);

            while (window.pollEvents()) {
                // Pass hwnd to FastVulkan / GPU presentation loop...
            }
        }
    }
}

---

Table of Contents

• Quick Start
• Why FastWindow?
• Key Features
• Real-World Use Cases
• Performance Benchmarks
• API Quick Reference
• Technical Demos & Benchmarks
• Installation
• Documentation
• Platform Support
• Related Projects
• License

---

Why FastWindow?

Standard Java windows (JFrame, Frame) on Windows suffer from significant native limitations when used with modern GPU rendering pipelines:

• ❌ Swing/AWT Event Loop Overhead — AWT uses asynchronous, multi-threaded event dispatching that induces boundary jitter and frame drops during live resize.
• ❌ Flicker & Erase Issues — Default Win32 background erases cause white/black flashing before GPU frames present.
• ❌ Lack of Modern DWM Harmony — Java frames cannot natively toggle Windows 11 rounded corners, immersive Dark Mode, or title bar colors without custom JNI hooks.

FastWindow eliminates the entire Java AWT layer and creates pure, kernel-direct Win32 windows with direct HWND access for FastVulkan and FastGraphics:

Feature	Java Swing (JFrame)	JavaFX (Stage)	FastWindow
Window Subsystem	Heavy AWT Peer wrapper	Prism / Glass toolkit	Direct Win32 CreateWindowExW
GPU Surface Integration	AWT Canvas JAWT bridge	JNI offscreen texture	Raw 64-bit HWND for FastVulkan
Message Pump Latency	AWT EventQueue dispatch	JavaFX Pulse loop	~12 ns (pollEvents Win32 pump)
Resize Flicker	Severe (WM_ERASEBKGND)	Occasional frame stutter	Zero-Flicker Hardware Sync
Windows 11 DWM Styling	OS default light titlebar	Custom undecorated hacks	Native DWM Dark Mode & Corners
Dependencies	JDK Desktop module	Modular JavaFX runtime	Pure Java 17+ backed by FastCore

---

Key Features

• 🪟 Pure Standalone Win32 Windows — Zero-overhead native windows with direct UTF-16 Unicode titlebars, fullscreen, centering, and icon support.
• 🌋 First-Class Vulkan & DirectX Support — Clean HWND handle lifecycle designed for surface creation and zero-jitter live resizing.
• ⚡ Zero-Jitter Live Resize — Hardware-synced message pump with immediate bounds dispatching.
• 📏 Kernel-Level Constraints — Enforces hard Min/Max window sizes directly in the Windows kernel via WM_GETMINMAXINFO.
• 🎨 DWM & FastTheme Harmony — Native Dark Mode, title bar coloring, and rounded corners for Windows 11.
• 🔑 Universal HWND Access — Provides a clean 64-bit native HWND handle for Vulkan, DirectX, and DWM composition engines.

---

Real-World Use Cases

• 🌋 High-FPS Vulkan Rendering — Dedicated native window surface lifecycle for vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR without AWT peer synchronization lags.
• 🎮 Game Engines & Real-Time Simulators — Microsecond message pump with pollEvents() delivering zero-allocation game loops exceeding 1,000+ FPS.
• 🖥️ Borderless Fullscreen Presenters — Instant transition to exclusive borderless fullscreen for presentations and hardware-accelerated viewport overlays.
• 🎨 Immersive Windows 11 Desktop Apps — Native dark titlebars, custom background tinting, and rounded corners harmonized with FastTheme.

---

Performance Benchmarks

FastWindow is rigorously profiled using JMH (Java Microbenchmark Harness) to guarantee zero-overhead event polling and native Win32 dispatching.

Operation / Benchmark	Throughput (ops/ms)	Ops per Second	Latency / Overhead
Message Pump (pollEvents)	~80,159 ops/ms	> 80.1 Million	~12 ns
Kernel Constraints (setConstraints)	~57,144 ops/ms	> 57.1 Million	~17 ns
Dynamic Unicode Titling (setTitle)	~211 ops/ms	> 211,000	~4.7 µs (DWM Sync)
Bounds Dispatch (setBounds)	~118 ops/ms	> 118,000	~8.4 µs (Win32 API)

Measured on Windows 11, Intel Core i5-1135G7 (Surface Pro 8), JDK 21.0.12.

---

API Quick Reference

Method	Return Type	Description	Docs
FastWindow.create(title, w, h)	FastNativeWindow	Creates a standalone native Win32 window context.	Reference
getHWND()	long	Returns the raw 64-bit native window handle (HWND).	Reference
pollEvents()	boolean	Pumps native Win32 message loop (PeekMessageW).	Reference
setTitle(String title)	void	Updates native window title with UTF-16 Unicode text.	Reference
setVisible(boolean visible)	void	Shows (SW_SHOW) or hides the native window.	Reference
setBounds(x, y, w, h)	void	Updates window position and size simultaneously.	Reference
setMinimumSize(minW, minH)	void	Sets kernel-level min tracking size via WM_GETMINMAXINFO.	Reference
setMaximumSize(maxW, maxH)	void	Sets kernel-level max tracking size via WM_GETMINMAXINFO.	Reference
setFullscreen(boolean fs)	void	Toggles borderless exclusive fullscreen mode.	Reference
setIconImage(BufferedImage img)	void	Sets the native 32-bit ARGB title bar and taskbar icon.	Reference
close()	void	Destroys the window handle and frees unmanaged resources.	Reference

---

Technical Demos & Benchmarks

Case	Java Example	Launcher	Description
Native Black Window & Theme Demo	Demo.java	run-demo.bat	Standalone native Win32 window with Dark Mode, black titlebar, dynamic FPS title, and round icon.
JMH Microbenchmark Suite	Benchmark.java	run-benchmark.bat	High-frequency message pump and native call throughput benchmarking.

---

Installation

Option 1: Maven (Recommended)

Add the JitPack repository and the dependencies to your pom.xml:

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>jitpack.io</id>
        <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>

<dependencies>
    <!-- FastWindow Library -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.github.andrestubbe</groupId>
        <artifactId>FastWindow</artifactId>
        <version>0.1.2</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- FastCore (Required Native Loader) -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.github.andrestubbe</groupId>
        <artifactId>FastCore</artifactId>
        <version>0.1.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- FastTheme (Optional Styling) -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.github.andrestubbe</groupId>
        <artifactId>FastTheme</artifactId>
        <version>0.1.4</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Option 2: Gradle (via JitPack)

repositories {
    maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.github.andrestubbe:FastWindow:0.1.2'
    implementation 'com.github.andrestubbe:FastCore:0.1.0'
    implementation 'com.github.andrestubbe:FastTheme:0.1.4'
}

Option 3: Direct Download (No Build Tool)

Download the latest JARs directly to add them to your classpath:

1. 📦 fastwindow-0.1.2.jar (The Core Library)
2. 📦 fastcore-0.1.0.jar (Required Native JNI loader)
3. 📦 fasttheme-0.1.4.jar (Recommended for Dark Mode & Styling)

---

Documentation

• COMPILE.md: Full compilation guide (MSVC C++17 build chain + JNI Setup).
• REFERENCE.md: Full API descriptions and method reference.
• PHILOSOPHY.md: The engineering rationale for zero-allocation performance.
• ROADMAP.md: Future milestones and planned features.

---

Platform Support

Platform	Architecture	Status	Driver / Subsystem
Windows 10 / 11	x64	✅ Fully Supported	Native Win32 Subclassing & DirectComposition
Linux	x64 / AArch64	🚧 Planned	X11 (Xlib/xcb) & Wayland xdg-shell
macOS	Apple Silicon / x64	🚧 Planned	Cocoa NSWindow & Metal Layer Hosting

---

Related Projects

• FastCore — Native Library Loader for Java
• FastTheme — Advanced UI Styling Engine (DWM/Mica/Acrylic)
• FastGUI — High-Performance Retained-Mode UI Framework

---

License

MIT License — See LICENSE file for details.

---

Part of the FastJava Ecosystem — Making the JVM faster. 🚀