Community contribution: Code editor prototype with syntax highlighting (Rust + Slint)

[lpmwfx]

Hi Slint team,

I wanted to share a working prototype I built to explore whether Slint could power a full code editor with syntax highlighting — something that felt like a gap in the current widget ecosystem.

What it demonstrates:

• A code editor built entirely with Slint + Rust, using only the primitives already available in the framework
• Flat token model — a workaround for Slint not supporting nested for-loops: all tokens from all lines are flattened into a single model, each token carrying its line index and x-offset so it can be absolutely positioned inside a Flickable
• JavaScript syntax highlighting (keywords, strings, numbers, comments, functions, operators)
• Animated blinking cursor (Rectangle + animate opacity)
• Arrow keys, Home/End, Enter with auto-indent
• Backspace/Delete, Tab (2 spaces)
• Auto-closing brackets: (), [], {}, "", '', ``
• Click-to-position
• Line numbers with active-line highlight
• Status bar showing cursor position
• Scroll via Flickable

Why this matters for Slint:

A code editor widget (or at least an official example showing this pattern) feels like a natural missing piece for a GUI toolkit targeting developers. The flat-token approach is non-obvious but works well — it might be worth documenting or even building into an official CodeEditor component.

Repo:
https://github.com/lpmwfx/slint-codeeditor

Feel free to use it however you like — borrow the approach, adapt the code, or use it as a reference. No strings attached.

Best regards,
Lars — Denmark