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GoCaesarDisk GUI

Created: 27 Dec 2025 Updated: 15 Jan 2026

Yes, just for fun and as an educational project, I decided to add a simple Graphical User Interface command application to this CaesarDisk module. It uses the module's Caesar Disk/Wheel Generation library and it does a basic Caesar encoding (not as my full-blown Caesar).

The Graphical User Interface

The main application window is composed of two tabs described below:

  • Main application tab
  • Options tab

Options Tab

Options tab

The Options tab allows you to configure the application for encoding and decoding text using an enhanced Caesar cipher.

  • Select the Caesar variant (mode)
  • Select the alphabet, i.e. the character set of the language in which you will exchange messages.
  • When selected, the label below will show you the entire character set for the selected alphabet/language.
  • The Orthogonal checkbox configures the orientation of the alphabet letters in the Caesar wheel.
  • The Use PDU format is normally disabled, so text is encoded and the output is just that. In PDU format, the encoded text if formatted differently.

By default it is set to the English language, but there are many choices such as Spanish, German, Czech, Portuguese, Greek, Cyrillic and even Runes!

Main application (Encoding) Tab

Main tab

This is where all the fun happens, encoding and decoding text. This main tab has several sections:

  • A: The main toolbar menu. Currently only File|Quit & Help|About.
  • B: The application tab (main & options) selector
  • C: The dynamic Caesar encoding wheel
  • D: Info dashboard: on the left the selected cipher mode and on the right whether it is displaying the Main or Alternate key. The right label is clickable if the Offset is being shown.
  • E: The Main Caesar Key selection via the slider, its character and numeric shift value equivalents are shown as you slide.
  • F: The Alternate Key Offset is displayed only for Didimus & Primus cipher modes. Otherwise it is hidden.
  • G: The input text, whether to Encode OR Decode
  • H: Actions buttons to Encode, Exchange, Clear, Edit & Decode
  • I: The output text after encoding or decoding.

So, it is quite simple. Based on the language (source alphabet) you choose on the Options tab, you are able to encode or decode messages on this main tab.

First you select the Main Caesar Key in E. You do that that by moving the slider left or right, from zero (0) up to the number of characters in the chosen alphabet minus one. As you move the slider, the letter key is updated on the left side, and its numerical equivalent (Caesar Shift) is updated on the right.

When you finish moving the slider, you enter the text to encode or decode in the G input text widget. The output of the actions will always be shown on the I text widget.

Once you have text in G, the Encode & Decode buttons will become activated. If you entered Plain Text then you should use the Encode button. If on the other hand your G input text is already Caesar encoded, you would use the Decode button. The CLR button clears both text fields and the button with the arrows exchanges the contents of both for your convenience. There is also an edit button that lets you edit the input text in a bigger window.

PDU Format

Normally the text is encoded as is, there are no extra characters. However, if you feel playful and want to exchange better messages, you may want to enable the Use PDU format option.

In PDU format, the encoded text contains "protocol units":

  • The timestamp of the message in YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS format, i.e. 20251230T184524
  • A 64-bit checksum of the encoded message (the payload) in hexadecimal format, thus 16 hex characters.
  • The encoded payload.

For example if we select the English alphabet, with Caesar Key "L" which would correspond to Caesar Shift "11". We can try to encode the text Still programming for New Year and get this:

Detww aczrclxxtyr qzc Yph Jplc

But, if on the other hand I enabled the PDU formatting, I get:

20251230T2035026F5F9B17588A48E5Detww aczrclxxtyr qzc Yph Jplc

As you can see, it is prepended with the timestamp, the checksum and the encoded message using the plain Caesar cipher.

Obviously, to decode a PDU format you also have to enable that feature! Now click on the exchange (two arrows) button and then click Decode.