Re: Easiest way to build Qt/Gtk interfaces for Ada programs

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Fri, 28 Dec 2012 06:51:01 -0800 (PST), alb348@gmail.com wrote:

> I am a interested in creating GUI applications with Ada, using either Qt
> or Gtk (it must be one of these two, because these are the only toolkits
> that provide full BiDi support).

One important thing, which implies the obvious consequences. There is no
easy way of building GUI as well as no way of adding GUI to an existing
application.

Ignoring casual applications, it is unfortunately so, that whatever
framework you use, and what the application is supposed to do functionally,
you have to build it around the GUI.

> I was happy to find that the Ada bindings are available for both Qt and
> Gtk, but I was disheartened when I saw the code of the example programs.
> Lots of code! Lines and lines of dense code, barely comprehensible.
> Honestly, I don't know if I would be able to write a GUI by manually
> writing so much code.

It is only the tip of the iceberg. When you start writing a real-life GUI
the amount of code explodes. In order to maintain the complexity you need
to refactor and reuse, start building customized widgets on top of the
existing ones etc. Much of software design, not easy, not very rewarding,
because the code still looks ugly, but at least becomes a bit maintainable.

> My question is: is there any GUI builder, either for Qt or for Qt, which
> will allow me to graphically design the widgets, and which will then
> generate Ada code?

Wasting time, but you won't believe me anyway. So take any, it is actually
no matter. Once you have it behind you, you can make a fresh start and
begin working productively.

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de