Re: Looking for Ada GUI builder for Sun

[RICHARD A MAFFEI <ramaffei@cacd.rockwell.com>]

Theodore E. Dennison wrote:
> 
> David Kristola wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know of a GUI builder (X/Motif/whatever) for Sun (Solaris 2.5) that
> > produces Ada code?  I don't mind working with mixed language programs, but it
> > would be nice to avoid if possible.
> 
> Altia (from Alsys) does this. Black&White's UIM/Ada for HP/UX also does this, but
> I don't know if they have a Solaris port. These are both Motif GUI builders, so
> you must work with Motif-level widgets. If you want X-level stuff like gauges,
> rotating knobs, or graphic pictures with hot spots, you will still have to do it
> manually. I don't know of any X-based GUI builders that generate Ada.
> 
> One big problem with going this route is that GUI-builder products will tie you in to
> their proprietary runtimes, if you are not careful.
> 
> The solution I generally reccomend for folks (who can work at the Motif-level) is
> to use a Motif GUI builder that can generate and read UIL. UIL is a separate language
> than Ada, but the UIL compiler comes with all Motif systems, and will catch
> inconsistencies and errors that would look like perfectly good code to a C or Ada
> compiler. UIL is also completely portable across all Motif implementations (of the
> same version). If you want to change platforms, or even Motif GUI builders, you
> have that option. With other implementations you are tied to your GUI-builer vendor,
> and their supported platforms, for life. There are even some tools available to
> translate UIL into Windows GUI code! Interfacing Ada to UIL object files (.uid) is
> trivial. Its just a matter of 3 Motif calls (+ one for each widget you want to use
> directly).
> 
> --
> T.E.D.
>                 |  Work - mailto:dennison@escmail.orl.mmc.com  |
>                 |  Home - mailto:dennison@iag.net              |
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Century Computing's TAE Plus is an X/Motif GUI builder (provides Motif widgets as well
as X gadgets like gauges and dials) that generates Ada code.  TAE Plus also generates
UIL or resource files and runs on a multitude of platforms (Suns, HPs).  More info
can be found at http://www.cen.com.