Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Matthew S. Whiting]

Frank C. Post wrote:
> 
> My question is:  How does the GUI Bulder work?  I've searched the documents
> from start to finish, and though it's very descriptive concerning its
> abilities, it provides VERY LITTLE syntactical help.  What now?  Can anyone
> point me in the direction of additional references?  Or send me some sample
> code?

I'm at home and thus can't fire up ObjectAda to take a look, but I found an 
example that walks you through building a very simple GuiBuilder application 
that has a button that simply changes the window background color to red.  It 
isn't much, but it walks you through the basic steps.  Have you actually got 
GuiBuilder to fire up?  I'm running on Windows NT and it wouldn't load 
initially.  The folks at Thomson support were, however, very response in 
sending me the "patch" required to modify the registry appropriately.  If you 
can't find the GuiBuilder example after a little more searching, drop me a 
line at work (whiting_ms@corning.com) and I'll see if I can find it again.  
It was probably either in the GuiBuilder help or one of the many document 
icons that appears in the ObjectAda program group.
 
> At this point, any help at all will be greatly appreciated.

Not much help as yet, but at least you know there is something there to look 
for!

Matt

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <3266FD6A.2CF9@epix.net>, "Matthew S. Whiting" <whiting@epix.net> writes:

> isn't much, but it walks you through the basic steps.  Have you actually got 
> GuiBuilder to fire up?  I'm running on Windows NT and it wouldn't load 
> initially.  The folks at Thomson support were, however, very response in 
> sending me the "patch" required to modify the registry appropriately.  If you 

Hmm, I have ObjectAda 7.0 on Windows NT 3.51 without any Service Pack
and I did not have any problem getting the GUI Builder to start up.

Larry Kilgallen

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[whiting_ms@corning.com (Matt Whiting)]

In article <1996Oct18.072603.1@eisner>, kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen) writes:
> In article <3266FD6A.2CF9@epix.net>, "Matthew S. Whiting" <whiting@epix.net> writes:
> 
>> isn't much, but it walks you through the basic steps.  Have you actually got 
>> GuiBuilder to fire up?  I'm running on Windows NT and it wouldn't load 
>> initially.  The folks at Thomson support were, however, very response in 
>> sending me the "patch" required to modify the registry appropriately.  If you 
> 
> Hmm, I have ObjectAda 7.0 on Windows NT 3.51 without any Service Pack
> and I did not have any problem getting the GUI Builder to start up.
> 
> Larry Kilgallen

Yes, Veddy intereesting.  I'm running NT 3.51 also, but am at service pack 4
(build 1057).  I purchased the Enterprise edition (although it appears the main
CD is the same as for the professional edition - it is labeled "Professional
Edition").  I've yet to install the Open Pack CD due to lack of disk space, but
the new 1.6 Gig drive arrived yesterday!

When I tried to execute GuiBuilder, I got an error something to the effect of
"error loading file."  Thomson sent me a NT utility called regsvr32 and six
commands to use with this utility to register six .ocx files.

No explanation was provided as to WHY I needed to do this manually and I
received no errors during the original installation, but it sounds like part
of the installation may have failed.

Matt

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[BSCrawford]

Frank C. Post wrote (in part):
> 
> My question is:  How does the GUI Bulder work?  I've searched the
documents
> from start to finish, and though it's very descriptive concerning its
> abilities, it provides VERY LITTLE syntactical help.  What now?  Can
anyone
> point me in the direction of additional references?  Or send me some
sample
> code?

Matthew S. Whiting replied (in part)

>I'm at home and thus can't fire up ObjectAda to take a look, but I found
an 
>example that walks you through building a very simple GuiBuilder
application 
>that has a button that simply changes the window background color to red.
 It 
>isn't much, but it walks you through the basic steps. 

That simple example can be found in the GUI Builder Help document under 
the title, "Creating your first GUI application."  I have created several 
added small examples in the (upcoming) Version 2.3, Volume 3 of HOT_Ada  
(which is bundled in with ObjectAda).  These examples also represent the 
GUI Builder-generated code pictorially.  I will be happy to send you 
(Frank Post) a free copy of the new version as soon as it is ready 
(in a couple of weeks) -- if you agree to give me some feedback on 
how/if it helped -- and send me a mailing address.

Bard Crawford
Stage Harbor Software
bscrawford@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/HOTAda/

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <01bbbc5d$ac75c3c0$629148a6@cornerstone.kee.aetc.af.mil>, "Frank C. Post" <postman@christcom.net> writes:

> My question is:  How does the GUI Bulder work?  I've searched the documents
> from start to finish, and though it's very descriptive concerning its
> abilities, it provides VERY LITTLE syntactical help.  What now?  Can anyone
> point me in the direction of additional references?  Or send me some sample
> code?

The first step is to have used something similar before :-).

Seriously, the one I had used extensively before was AppMaker on the
Macintosh, which has an entirely different approach to the design UI
but at least comes with documentation (Thomson, are you listening?).

I think the best approach to this sort of tool is to forget all about
Ada (or whatever the target language is) while doing the UI design.
AppMaker, in fact, has a single UI for doing Pascal, C, or either of
those languages using either of two common Macintosh object-oriented
"frameworks".

So with a copy of "Programming Windows 95" by Charles Petzold
at hand (to explain what "Multiple Document Interface" means,
if nothing else) one clicks and drags and sets "property" values
for graphic elements.  I had the advantage of having a strong idea
from the start of what windows were supposed to include what graphic
elements for the target interface.

When the UI design part is done (well, I can never resist "peeking"
in advance) you look at the generated code and behold a description
of your chosen GUI elements and their relationship to the GUI
system in your favorite language, Ada.

From what I have seen so far, the ObjectAda GUI Builder does
less than AppMaker at generating typical code skeletons for an
application.  Then again, I often found that AppMaker's idea of
"typical" was not what I needed anyway.

But you said "sample code".  Perhaps you had already worked your way
through all of this and I am wasting bandwidth.

Larry Kilgallen
a Windows newcomer

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[BSCrawford]

In article <01bbbdaf$6e9055e0$190260cf@baileyl.erols.com>, "Sheila L.
Bailey" <baileyl@erols.com> writes:

>In the GUI builder, I cannot same to put an object inside of a frame. 
The
>first thing I do is put my frame in the window and size it.  Then I try
to
>put another object into my frame, like a check box.  When I do this, my
>frame moves instead of my object, i.e.. check box, appearing inside of
the
>frame.

I noticed a similar thing when I tried to create some push buttons 
inside a frame.  Then I found that I could create the buttons outside 
the frame as step 1 and move them on top of the frame as step 2. 

Bard Crawford
Stage Harbor Software
bscrawford@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/HOTAda/

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[John C. Gordon]

I have not been able to place anything inside of a frame either.
You have to place the controls and then place a frame around them.
If you want to move the group as a unit, however, you're pretty much 
SOL since there isn't a bounding box (rubberband box) to let you grab 
multiple objects at one time.

In article <01bbbdaf$6e9055e0$190260cf@baileyl.erols.com>, "Sheila L. Bailey" <baileyl@erols.com> says:
>
>In the GUI builder, I cannot same to put an object inside of a frame.  The
>first thing I do is put my frame in the window and size it.  Then I try to
>put another object into my frame, like a check box.  When I do this, my
>frame moves instead of my object, i.e.. check box, appearing inside of the
>frame.
>        Sheila

RE: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Neil O'Brien]

On Saturday, October 19, 1996, John C. Gordon wrote...
> I have not been able to place anything inside of a frame either.
> You have to place the controls and then place a frame around them.
> If you want to move the group as a unit, however, you're pretty much 
> SOL since there isn't a bounding box (rubberband box) to let you grab 
> multiple objects at one time.
> 
> In article <01bbbdaf$6e9055e0$190260cf@baileyl.erols.com>, "Sheila L.
Bailey" <baileyl@erols.com> says:
> >
> >In the GUI builder, I cannot same to put an object inside of a frame. 
The
> >first thing I do is put my frame in the window and size it.  Then I try
to
> >put another object into my frame, like a check box.  When I do this, my
> >frame moves instead of my object, i.e.. check box, appearing inside of
the
> >frame.
> >        Sheila
> 

To all the folks posting these issues here, you may want to try discussing
this on the ObjectAda mailing lists. I posted instructions on how to
subscribe a week or two ago, if you want further details, please email me
at obrien@east.thomsoft.com


--

=========================================================
Neil O'Brien			obrien@east.thomsoft.com
Customer Support		(617) 221 7320
Thomson Software Products


They're the wrong trousers Grommit, and they've gone wrong!

"I went back to my hotel and intended to watch Tottenham -
but I fell asleep" - Arsene Wenger

RE: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <01bbbf5c.382b9f60$fc899dc0@fielding.east.aonix.com>, Neil O'Brien <obrien@east.thomsoft.com> writes:

<snipping discussion of the handling of frames>

> To all the folks posting these issues here, you may want to try discussing
> this on the ObjectAda mailing lists. I posted instructions on how to

So far the activity rate has not been very high there, particularly
from Thomson folks who might know the answers.  Of course such
vendor-specific discussions should move off c.l.a if they start
to overwhelm it.

> subscribe a week or two ago, if you want further details, please email me
> at obrien@east.thomsoft.com

> =========================================================
> Neil O'Brien			obrien@east.thomsoft.com
> Customer Support		(617) 221 7320
> Thomson Software Products

Hoping that things will pick up on the list, however, you might
consider adding the signup instructions to your signature :-).

Larry Kilgallen

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Benjamin Shade]

I have used the previous version of ObjectAda (ActiveAda 5.2.2 - Ada '83
for Windows NT) and the GUI builder that comes with that sounds similar
to the one your are all talking about (although I have not as yet
installed or seen the new ObjectAda). 

The best way of using the old version is to just use it for basic window
layout and no more. After that it is best to write the windows program
using 'code' and not go back to the GUI editor. If your are can write
windows programs using 'C' or 'C++' then it is often not worth using it
at all and just write vanilla Ada with the Win32 and use a Resource
Editor for producing those pretty windows!

Has anybody used both the old ActiveAda and the new ObjectAda? Is its
GUI builder any better?
---------------------<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>-------------------- 
Ben Shade -> Home: Ben@shadebs.demon.co.uk
Portsmouth|> Work: ???????@gecm.com 
England,UK|> Web : http://www.shadebs.demon.co.uk

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <Btj3aCAJo9ayIwra@shadebs.demon.co.uk>, Benjamin Shade <ben@shadebs.demon.co.uk> writes:

> The best way of using the old version is to just use it for basic window
> layout and no more. After that it is best to write the windows program
> using 'code' and not go back to the GUI editor.

Going back to a GUI generator only when it becomes necessary to
shift a graphic element seems a reasonable approach, as it is hard
to make use of revised code which a GUI generator has built after
your modifications have already been made to the previously
generated code skeletons.  AppMaker attempts to support this
with a shadow set of source files from which the normal set
inherits.  You get to modify the normal set and AppMaker gets
to regenerate the shadow set. This sort of works, but perhaps
it would work even better given the flexibility of Ada 95.
It is my goal to try, and if it works you will certainly
hear about it.

As for ActiveAda/ObjectAda, the skeleton code I have seen
generated by ObjectAda thus far is so inconsequential as to
make revisitation a moot issue.  Or perhaps I just do not yet
realize it and Microsoft Windows GUI programming is a whole
lot simpler than Macintosh or Motif GUI programming.

Larry Kilgallen

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <Btj3aCAJo9ayIwra@shadebs.demon.co.uk>, Benjamin Shade <ben@shadebs.demon.co.uk> writes:

> Has anybody used both the old ActiveAda and the new ObjectAda? Is its
> GUI builder any better?

Well the specification and body for each package are both in the
same file, so that would indicate it dates back to before Ada
had separate compilation :-)

Larry Kilgallen

Re: ObjectAda Professional GUI Builder

[steve]

Frank C. Post wrote:
> 
> I just received a copy of ObjectAda for Windows.  It's the professional
> edition, the one with the gui builder.
> 
> I've been teaching Ada for 5 years, and I thought I had a clue.  I've even
> written a few simple applications in Visual Basic, so I thought I
> understood the concepts behind these new visual languages.
> 
> My question is:  How does the GUI Bulder work?  I've searched the documents
> from start to finish, and though it's very descriptive concerning its
> abilities, it provides VERY LITTLE syntactical help.  What now?  Can anyone
> point me in the direction of additional references?  Or send me some sample
> code?
> 
> At this point, any help at all will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> --
> 
> Frank C. Post
> postman@christcom.net
> "I am the way, the truth and the life"
>                                           --Jesus Christ

In the online help of the GUI Builder under the "Contents"
page:

  Introduction to the GUI Builder

    Overview
    Creating your first GUI Builder application

The "Overview" and "Creating..." sections should help you
out a lot.

After that you can look at the spec of the gbObject library
(objectada\guibuild\lib\gbobject.ads).  This spec describes
the different properties, methods and events that the GUI
Builder objects have.

Lastly, for more info/questions you can sign up on the 
mailing list with:

 Neil O'Brien                    obrien@east.thomsoft.com
 Customer Support                (617) 221 7320

In the future there will be more documentation and examples.

Happy programming,

Steve Sivulka
Thomson Software Products