Re: Ada GUI for Windows and Linux

[achrist@easystreet.com]

Eric Merritt wrote:
> 
> Depending on what kind of gui you are trying to create
> you could always create a web driven gui using AWS. If
> its mostly disply and form style input and output this
> will get you what you need.
> 

This is indeed close to very good.  But the world has been trying 
to do more with such GUI's that are not tightly coupled to the
application.  Java was supposed to do this.  Javascript and Flash
are now popular.  Microsoft does this with ActiveX, but it's not
portable.  There is a near continuum of options available.

I mentioned XUL because the article said that it was becoming popular.
It seems to me that Ada gains if it can talk to the same API's that
other languages talk to, and that Ada gains if language-neutral API's
succeed.  

Creating an application with AWS does present some challenges compared
to doing it with typical RAD/GUI development.  If the user's progress
through the UI is possibly lengthy and flexible, two UI questions are
problematic (at least for me)  (1) What happens if the user hits
the 'Back' button? (if you've got session info, you will want unlimited
undo support to roll it back) and (2) What happens if the user hits the 
'Open in New Window' button? (how to fork a session?  The 'New Window' 
in IE also duplicates the current page).
 

Al