Re: Ada 95 Windows GUI Classes

[jerry@jvdsys.stuyts.nl]

Chris Warwick <warwicks@telusplanet.net> wrote:

: I have been toying about with ways to represent large amounts of code, and 
: would like to examine the issues with putting a Windows GUI on top of my 
: work... Rather than spending the next 50 years learning how to program 
: Windows, I was wondering if there are classes available that I could change to 
: meet my needs...

: Essentially I am looking for something with a user interface similar to most 
: CASE tools... you know different types of boxes, with different types of lines 
: drawn between them...

There are several possible solutions, depending on what you like best,
which compiler you use and what you want to spend.

Basically the choices are:

1. Use a thick library containing native Win32 objects
2. Use a UI designer that generator the code implementing the UI
3. Use a UI designer designed for a library

Choice 1 could be *CLAW* (commercial) or *Windex* (in progres). If designed in
a OO fashion, one can imagine inheriting from the base application class,
modifying it and decorating it with other objects. 
My own experiences with these kind of libraries (for different languages
and environments) is that they are nice to get something up & running
real quick, but the libraries architecture can quickly become a bottleneck
to be worked around instead of used.

Choice 2 is my ideal solution. Several UI designers can utilies language and
OS 'plug-ins' to generate native code over several platforms and languages.
Most of them will handle your own code properly, when making changes to the
UI. The Knoware tools are an example. Alas, there are no such tools yet for
Ada. The closest thing is currently *RAPID*.

Choice 3 is  a compromise that combines choices 1 and 2. Here there are
several options. Since I do not like interpreted languages (Tcl/Tk, Java).
I would suggest investing in *GUIBuilder* if you are using OA, or go with
*Gtk* if you use GNAT. GUIBuilder has the advantage of better Win32
integration, Gtk's UI prototyper is somewhat behind in functionality
but the results are portable to other environments.

I would advise that before making a investment (time- and/or moneywise) in
any of these tools, to download (demo) versions and try them out, see what
best fits your needs.

NOTE: Information about tools marked like *this* can be found on the net.
Check www.adapower.com for references.

Good luck,
Jerry.

-- 
-- Jerry van Dijk | Leiden, Holland
-- Team Ada       | jdijk@acm.org
-- see http://stad.dsl.nl/~jvandyk