RE: Best option for portable GUI?

["Robert C. Leif" <rleif@rleif.com>]

This is now becoming feasible. The next portable GUI should employ XForms.
For Windows this can be downloaded from http://www.formsplayer.com/
Frankly, since the literature posted at this site did not include a complete
working example, I had to ask for help on their Yahoo list. A gentleman
kindly sent me an example, which I will gladly e-mail to interested parties.
The bottom line is that one no longer needs JavaScript or the equivalent.
The combination of an Ada binding to XForms and an extended version of Tom
Moran's Simple_Server would be ideal for embedded applications. The use of
XForms and XML with the A# .NET compiler would permit the development of
very powerful Windows applications, which could be ported to other operating
systems. 
Bob Leif

-----Original Message-----
From: Marin David Condic [mailto:mcondic.auntie.spam@acm.org] 
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 5:32 AM
To: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org
Subject: Re: Best option for portable GUI?

Both have their advantages. GtkAda has as its biggest advantage that it can
run in a number of places. Claw has as its advantage that it is easier to
use and more intuitive - especially for those used to building Windows apps.
GtkAda has the resizable widgets that may be more attractive to some but
makes it a) difficult to learn how to use and b) difficult to get a nice
looking window constructed without lots of experience. It has improved some
in that there are various documents floating around that help get you up to
speed, but not all in one nice, convenient location and it tends to suffer
from that "Well, go look at the C code and the C documentation and then
you'll understand..." syndrome. I like Claw, but it is hard to argue with
the portability factor in GtkAda if you consider that at all important to
your project.

It would be nice to see Ada evolve some sort of standard, portable GUI in a
manner similar to what Java does - use a graphics engine and some flavor of
XML to build a GUI server.

MDC
--
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Marin David Condic
I work for: http://www.belcan.com/
My project is: http://www.jast.mil/

Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g

    "I'd trade it all for just a little more"
        --  Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10]
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Grein, Christoph <christoph.grein@eurocopter.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.2.1042803271.18144.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
>
> The intro version is free (GMGPL)
>
> Personally, I've found Claw more intuitive and easier to use than GtkAda.
>
> But Claw is bound to Windows, GtkAda can run on both, Windows and Linux.