guttman@mashie.ece.jhu.edu (Michael A Guttman) (05/03/91)
Hi all, We're going to develop a package with a GUI and we need to support Sparc, IBM RISC and SGI workstations. We would like to use a UI builder program to cut development time. I'm new to X GUI programming and am looking for suggestions. Our goal is minimization of development time while supporting the multiple platforms. First one basic question: Is MOTIF just a window manager, or does it also fall into the toolkit category? One possible solution for us: Someone recommended a UI builder named "Devguide" from Sun which creates code for Xview. Has anybody out there ported Xview to the IBM and/or SGI? Will code written to use the Xview tools work well under the window managers of the other machines (i.e. MOTIF)? Other solutions/experiences? Thanks, Mike guttman@mashie.ece.jhu.edu
guttman@mashie.ece.jhu.edu (Michael A Guttman) (05/07/91)
Hi all, We're going to develop a package with a GUI and we need to support Sparc, IBM RISC and SGI workstations. We would like to use a UI builder program to cut development time. I'm new to X GUI programming and am looking for suggestions. Our goal is minimization of development time while supporting the multiple platforms. One possible solution for us: Someone recommended a UI builder named "Devguide" from Sun which creates code for Xview. Has anybody out there ported Xview to the IBM and/or SGI? Will code written to use the Xview tools work well under the window managers of the other machines (i.e. MOTIF)? Other solutions/experiences? Thanks, Mike guttman@mashie.ece.jhu.edu
erc@pai.UUCP (Eric F. Johnson) (05/10/91)
Michael A Guttman (guttman@mashie.ece.jhu.edu) writes: >We're going to develop a package with a GUI and we need to support >Sparc, IBM RISC and SGI workstations. We would like to use a UI >builder program to cut development time. Application builders exist for both Motif and Open Look. There seems to be more available for Motif. Don't expect application builders to do everything, though. There is still a lot of work in creating commercial-grade software, even if you use an application builder. >First one basic question: >Is MOTIF just a window manager, or does it also fall into the toolkit >category? Motif includes a window manager (mwm), a style guide, a toolkit (C library) and a prototyping language (called UIL). The Motif toolkit sits on top of the Xt Intrinsics, much like OLIT (Open Look Intrinsics Toolkit), and is much different, therefore, from XView (which does not use the Xt Intrinsics, but uses C functions that look a lot like SunView functions). Motif is generally supported on more platforms than XView. The choice of which toolkit is best for you is one of taste--beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. > Mike > guttman@mashie.ece.jhu.edu Hope this helps, -Eric P.S., Under separate cover, I'll email you a list of Motif application builders that was recently posted to comp.windows.x.motif -- Eric F. Johnson phone: +1 612 894 0313 BTI: Industrial Boulware Technologies, Inc. fax: +1 612 894 0316 automation systems 415 W. Travelers Trail email: erc@pai.mn.org and services Burnsville, MN 55337 USA
dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) (05/10/91)
In article <1759@pai.UUCP>, erc@pai.UUCP (Eric F. Johnson) writes: |> Don't expect application builders to do everything, though. There is |> still a lot of work in creating commercial-grade software, even if |> you use an application builder. This is a very important statement. The good thing about application builders is that they make prototyping a user interface much easier. The bad thing about application builders is that they make it easier to write lousy applications more quickly. There are a lot of Motif programmers out there who are not very good Xt and Xlib programmers, and some who aren't even experienced X users. There are few things worse than a program written by someone who isn't proficient at using the target platform. -- ...David Elliott ...dce@smsc.sony.com | ...!{uunet,mips}!sonyusa!dce ...(408)944-4073 ..."Once a head-crusher, always a head-crusher" - Mark M.