pstevens@pioneer.arpa (Paul Stevens RCE Sterling) (02/23/88)
Having used both of SMG and FMS to create `window-like' applications I figure it's time to throw my two cents in... FMS based applications which use the basic type of windows (highlighted options, scrolled display, field entry) are definitely less work to develop than the equivalent display in SMG. That is to say that there are more things to be handled by the SMG code. Another plus to FMS based applications is that often changes to the forms (layout, style, language) can be made without any change to the code. The down side to FMS is that since it is not standard with VMS the resulting code may not be portable to some site later on. (Wouldn't it be nice if you paid for FMS development license, but the run-time i/f was included in VMS). For fancier applications (like the drop down menu's mentioned earlier) I think SMG may be the only choice. I'm not sure but I also think that SMG may be better at handling different types of terminals.
cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP (Sir Xetwnk) (02/26/88)
In article <5050@ames.arpa>, pstevens@pioneer.arpa (Paul Stevens RCE Sterling) writes: > [his two cents on FMS vs SMG] > For fancier applications (like the drop down menu's mentioned earlier) > I think SMG may be the only choice. I'm not sure but I also think that > SMG may be better at handling different types of terminals. I think you can do the equivalent of "pull down menus" by overlaying one form on another in FMS; you have to define separate workspaces for them, if I've understood the (somewhat vague) documentation properly... I haven't messed with this very much, and what I HAVE done is kind of a 'kludge', in that I get one form displayed over the bottom half of another, but if you REFRESH the screen you only get the CURRENT one, not BOTH with the second occluding the first. I don't know if this would happen if I were doing the double- workspace bit... I suspect it would refresh to the actual intended "overlaid" appearance of the screen. Anybody mess with this and know for sure? Chris Chiesa, Senior, Ball State University, Muncie, IN > -- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Chris Chiesa <><><><><> <> {ihpn4|seismo}!{iuvax|pur-ee}!bsu-cs!cfchiesa <> <> cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>