bdd@calmasd.GE.COM (Brian Donahue) (02/27/88)
saw this over on comp.graphics... In article [comp.graphics] <365@future.ursa.UUCP> raj@ursa.UUCP () writes: > >**************** Needed info on TOOL-TOOL ************************* > >Those of you that have struggled with Sunview know how hard it it to put >together a complex arrangement of buttons, sliders etc on a screen, I >mean in terms of placement etc. Also trying out different sizes, >fonts etc take a lot of time. >What is needed here is a TOOL-TOOL - a tool that will let you >interactively specify >where you want the panels, buttons, sliders, canvasses etc., >and when you hit "go", >it will either write the code for you or atleast give the parameters >to use in the calls to window_create. > >if any of you out there have it. You can email me at sun!gotham!ursa!raj. and it struck me as something that would be extremely useful for mac programming...Granted, we've got ResEdit and RMaker already, but as far as *user-friendly MacIntosh* programs go, I think theyre a real pain in the *ss to use. For instance, my version of ResEdit (i dont know which version I've got, but it doesnt quite work as the newest LSC documentation says it should) puts up a *textual* representation of a window and makes you hack on things like x & y coordinates, etc... textually. I mean, wouldnt it be easier (and more user-friendly?) to just put up a window, let you drag it around/change its shape/etc to where you want it? I've seen some icon-editors that are somewhat of an improvement over ResEdit's "fatbits" one, but are there dialog-editors out there?? menu-editors?? Has anyone put them all together? sliders? what's a slider? ;-) (BTW, if anyone has some spare code implemented for a slider, I'd appreciate it if you sent it my way...) signed , fed up with bad UIFs ...sdcsvax!calmasd!bdd
mayerk@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Kenneth Mayer) (03/06/88)
When last we saw our hero, bdd@calmasd.UUCP (Brian Donahue) ... >saw this over on comp.graphics... > >In article [comp.graphics] <365@future.ursa.UUCP> raj@ursa.UUCP () writes: >> >textually. I mean, wouldnt it be easier (and more user-friendly?) to just >put up a window, let you drag it around/change its shape/etc to where >you want it? > >I've seen some icon-editors that are somewhat of an improvement over >ResEdit's "fatbits" one, but are there dialog-editors out there?? >menu-editors?? Has anyone put them all together? Yes, someone has put it "all" (almost all anyway) together. It's called Prototyper, published by SmethersBarnes (800-237-3611, $125 list). It builds all sorts of windows, buttons, radio *clusters*, checkboxes, icons, lists, and scroll-bars in a very Apple Desktop Interface way. It will even write (very mediocre, but not bad for a first pass) Pascal code for you. (Prototyper now supports Lightspeed, MPW, Turbo, and one other I can't recall.) This code, when compiled will make a *LAUNCHABLE* APPLICATION that doess everything that Prototyper did for you in the prototyping environment. I used it to build prototypes for three applications in one day. I showed the prototypes to my client the next day, and together, we made changes on the fly to the user interface that solved several problems. There are some shortcomings though. SB neglected to support zoomDocProc windows. (A small concern, and three lines of code in Pascal to fix.) In addition, the resource files generated by Prototyper come in 2 formats: RMaker (gawk!) and a regular file with a resource fork. No Rez format files. Lightspeed does accept the regular file, so am not too worried about this either. I am not connected in any way to SmethersBarnes. I am an extremely satisfied customer. ----- ===== ----- ===== ----- ===== ----- Kenneth Mayer | Teacher: "Two plus two equals..." mayerk@eniac.seas.upenn.edu | Student: "Four, but what's a two?"