mitchell@cbmvax.commodore.com (Fred Mitchell - PA) (01/09/90)
:::::Professional Requester Inquiry:::::
Hello, fellow programmers.
What I'm interested in knowing is: How many of you are in dire need of
sophisticated software that would allow you to create Gadgets and Requesters
for your applications with the ease of pointing & clicking? Create menus
with ease? (This would generate C code that you could compile & link into
your application without modification.)
If you would be interested in such a development package, please send me
E-Mail (only-no posts please) to:
mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP
Or call me (voice) at (215) 696-2138.
Also, it would aid me greatly if you could fill in the following questionaire:
a) What level of expertise do you consider yourself with regards to
programming the Amiga? (novice, intermediate, expert, god-like)
b) Are you a professional developer, or do you do this for fun?
c) What C Compiler do you currently use? What revision?
d) What C Compiler do you prefer to use? Would you switch if you had to?
e) What type of software are you developing?
f) About how many requesters do you expect to use in your current (or next)
application? How long does it take you to develop each requester? (full
cycle- design-code-test-debug)
g) How do you currently design your requesters? (graph paper, paint prog.,
special software, etc.)
h) Are you satisfied with how you currently implement requesters? Why/Why not?
i) What would you realistically expect to pay for a package that could reduce
your requester design time by a factor of about 3-10 times?
j) What percentage of your development time do you estimate that you spend
designing requesters?
That's it! Be sure to _mail_ your responses to mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP
No postings, please. And many thanks.
Mitchell
mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP
To Life, Immortal!
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (01/10/90)
Maybe someone with expertise should revive EGADS!
leetron1@tronsbox.UUCP (HIM) (01/11/90)
>Author: [Fred Mitchell - PA] > Subj: Professional Requester > Keyw: > Date: Wed Jan 10 1990 01:56 > Lines: 54 > >:::::Professional Requester Inquiry::::: > > >Hello, fellow programmers. > >What I'm interested in knowing is: How many of you are in dire need of >sophisticated software that would allow you to create Gadgets and Requesters >for your applications with the ease of pointing & clicking? Create menus >with ease? (This would generate C code that you could compile & link into >your application without modification.) I have it . I use Power_Windows 2.5 **************************************************************************** Everything I say is (c) 1990, except the stuff I stole from someone else and the stuff I don't want responsibility for. Kenneth J. Jamieson: Xanadu Enterprises Inc. "Professional Amiga Software" UUCP: tron1@tronsbox.UUCP BEST PATH ---> uunet!tronsbox!tron1 Sysop, Romantic Encounters BBS - (201)759-8450 / (201)759-8568 ****************************************************************************
mitchell@cbmvax.commodore.com (Fred Mitchell - PA) (01/19/90)
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*** ***
*** Professional Requester (TM) - Preliminary Specifications 1/18/90 ***
*** ***
*******************************************************************************
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Description:
Professional Requester (TM) is a GUI-driven compiler that allows you
to create 'C' modules for Requesters. All aspects of the requester is
handled from the 'C' module, with installable hooks for special
applications. This greatly frees the burden of designing/implementing/
debugging requesters, allowing you more time/freedom to concentrate on
the important aspects of your code.
Details:
To use ProReq (TM), you simply create and drag around gadgets, text,
and data-items (a data-item is a field in your struct that is linked
to a gadget). You can specify 'links' between gadgets, or between
gadgets and data-items. For instance, you can tie a numeric field to
the position of a slider, and vice-versa. All this is done from the
GUI by just clicking. You can save your requester work in its
'uncompiled' form, which makes module updates/maintenance a snap.
For all gadgets, you can attach a 'range' of values that they may
take on, depending on the state of the gadget. For instance, you can
give a toggle gadget the value of '25' as its on value, and '2' as its
'off' value. Or you can make a slider gadget vary between 0 and 100.
You have total flexibility in how you specify the ranges. Also, you
can specify default values for your gadgets, as well. (Any gadget without
a default will take on the initial values from the data-item that it may
be attached to.)
Compilers:
Initially, the Lattice C compiler (version 5.04 and above) will be
supported. Eventually, Manx will be supported as well.
Availibility:
ProReq should be ready by the end of February. When ready, an
announcement will be made on comp.sys.amiga.tech and elsewhere.
Questions? Leave E-Mail at mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP
or call (215) 696-2138 anytime. (I will be espically open to
suggestions.) Note that ProReq (TM) is being developed independently
of Commodore.
Soon to come:
A library package for generating windows, menus and stand-alone
gadgets.new@udel.edu (Darren New) (01/19/90)
In article <9380@cbmvax.commodore.com> mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP (Fred Mitchell - PA) writes: >*** Professional Requester (TM) - Preliminary Specifications 1/18/90 *** > Professional Requester (TM) is a GUI-driven compiler that allows you > to create 'C' modules for Requesters. > You can save your requester work in its > 'uncompiled' form, which makes module updates/maintenance a snap. How will the "uncompiled form" be represented? Will it be IFF (please)? If so, it would make sense to make it general enough to allow the IFF to be converted to anything, not just C. ModulaII is getting popular (yech, but true). Specifically, I would love to see and ARexx host that could read an uncompiled version and accept commands and functions to allow the user to manipulate it. How about stuff to allow IFF ILBM forms to be put into the window where the gadgets are going to be posted. Then complex and nifty-looking screens could be set up easily. Add ARexx and you have instant hyper-card. -- Darren
jeh@elmgate.UUCP (Ed Hanway) (01/20/90)
In article <9380@cbmvax.commodore.com> mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP (Fred Mitchell - PA) writes: [ most of long product announcement deleted ] > To use ProReq (TM), you simply create and drag around gadgets, text, > and data-items... One thing (among many) about Power Windows that really yanks my chain is that there's no way to line up a column of things. I either have to squint and try to resolve individual pixels by eye or enter the x,y coordinates by hand. Both methods are unacceptable, especially when you need to go back and add a new item in the middle. IMHO, a composition tool like this is nearly useless unless it has one of: - snap to a grid (like DPaint) - snap to the edge of another object - a "Line Up" menu item which aligns all selected objects neatly Please consider supporting something like this, if it's not already in there. --- Ed Hanway Eastman Kodak Company ...!rochester!kodak!elmgate!jeh #include <std_disclaimer.h> jeh@elmgate.UUCP
hue@netcom.UUCP (Jonathan Hue) (01/21/90)
In article <1190@elmgate.UUCP> jeh@elmgate.UUCP (Ed Hanway) writes: >In article <9380@cbmvax.commodore.com> mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP (Fred Mitchell - PA) writes: >[ most of long product announcement deleted ] >> To use ProReq (TM), you simply create and drag around gadgets, text, >> and data-items... > > - snap to a grid (like DPaint) > - snap to the edge of another object > - a "Line Up" menu item which aligns all selected objects neatly These are useful features, but what you really want to create rows and columns of gadgets is the ability to stretch a bounding box and have it add gadgets as the box grows larger in either dimension. With Interface Builder on the NeXT you do this by holding down the alt key while you stetch or shrink a box. -Jonathan
bevis@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Jeff Bevis) (01/21/90)
In article <1190@elmgate.UUCP>, jeh@elmgate.UUCP (Ed Hanway) writes: >In article <9380@cbmvax.commodore.com> mitchell@cbmvax.UUCP (Fred Mitchell - PA) writes: >[ most of long product announcement deleted ] >> To use ProReq (TM), you simply create and drag around gadgets, text, >> and data-items... > >[ stuff deleted ] > >a new item in the middle. IMHO, a composition tool like this is nearly >useless unless it has one of: > > - snap to a grid (like DPaint) > - snap to the edge of another object > - a "Line Up" menu item which aligns all selected objects neatly > In this vein, let me add the following: - Move arbitrary grouping of objects simultaneously - Movement without having to select a menu item, just click and drag, click and drag, ... ad infinitum. - Auto-attach to edge of window -- for border gadgets - Easy deletion/cloning (ie, don't have to select menuitems before each iteration) - A 'scratchpad' area to save gadgets while rearranging - +--------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+ | Jeff Bevis | "But I don't like spam!" | | bevis@en.ecn.purdue.edu | Give me Amiga or nothing at all. | +--------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
a464@mindlink.UUCP (Bruce Dawson) (01/21/90)
One of the important things I would look for in a requester designer is
efficient code generation. Or, more precisely, efficient data generation. If
you design a complicated requester (or set menus, thos are often the worst
offenders) you can easily build up 5, 10, even 20K of data. The Intuition
gadget, IntuiText, MenuItem structures etc. are all marvelously flexible, but
they can take up a huge amount of room. The menus for one of my programs would
have taken up about 20K on disk for the structures alone (not including the
unavoidable memory used for the text) if I hadn't generated all of the
structures at run time. Similarly, a requester generation program should at
least have an option for allocating memory for and initializing all of the
gadget structures. Not very efficient for simple requesters, but if you have a
bunch of complicated ones, they can share the structure generation code and
potentially save a lot of space.
This is a type of packing. Removing of redundant information. If the
gadgets are all widely different, it won't work, because there isn't redundant
information. But, it usually works.
The other advantage to this is that it makes it easier to write re-entrant
programs, even multitasking re-entrant programs, since you don't have all of
these Intuition structures in your data segment anymore.
.Bruce Dawson.
P.S. The run time library 'req.library', besides providing some useful
requesters (colour requester, file requester etc.) includes some simple gadget
creation routines, handy for just such a task.