dedalus@athena.mit.edu (Lewis J. Gramer) (11/16/89)
--------------------------------------------------- I'm wondering if anyone on the net has used Glockenspiel's C++ class library (CommonView) for implementing applications on Windows or PM? As I understand it, it comprises a set of canned classes for user-interface and graphics primitives. I'm wondering if it is usable for REAL applications, and what the gotchas and limit- ations are in developing with it. Please email responses, and if there's a LOT of interest, I'll summarize to the net. Thanks bunches... ========================================================================== | ====================================================================== | | | Lewis J. Gramer dedalus@athena.mit.edu | | | | (617) 625-0449 84 Oxford Street | |
parkerw@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (Parker Waechter) (11/17/89)
From what I understand, this not only works for windows and pm, but the same code written with their "CommonView" classes may be compiled to X or Macintosh windows...this seems abit too good to be true. I too would like to hear from anyone who has actually used it. -------- Parker B. Waechter II parkerw@cs.ucla.edu
schwartz@dinl.uucp (Michael Schwartz) (11/17/89)
I have used CommonView for a few months. I am no expert at the Glockenspiel classes, though I understand a lot more about C++. Glockenspiel provides 2 class types. The first, Containers/FreeStore are interesting even without Windows. These provide an inheritance scheme for collections with a storage management scheme divorced from the stack. This is a major advantage for Windows (and also nice for EMS). They do take a while to write for non-trivial cases, though. The other class type is the GUI hierarchy. This is a lowest-common- denominator approach. I have found very few real applications that can be written without using the handle escape-hatch to the underlying operating system (in my case, windows). The exceptions would be text and forms based processing. These can be done nicely in a portable way (they are, after all, lowest common denominator applications). The long range picture is rosier. I believe C++ is a better language than C, and that my reusable software base will grow in a better way using it. While I have had to write a Circle class on my own, it's done, and I don't have to do it again (what, Never?). Now I'm just waiting for the version 2.0 to be released. I have had some problems with documentation (which are being corrected), and have found some applications which blow CommonView apps away by breaking the DLL. These bugs have been reported, and I hope they are fixed soon. So, while CommonView is no panacea, I think it has a lot of potential. If (when?) combined with something like Case/W (but extensible for OWN classes) this will be a major productivity tool. Michael -- ----------------------- schwartz@pogo.den.mmc.com "Expect everything ... mschwartz@mmc.com and the unexpected never happens." ncar!dinl!schwartz --the phantom tollbooth DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressesed are not necessarily those of my employer or myself.
pdavid@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Erbivore) (11/21/89)
parkerw@lanai.UUCP (Parker Waechter) writes : >From what I understand, this not only works for windows and pm, but the >same code written with their "CommonView" classes may be compiled to >X or Macintosh windows...this seems abit too good to be true. I too would >like to hear from anyone who has actually used it. Does anyone know if they allow modeless dialog boxes yet? Also, I am interested in a summarization of reveiews of the product. -Paul. -- Paul C. David pdavid@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU California Polytechic State University, San Luis Obispo "Without its software, a computer is basically a useless lump of metal" - Andy Tanenbaum