turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) (11/07/90)
----- I am considering Lightspeed C for writing a Mac application. I am underimpressed with the standard Mac procedures for manipulating a graphical interface. What I would like is a set of library calls that allow me to easily set up menus, permit the user to manipulate icons and arcs between icons, enter text boxes, push buttons, etc, without all the mess. Ideally, the interface would allow the declarative specification of what menus are available, the icon set, and the text boxes associated with icons, and would simply invoke the main program anytime a menu selection was made or button pushed. The iconic information would simply be present in a global data structure. Any suggestions? I would be interested even in something less than the ideal as long as it was better than the standard tool box. Russell
pharr-matthew@cs.yale.edu (Matthew Pharr) (11/07/90)
In article <14369@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >----- >I am considering Lightspeed C for writing a Mac application. I >am underimpressed with the standard Mac procedures for >manipulating a graphical interface. What I would like is a set >of library calls that allow me to easily set up menus, permit the >user to manipulate icons and arcs between icons, enter text >boxes, push buttons, etc, without all the mess. Although I've only played with a demo version, there is a program called Prototyper that lets you set up menus, windows, dialogs, alerts, etc, etc, very quickly and easily. It then cranks out code in any of a number of langauges, including Lightspeed C. It sounds like this solves your problem, but someone who has used it a little more extensively than I could probably give you a better answer... Matt Pharr-Matthew@Cs.Yale.Edu
oze3@quads.uchicago.edu (james daniel ozeran) (11/07/90)
In article <27092@cs.yale.edu> pharr-matthew@cs.yale.edu (Matthew Pharr) writes: >In article <14369@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >>----- >>I am considering Lightspeed C for writing a Mac application. I Stuff Deleted >Although I've only played with a demo version, there is a program called >Prototyper that lets you set up menus, windows, dialogs, alerts, etc, etc, >very quickly and easily. It then cranks out code in any of a number of >langauges, including Lightspeed C. It sounds like this solves your problem, >but someone who has used it a little more extensively than I could probably >give you a better answer... > >Matt >Pharr-Matthew@Cs.Yale.Edu Yes. Prototyper is very convenient for developing interfaces for Mac programs. It uses standard Toolbox functions to implement any interface you care to draw. The newest version (3.0) will also generate file handling and printing code for you in addition to providing a separate set of files for your code to add functionality to the program. It is also extensible, i.e. if you don't find a window or CNTL to your liking you can write your own WDEF or CDEF and have Prototyper generate the calls to it (VERY CONVENIENT!). I don't know the specifics of the LightSpeed C code it generates, but the Pascal code is - although very detailed - well commented and easy to understand. Sof far it has saved me innumerous hours of programmming time. Hope this helps. D. Ozeran -- *********************************************************** J. Daniel Ozeran | oze3@midway.uchicago.edu Depts. of Biochemistry | jozeran@biovax.uchicago.edu and Molecular Biology |
phils@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Phil Shapiro) (11/07/90)
In article <27092@cs.yale.edu> pharr-matthew@cs.yale.edu (Matthew Pharr) writes: In article <14369@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >I am considering Lightspeed C for writing a Mac >application. I am underimpressed with the standard Mac procedures >for manipulating a graphical interface. What I would like is a >set of library calls that allow me to easily set up menus, permit >the user to manipulate icons and arcs between icons, enter text >boxes, push buttons, etc, without all the mess. Although I've only played with a demo version, there is a program called Prototyper that lets you set up menus, windows, dialogs, alerts, etc, etc, very quickly and easily. It then cranks out code in any of a number of langauges, including Lightspeed C. It sounds like this solves your problem, but someone who has used it a little more extensively than I could probably give you a better answer... Personally, I would recommend using AppMaker (from Bowers Development) over Prototyper (although I *haven't* seen Prototyper v3.0). The big win of AppMaker is that it can use the Think Class Library for most of its interface construction. This provides code that is, IMHO, much easier to modify and customize, and allows the user to make a fair amount of interface changes without re-customizing the source code each time. -phil -- Phil Shapiro Technical Support Analyst Language Products Group Symantec Corporation Internet: phils@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu
robs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Rob Schaeffer) (11/08/90)
pharr-matthew@cs.yale.edu (Matthew Pharr) writes: >In article <14369@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >>----- >>I am considering Lightspeed C for writing a Mac application. I >>am underimpressed with the standard Mac procedures for [...] >>boxes, push buttons, etc, without all the mess. >Although I've only played with a demo version, there is a program called >Prototyper that lets you set up menus, windows, dialogs, alerts, etc, etc, >very quickly and easily. It then cranks out code in any of a number of >langauges, including Lightspeed C. It sounds like this solves your problem, >but someone who has used it a little more extensively than I could probably >give you a better answer... Prototyper is amazing. It is sort of like HyperCard, except that instead of a stack, you get C or Pascal code that you compile and have an empty interface. Then you add in the meat of your program. Very nice. -- robs@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu "Don't you love people who complain about wasted bandwidth and have
chaffee@reed.UUCP (Alex Chaffee) (11/08/90)
>In article <14369@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes: >>----- >>I am considering Lightspeed C for writing a Mac application. I >>am underimpressed with the standard Mac procedures for >>manipulating a graphical interface. What I would like is a set >>of library calls that allow me to easily set up menus, permit the >>user to manipulate icons and arcs between icons, enter text >>boxes, push buttons, etc, without all the mess. Think C 4.0 (nee Lightspeed C) comes with the Think Class Library, a library that takes advantage of ThC's object-oriented extensions to provide support for all the basic stuff like menus, text boxes, buttons, &c. You'd have to learn their paradigms for oop and the TCL chain of command and stuff, but that's relatively painless. Sorry, but you'll have to deal with arcs on your own (probably through a subclass of one of the standard classes, so you can inherit all their code). -- Alex Chaffee chaffee@reed.{UUCP,BITNET} Reed College, Portland OR 97202 ____________________
dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) (11/09/90)
In article <PHILS.90Nov7095323@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu> phils@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Phil Shapiro) writes: >Personally, I would recommend using AppMaker (from Bowers Development) >over Prototyper (although I *haven't* seen Prototyper v3.0). The big >win of AppMaker is that it can use the Think Class Library for most of >its interface construction. This provides code that is, IMHO, much >easier to modify and customize, and allows the user to make a fair >amount of interface changes without re-customizing the source code each >time. I don't know AppMaker and can't really compare the two. However, you are correct that a big problem with earlier versions of Prototyper was "re-customizing the source code each time" you made any changes to the user interface. This problem has been completely resolved in Prototyper 3.0, though--there is a clean separation between Prototyper-generated code and user-written code. Regarding the Think Class Library, I can't say (I've only recently ordered my THINK Pascal upgrade, and it hasn't arrived yet). However, Prototyper 3.0 does generate code for the most up-to-date versions of THINK C and THINK Pascal. -- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com) -- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA 19301 -- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable. < You can put a mouse on an IBM. And you can put a radio on a motorcycle. >