creating GUIs / Emperor / ?

Well, I don't have any experience with Amiga GUIs and I'd like to create a not too complicated one with the least possible effort
(as a front end for a c++ program).

On os4depot.net, I found Emperor. Can someone recommend it or knows something better?

I'd like to have a window (in OS4-style) with at least 2 tabs. Is it possible to have something like a file lister and each entry in the lister allows multiples lines of description (not only a single line per entry).

Actually, i don't like GUIs -- it seems harder to create one to visualize the solution of a problem than to solve the problem itself

Thanks,
nexus


P.S. Hollywood is very nice to visualize something. Is it possible to interact with a c++ program? I wonder, if A.M.C does it this way and how

@nexus

If you give your program an ARexx port, then it is very easy to control through Hollywood.

If you use OWB on OS4, then you can see an example of this with this program:
http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?fun ... rowser/owbaddressbook.lha

@nexus

Lately I tried to use Emperor to help me design a GUI (advantage being to see almost real-time what it will look like). But I found that Emperor has some issues/bugs in plenty of its area. One of this problem is that Emperor insists on opening its own screen but after two or three actions, it finally stops opening its windows on it and opens them on the WB making you think it does nothing...

I ended generating the code and improved the generated GUI from that totally stopping using it...

Too bad it wasn't updated for so long it might have been a good thing, now unless you manage to use the old ReActor (from the OS 3.9 NDK) we have no solution except waiting for the GUI Builder from Jamie Krueger.

PS: I vaguely remember there was some Proof Of Concept program that emerged on OS4Depot 2 or 3 years ago but can't remember the name nor the author (TSK maybe ?)

@PEB

thanks, maybe worth a look..

@abalaban

ok, thanks. So doing it by hand is the best but also most time consuming option.

Waiting desperately for Jamie Krueger .. maybe, I should register to his donation/support/betatesting thing :)

Another question:
Is it at all possible to have a multi-line list? Something like a result list with clickable links and description snippets,etc?
Haven't seen something like that on AOS, therefore, I ask.

thanks,
nexus

@nexus

I didn't say Emperor does not work, only it had some issues.
I only used it as a GUI builder in order to gain time (because of the possibility to see almost real-time what action an attribute has to the GUI). And if I had read the manual I might have understood some things that aren't obvious when you haven't (for example rules/constraints that apply to gadget level in the hierarchy).
Once I had considered I reached the point were the GUI was OK I generated the code and improved from that, coding the rest by hand. Emperor seems to have possibilities to add/write user code but my goal wasn't to fully use Emperor but rather gain time on the GUI building.

A quick search on OS4Depot gave me :
* MindGUI;
* GUI designer

I tested both of them at the time they emerged but can't remember how good they were...

@abalaban
Due to the fact that there's a native version of wizard.library available someone might play with StormWIZARD to design a GUI...

@cha05e90

Maybe but shouldn't one owns StormC first ? Moreover it hasn't be updated with latest Reaction updates that took place since AOS 3.9 up to AOS 4.1...

@cha05e90

Quote:
If one needs to learn how GUIs are created with wizard.library, they can as well learn how to use ReAction, the official (and much better documented) OS4 GUI toolkit

double post

in my experience is more simply to learn how reaction mechanism works that learn promgrams like Emperor.. I was using it in the past but in the end it is better to code everything with your little text editor..

@nexus

If you can do most of what you want with a shellcommand there is some
autogui that you can use.(just reading the template and generating a gui)

I do use Gui4Cli for most interfacing with existing shell software of that kind. There is an Autogui written in Gui4Cli too.

Using environmental variables can help make the gui more interactive: Gui4Cli can read them and even detect that a change occured.

Of course with an arexx port Gui4Cli can do all what you want. It has different types of listers. (directory, database (limited), multiline selectable, one line selectable.
I even wrote an editor with it.

Rebol may be a choice too. I decided for Gui4CLi a long time ago, but with Rebol 3 coming up, i'll certainly look at Rebol again.

@thread

I am surprised no one has mentioned PureBasic !

It has a built is GUI editor and is not open source, just the core compiler is closed source.

I think the developer was waiting for feedback a while back from a compatibility standpoint from Amiga users - but came to deaf ears.

The creator has a Sam system I think and is just awaiting a decent user base/demand to make his effort for a native PPC version worthwhile.

http://www.purebasic.fr/english/

Purebasic is quite an efficient programming language and would do wonders on OS4 !

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia ... ons/5/5b/PureBasic_VD.png

@angelheart

Just gave PureBasic a try on my Sam but it grimmed on me :/

Here's more:
http://www.amigans.net/modules/newbb/ ... php?topic_id=4502&forum=3

@trixie

Hi, just to be sure.
What are you talking exactly of when you wote OS4GUI toolkit ?
The sdk ?

Bye,
YesCop

@yescop

Sorry but I don't understand the question.

@nexus

I think it is easier, and you know what you get, if you just copy'n'paste some example and modify it to what you need without using some buggy generator.

@Deniil

you say like this because Emperor is buggy but if it could work with no problems, maybe more developers would use it.

I don't really like open source but Emperor would be a good candidate to go that way.