Re: Unified libraries to allow porting code to other oses
- Posted by irv Jun 06, 2015
- 2247 views
Bouh hou, I cry! 
Everytime I want to do something with GTK, it is more complicated than expected. I hate sizers! When do we turn back to good old Basic?
I suspect you've never had to change a few dozen or a few hundred lines of code because the customer decided he needed one more button or another label. I have one, written years ago with bare Eu and win32lib, that's still in use. Try browsing thru 7500 lines of code like the following, looking for an error in placement, and explain how that's easier!
,LText113 = create( LText, "Amount", CustomerWindow, 320, 248, 100, 24, 0 ) ,LText89 = create( LText, "New Balance", CustomerWindow, 470, 316, 110, 24, 0 ) ,CustCount = create( LText, "Count", CustomerWindow, 368, 8, 240, 24, 0 ) ,CustFirstButton = create( PushButton, "<<First", CustomerWindow, 16, 344, 70, 30, 0 ) ,CustPrevButton = create( PushButton, "&Prev", CustomerWindow, 88, 344, 70, 30, 0 ) ,CustNextButton = create( PushButton, "&Next", CustomerWindow, 160, 344, 70, 30, 0 ) ,CustLastButton = create( PushButton, "Last>>", CustomerWindow, 232, 344, 70, 30, 0 ) ,CustMenuPrefs = create( Menu, "&Preferences", CustomerWindow, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ) ,CustPrefsSortbyCode = create( MenuItem, "Sort by &Code", CustMenuPrefs, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ) ,CustPrefsSortbyCompany = create( MenuItem, "Sort by Company &Name", CustMenuPrefs, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ) ,CustPrefsSortbyZip = create( MenuItem, "Sort by &Zip Code", CustMenuPrefs, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ) ,CustPrefsSortbyBillCycle = create(MenuItem, "Sort by Billing Cycle", CustMenuPrefs, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0) ,CustScreenEdit = create( PushButton, "&Edit", CustomerWindow, 16, 312, 70, 30, 0 ) ,LText112 = create( LText, "Last Payment", CustomerWindow, 320, 164, 120, 24, 0 ) ,CustDelButton = create( PushButton, "Delete", CustomerWindow, 160, 272, 70, 30, 0 ) ,CustomerSaveButton = create( PushButton, "&Save", CustomerWindow, 88, 312, 70, 30, 0
That's just one problem with fixed positions and sizes. Another comes when your client decides he can't read the labels or list items easily, and insists on a larger font size. The third comes when he changes to a bigger monitor, and your program can't resize itself to fit the new screen. The fourth involves changing languages. So far, all my clients have been English speakers, but I do understand that sometimes Spanish captions can be longer than the English eqivalent, and no longer fit in the space you allotted.
Of course, a drag-and-drop IDE cures the problem of placing the items, but doesn't help with the rest.
As for Basic - what can I say? It's like going to the airport, asking to fly a plane, and claiming you are qualified because "I made lots of paper airplanes in elementary school". You're going to have a lot of trouble finding a copilot.
