OpenEuphoria

Re: What we really need...

• Posted by David Cuny <dcuny at LANSET.COM> Nov 13, 2002
• 478 views

Irv wrote on a topic near and dear to my heart:

> Any cross-platform library is going to have to make a hard choice:
>
> 1. Support only those controls and functions that all GUI's have in com=
mon,
> thus losing a lot of functionality that makes a given library appealing=
=2E

Not necessarily. The wxWindows and Zinc cross-platform libraries both sup=
port=20
native controls in they exist for a platform, and fall back to emulated=20
controls if they don't.

> 2. Support a third-party GUI library, and live with the problems that
> entails, which include: having to download and install a large library,=
 and
> staying in sync with the third party library, (as if keeping up with
> Windows versions wasn't enough!).

This isn't as hard as it appears. Typically, you can create a file of=20
prototypes, and autogenerate the glue code between your application and t=
he=20
GUI. For example, here's a prototype I use for the wxFindReplaceData clas=
s in=20
wxWindows:

   %class wxFindReplaceData, wxObject
   %include "wx/fdrepdlg.h"

   wxFindReplaceData(wxUint32 flags =3D 0)
   const wxString& GetFindString()
   const wxString& GetReplaceString()
   int GetFlags() const
   void SetFlags(wxUint32 flags)
   void SetFindString(const wxString& str)
   void SetReplaceString(const wxString& str)

Here's an example of a wrapper that it generates:

   // wxFindReplaceData(wxUint32 flags =3D 0)
   void wxFindReplaceData_new()
   {
       wxFindReplaceData *returns;
       wxUint32 flags =3D (wArgCount > 0 ? (wxUint32)wPopNumber() : 0);
       returns =3D new wxFindReplaceData(flags);
       wPushPtrHandle( wAddObject( _wxFindReplaceData, (int)returns ) );
   }

Obviously, you can set up the wrappers so that they support whatever data=
=20
types and parameter passing you want. Maintaining the library becomes a=20
matter of maintaining the prototypes.

> In addition, lots of people use Windows, or GTK, or QT, because they *l=
ike*
> the look and feel of those GUIs. Third party GUI's usually look and wor=
k
> differently. Perhaps differently enough to turn off some users.

There are toolkits that use native controls. These tend to create larger=20
binaries, but don't have the 'look and feel' problem.=20

-- David Cuny