Thread: GUI Programming

  1. #1
    Supermassive black hole cboard_member's Avatar
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    GUI Programming

    Under Windows, which GUI 'package' is easy to program yet full of features? I need something easier to use than MFC / WinAPI, so I can become productive with it pretty sharpish .

    Also, could somebody point me to some good tutorials for the said package?
    Good class architecture is not like a Swiss Army Knife; it should be more like a well balanced throwing knife.

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  2. #2
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
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    Easier than MFC? You could try Visual Basic

  3. #3
    Supermassive black hole cboard_member's Avatar
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    Hey did I ask for sarcasm?
    Good class architecture is not like a Swiss Army Knife; it should be more like a well balanced throwing knife.

    - Mike McShaffry

  4. #4
    Registered User mrafcho001's Avatar
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    I only know about MFC and Win32 and i have to say MFC is very easy in about maybe 3 weeks i can make somewhat of a paint program with no problem, ill post it here later

    I've tried Win32 API, but i just don't get any of the stuff.

    Plus, MFC has tons of support on the microsoft website

    EDIT:
    http://www.martin.thejefffiles.com/
    there it is

    Thanks to Jverkoey for the hosting
    Last edited by mrafcho001; 07-19-2005 at 10:22 AM.

  5. #5
    Dump Truck Internet valis's Avatar
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    wxWidgets is pretty easy

  6. #6
    Supermassive black hole cboard_member's Avatar
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    Thanks for your input. I forgot to mention I want something portable. So MFC (and VB for that matter) are out of the question.
    Last edited by cboard_member; 07-19-2005 at 10:28 AM.
    Good class architecture is not like a Swiss Army Knife; it should be more like a well balanced throwing knife.

    - Mike McShaffry

  7. #7
    x4000 Ruski's Avatar
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    Mfc = Vb???
    what does signature stand for?

  8. #8
    Supermassive black hole cboard_member's Avatar
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    That's just some minor-brained idiot acting cocky; ignore him.
    Good class architecture is not like a Swiss Army Knife; it should be more like a well balanced throwing knife.

    - Mike McShaffry

  9. #9
    C++ Witch laserlight's Avatar
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    Under Windows ... easier to use than MFC / WinAPI
    ...
    I forgot to mention I want something portable.
    WxWidgets has been mentioned, then there are others like FOX, gtkmm, FLTK, and QT from trolltech, among others.
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  10. #10
    Supermassive black hole cboard_member's Avatar
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    Thanks for the links
    Good class architecture is not like a Swiss Army Knife; it should be more like a well balanced throwing knife.

    - Mike McShaffry

  11. #11
    Hardware Engineer
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    There are no short-cuts, other than Visual BASIC. My boss can write VB programs in about 1/10th the time it would take me to do it in C++ / WinAPI. (Neither of us are "programmers".)

    I've done some WinAPI programming, and I have an MFC book which I've... well... "looked-through". Here's my take on the situation...

    Learn the Windows WinAPI first. There are lots of resources available (books, classes, websites), which makes it easier for a beginner to learn. (I did a quick Amazon search, and I only found one wxWidgets book... and it hasn't been printed yet!) After you learn the common types of GUI API functions and concepts (how the program, operating system, and hardware interact), it should be easier to pick-up a more-portable API.

    With MFC, it's easier to create programs (less typing) but if you don't have any WinAPI experience, you are likely to "write" a program that you don't understand, and one that you can't debug. If you want to understand what's going-on "under the hood", you really need to know some WinAPI.

    There is quite a bit of "overhead" in GUI programming. Petzold's first "Hello Windows" example is about 2 pages long, and almost none if it is standard C++. MFC or VB don't eliminate the overhead, but they can generate it (and maybe hide it) for you. And, there are about a thousand functions, hundreds of constants, tyedefs, and structures in the WinAPI. Petzold says "It usually takes about six months to learn Windows programmig, but if you work fast, you can learn it in 180 days."

  12. #12
    Supermassive black hole cboard_member's Avatar
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    Yes Visual Basic has one major strongpoint; fast development times. I find it a really boring environment and language to work with personally, and was really looking for something different other than win32api / MFC.

    I know a little Win32API programming, but I'm primarily a linux/Unix developer - thus the lack of MFC knowledge. I guess I could look into it.
    Good class architecture is not like a Swiss Army Knife; it should be more like a well balanced throwing knife.

    - Mike McShaffry

  13. #13
    I am me, who else?
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    Totally agree with you Doug. VB is much much faster for developing certain things. Just as MFC is easier for creating dialog-based apps and whatnot than plain old Win32 (I know some will disagree but thats ok ).

    As for portability there are a few libraries out there, but as far as I know they will probably be very difficult to implement without a lot of tweaking. Graphics is not very portable, though it is improving for sure, but you've got to be very careful in what you are doing.

  14. #14
    Registered User Jaqui's Avatar
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    QT from trolltech it the easiest for portability.
    the qtdesigner has project options to set makefile targets and includes for all supported platforms.

    gtk/gdk is an okay widget set, really focussed on gnome. ( gtkmm is the c++ bindings for gtk/gdk )
    glade is the only gui app for it that I've seen.

    borland's delhpi, c++builder and builderx, in conjunction with the extremely difficult to install kylix on linux are a cross platform tool set, but, you get forced into working with older versions of linux to get kylix to run.
    ( they also based thier widget set on qt, so for less money you can just use qt itself )

    mfc and win32api are platform specific, for portability they are definately the wrong choice.
    vb isn't c++ and is platform specific.

    .net is platform specific.


    java is portable, as long as the correct javavm is on the target machine.
    ( which it's not unless specifically installed by user )
    linux is great for that, as you have several javavms to pick from, each with different capabilities, including sun's own java.

  15. #15
    Registered User major_small's Avatar
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    GUI? easy? portable? Java.

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