Going for a Graphical UI

I'm becoming pretty bored of the plain-old console. While I was looking for portable GUIs, I went over QT and wx. there's also V, but it's damn outdated.

QT is way over my head - and well, i've toyed around with the wx examples, but none worked. I've modified resources, paths, and in the end it looked like one library file was missing. Ah well.

Since I am working with devc++, i found out that a RAD devc++ in a very visual basic style exists, called wx-devc++.

Should I use that for GUI development? Forms generated with the app compile from the first try, it seems pretty easy to use, too..

thanks

I use QT at work and it is really great, but it is not free for comerrcial use and very expensive.

On the other hand gtk is free for comercial use (I think) and looks very attractive to me.
I suggest you check it out.

wxwidgets is really hard to get to work under windows but if it runs it is very pleasant to develop with it.

If you are not under pressure maybe have a look at http://www.ultimatepp.org/
its an ide and a gui toolkit and not very many programmers seems to know about it. But I've had no time to try it myself yet.

Wait, this GTK is a something that will create a set of functions/libraries that will make a GUI or is a GUI? That "toolkit" word is really intriguing.

meh, pheres. wxdevc++ has it working from the start. I drew out a bunch of buttons and "controls" and it compiled just fine. Even some code to react went fine. My problem is that I can't have a main, or I don't get the way wx apps work.

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My problem is that I can't have a main, or I don't get the way wx apps work.

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It looks like you don't get the way wx apps work. Take a look at some of the tutorials on wxwidgets.org, one of those that I found has the macro IMPLEMENT_APP implement main() for you, using wxApp child class that you write.

Laserlight, can't find that one. If it's no bother, let me know the url.

Looking at the sidebar to the right of the WxWidgets homepage, I see a link to tutorials. The first tutorial on the list states:

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As in all programs there must be a "main" function. Under wxWidgets main is implemented using this macro, which creates an application instance and starts the program.

IMPLEMENT_APP(MyApp)

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Oh, i understood from the initial post that the macro is used inside main. And I checked all of them to find main :)

Meh, this is hard. The macro says where it starts, but it doens't have curly brackets as main(). Also, I can't get it where the program is looping, to keep the window "alive" ? It's like another programming language.

But at last, the wx examples compile :D

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The macro says where it starts, but it doens't have curly brackets as main(). Also, I can't get it where the program is looping, to keep the window "alive" ?

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From the looks of it, IMPLEMENT_APP will create a main() function that calls OnInit() from a MyApp object. If so, you can effectively treat OnInit() as the main() function.

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It's like another programming language.

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That is what happens when you learn another programming interface.

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Originally Posted by _izua_

Wait, this GTK is a something that will create a set of functions/libraries that will make a GUI or is a GUI? That "toolkit" word is really intriguing.

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wikipedia page about gui toolkits

If you want to be windows specific, you should learn the Win32 API directly. If you want to be portable, learn a 3rd party portable library such as those described above. If it were me, I would learn the portable library.

I'm toying with WX for a few hours, but I can't get a few widgets to work. the slider and scrollbar, for example - the compiler gives me "x is not declared" for any of their function i try to use (including getValue() which is really annoying), however, I see them in the popup menu with the class' members.

Most likey a problem with your code, not wxWidgets.

Win32 API is as native as you can get so the code to even implement a simple window is extremely complex. Your best bet is probably what you are using, just keep experimenting.

Qt is great. They are also offering an open source version. This takes a bit more setting up, but its worth it!

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Originally Posted by MacNilly

If you want to be windows specific, you should learn the Win32 API directly.

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I wouldn't recommend it. Even if you just want to be Windows specific, Win32 API is difficult and complex. There are many frameworks, including those for Windows only, that does a much better job at hiding the complexities of the underlying API or makes everything much easier.

offo!
i was also thinking about doing winapi all over again. i did it sometime back using asm.
and thought i will restart winapi but with C this time :)
even using MFC u have to distribute .dll. but if i write using api only i will have simple .exe that will
run just fine. and not extra .dlls.

any suggestions to ease out me a little.

You still have to redistrubute the C runtime library, so the point is moot. Just hand them over the runtime library once. Install. Done.
They can now execute however many applications from you and others with the same compiler as they want. One time cost.

Wait a minute. I think it should be available by default in every system?? No program will run without them! Right? Just like user32.dll and stuff??? am i right??

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Originally Posted by manav

Wait a minute. I think it should be available by default in every system?? No program will run without them! Right? Just like user32.dll and stuff??? am i right??

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Because the C runtime evolves, you can't rely on a C runtime from an older version of Windows to work with the latest Visual Studio compiler generated code, so you need to make sure that the correct version for YOUR build of the executable is on the clients system.

Of course, further libraries may also be needed if you use custom frameworks.

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Mats

oh. thanks Mats.
i will be using g++ from MinGW (recent package).
i never had to do it earlier. using asm. but may be now...
thanks:)