Which GUI designer to choose?

wxPython Users
1

Well, that's good - and I have heard several very excellent remarks
about wxDesigner before. But I mostly interested in *free* designers and
any community opinion about them.

Victor.

···

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Sincerely Yours, Victor V. Kryukov, UFG
phone: +7501 967 3727, ext. 4387
email: vkryukov@ufg.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Poli, Darius [mailto:dpoli@orchestream.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 2:22 PM
To: 'wxPython-users@lists.wxwindows.org'
Subject: RE: [wxPython-users] Which GUI designer to choose?

I have just started writing wxPython code and found
wxDesigner invaluable to
get me started on GUI design. Due to the time constraints of
my project, I
don't think I've even scratched the surface of wxDesigner and
yet still
found it useful. Now my project is nearing an end, its time
for me to RTM!

-----Original Message-----
From: Krjukov Victor [mailto:VKryukov@ufg.com]
Sent: 25 November 2002 15:00
To: wxPython-users@lists.wxwindows.org
Subject: [wxPython-users] Which GUI designer to choose?

Hi wxPythonista (just start reading the Lutz's book ;),

could you please give me your opinion about the existing *free* (GPLed
of PSFed) gui designers for wxpython? I heard abot XRCed,
boaconstructor, gnue (well, it's not exactly a *gui* designer, of
course), wxGlade, pythoncard and probably there are many others; what
would you suggest to use (or probably you would even suggest buy
wxDesigner or use good old Emacs :)? I need somehow to compare
stability, userfriendliness and usability of them.

Another question (may be a harder one) is: why there are so many
projects to create a good GUI designer?

I would appreciate any opinion on this subject.

Thank you in advance,

  Victor.

----
Sincerely Yours, Victor V. Kryukov, UFG
phone: +7501 967 3727, ext. 4387
email: vkryukov@ufg.com

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2

From: Krjukov Victor [mailto:VKryukov@ufg.com]
Sent: 25 November 2002 15:00

...

could you please give me your opinion about the existing *free* (GPLed
of PSFed) gui designers for wxpython? I heard abot XRCed,
boaconstructor, gnue (well, it's not exactly a *gui* designer, of
course), wxGlade, pythoncard and probably there are many others; what
would you suggest to use (or probably you would even suggest buy
wxDesigner or use good old Emacs :)? I need somehow to compare
stability, userfriendliness and usability of them.

Another question (may be a harder one) is: why there are so many
projects to create a good GUI designer?

I would appreciate any opinion on this subject.

Victor,

another promising open source project that I've seen is wxWorkshop. As to the number of different projects, I can see the argument for BOA Constructor, since its self-described mandate is to emulate Borland's XX-Builder paradigm. Furthermore, some of the other projects are just GUI builders, while others are aiming to be more complete code generation tools and even IDE's. If you have the time, perhaps consider contributing to the project that seems most promising to you. FWIW, I think the latest (CVS) version of wxWorkshop looks pretty good. Of course if you had to get something done, probably wxDesigner would be the way to go.

HTH,
Shi.

···

-----Original Message-----

3

Victor:

I am currently evaluating tools as well.

wxDesigner:
one of the most complete but is closed source commercialware
Somewhat focused on C++ development
I don't like having to use their editor
outputs xml, or python, c++, or perl code

wxGlade:
my favorite - copying the best features of glade. Easy to use and extend.
Actively developed.
Not a full rad - more of a screen drawer.
outputs xml or code
nice tutorial

PythonCard:
Nice if you want to make simple quick app. I find this kind of tool causes
people to put the business logic in the gui though.
Speeds development by simplifing the event model.
Outputs python code
No option for xml output

XRC:
Simple xml widget editor

Boa
Is this actively developed?
I have heard good things - but I am not looking for an IDE - I prefer
emacs as an editor.

Anthony

···

-----Original Message-----
From: Krjukov Victor [mailto:VKryukov@ufg.com]
Sent: 25 November 2002 15:00

...

could you please give me your opinion about the existing *free* (GPLed
of PSFed) gui designers for wxpython? I heard abot XRCed,
boaconstructor, gnue (well, it's not exactly a *gui* designer, of
course), wxGlade, pythoncard and probably there are many others; what
would you suggest to use (or probably you would even suggest buy
wxDesigner or use good old Emacs :)? I need somehow to compare
stability, userfriendliness and usability of them.

Another question (may be a harder one) is: why there are so many
projects to create a good GUI designer?

4

Nice list you assembled there.
I use wxDesigner although commercial. It's pretty stable and support is quite
good. Actually this program seems to be developed and sold by a single
person. Robert (which is his name) responds quickly.
The decision to use wxDesigner is quite simple - IMHO it's currently the only
tool usable right "out of the box". I tried all the others mentioned below -
some are quite promising - but none is really ready for professional usage.
But - I also use emacs. wxDesigner saves the sources as normal files. The only
thing is that it puts 4 comments into it, so it knows where to put stuff.
Generally I add the python source in wxDesigner (giving me a file) and also
add classes and event handler definitions using the built in functions. Then
I just save the file and open it in emacs (or reload it) for the "real"
programming. But basically wxDesigner takes care of event definitions and the
basic class - so it saves some typing. As long as you leave the comments in
you can reopen the files in wxDesigner and add new classes or events.
You don't have to use the built in editor - which is pretty much the weakest
part of wxDesigner. No match for a real "programmers editor".
For the supported controls: wxDesigner misses some of the newer ones like
calendar and datetime. However it has a control named "foreign control" which
basically lets you define a screen area as well as ID etc. You can even
specify a "custom class" for any control - so changing a foreign control into
a calendar is no big issue - once you figured that out.

Despite the fact that I'm not really fond of commercial apps in general - most
lack support (funny, that's what people always say about open source apps) -
wxDesigner is definitely worth it's price and currently most likely the best
choice to get started without much hassle.

···

On Tuesday 26 November 2002 08:59 am, Anthony Barker wrote:

Victor:

I am currently evaluating tools as well.

wxDesigner:
one of the most complete but is closed source commercialware
Somewhat focused on C++ development
I don't like having to use their editor
outputs xml, or python, c++, or perl code

wxGlade:
my favorite - copying the best features of glade. Easy to use and extend.
Actively developed.
Not a full rad - more of a screen drawer.
outputs xml or code
nice tutorial

PythonCard:
Nice if you want to make simple quick app. I find this kind of tool causes
people to put the business logic in the gui though.
Speeds development by simplifing the event model.
Outputs python code
No option for xml output

XRC:
Simple xml widget editor

Boa
Is this actively developed?
I have heard good things - but I am not looking for an IDE - I prefer
emacs as an editor.

Anthony

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