Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
I'm trying out the 30-day evaluation of IDL 5.0 and I'm just wondering if there is a successor to "wided", the widget builder. I've used the widget builder before with IDL4.0, to build the frame work for a GUI and since it's labelled as obsolete I was hoping there would be an updated version. Is there a better way for making a complex GUI, besides coding it in manually. Thanks, Alvaro Ivanoff alvaro@atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca
Alvaro Ivanoff wrote: > > I'm trying out the 30-day evaluation of IDL 5.0 and I'm just wondering > if there is a successor to "wided", the widget builder. I've used the > widget builder before with IDL4.0, to build the frame work for a GUI and > since it's labelled as obsolete I was hoping there would be an updated > version. Is there a better way for making a complex GUI, besides coding > it in manually. Please speak up if anyone disagrees, but I believe that any serious programmer is going to tell you that the Widget Builder is a waste of time. If you need to be building complex GUIs, then you *should* be coding them manually. Once you get the hang of it, it's really pretty easy; definitely the easiest part of an application. If this is the first time you've seen this kind of widget programming, it may seem a bit strange. My advice would be to look at example programs and try to trace through them, and you will learn how the widgets are built up on themselves. A really good example is IDL's XNOTHING.PRO, which contains all of the possible widget types. I would also recommend "Learning IDL and IDL Programming", and "Building Graphical User Interfaces in IDL", written by David Fanning. I'm not sure if they've been updated for IDL 5.0, but they are excellent! Also, have a look at David's web page: http://www.dfanning.com Good luck! Dave -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ David S. Foster Univ. of California, San Diego Programmer/Analyst Brain Image Analysis Laboratory foster@bial1.ucsd.edu Department of Psychiatry (619) 622-5892 8950 Via La Jolla Drive, Suite 2240 La Jolla, CA 92037 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
In article <3433F4D4.7DD@bial1.ucsd.edu>, David Foster <foster@bial1.ucsd.edu> wrote: > Please speak up if anyone disagrees, but I believe that any serious > programmer is going to tell you that the Widget Builder is a waste > of time. If you need to be building complex GUIs, then you *should* > be coding them manually. Once you get the hang of it, it's really > pretty easy; definitely the easiest part of an application. I agree. I've tried UIM/X and XBuild in the past when I thought I was a Motif programmer. I also checked wided. Each and every time, when I was part of a group or it was just me, we went back to hand coding. It has the added benefit of pissing off a manager who might've spent $10K for the application and another $2K per programmer for training. I might disagree with you on the easiest part of the coding, though. I'm finishing up an interface that currently has 1.4MB in code and about 175 modules. Just your basic nightmare. Concurrently developed on Mac's and SGI's. -- Mike Schienle Interactive Visuals mgs@sd.cybernex.net http://ww2.sd.cybernex.net/~mgs/