Re: [ros-dev] wxwidgets

[Peter Dolding]

Oliver Schneider wrote:
> >   Why is
> > Win32/64 insane.  Ask your self that question.  Use wxwidgets 
> >  without  dialog construction tool.   You find its not exactly pretty.
> >       
>  Do the same with a plain Win32 API program and you will see that wxWidgets
> spares you a lot of work, even if you don't use a dialog construction tool.
>
>  Creating .RCs with Notepad is not particularly exciting to me ...
>     
Or effective.   Win32 api is very powerful in its own right but nothing 
effective to code dialogs in.  I am talking like the way C# does it.   
You create a Dialog it builds the raw source for direct interfacing with 
the API.  No fancy toolkit system.  Even the rc system of windows is not 
the best.  It true just transforms into static dialogs.
> >   Basicly we
> > lack a good dialog construction tool for Win32/64 that all 
> >  users can use.  That is the true problem.  So far no one anywhere in the 
> >  C and C++ worlds of open source have built one.  The closest is in the 
> >  Asm world.  Not exactly friendly.  Don't any one say Visual Studio that 
> >  thing more often than not goes MFC and does not run well on other 
> >  platform.  Visual Studio itself does not run well on other platforms.
> >       
>  VIDE/LCC once had such an editor. It was not as elaborate as is Visual
> Studio's dialog construction tool, but it worked.
>
>  If I remember correctly, it was partially OpenSource.
>
>  Screenshot:
>  http://assarbad.info/stuff/tutorials/nonvcl/reseditor.png
>
>  Related links:
>  http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lcc-win32/ (LCC)
>  http://www.objectcentral.com/downloads.htm (source code of VIDE!!!)
>     
VIDE still users a framework.  Its framework is Called V.  Basicly there 
is nothing that builds direct Win32 api dialogs.
> >   Note firefox
> > does not use MFC or Wxwidgets it uses its own.  Same with 
> >  OpenOffice.  Large project are unlikely to use either more likely to use 
> >  something of there own construction.  Reason suited to there needs..
> >       
>  Right, but these projects use their own *frameworks*. No one in such a big
> project would ever say: hey, let's use the plain Win32 API, we need no freakin'
> framework. This is the case because they want to be platform-independent to some extent
> and because it is insane if they would do it.
>
>  So yes, they don't use wxWidgets, GTK, Qt, MFC or whatever else, *but* they *use*
> some kind of _framework_.
>
>  I agree, C has its right to exist and Win32 API as well. If you look at my website you
> will actually find more direct Win32 API samples than samples using a framework. So it is
> not that I am against it per-se and tools like Notepad can be conveniently written using
> the Win32 API only. Even Wordpad, but that's about the size where one should stop and
> rethink the usage of plain Win32 API and consider creating or using some framework.
>     
Ok I am going to be kinda of plain here.  Reactos is a kinda large 
project.   Its normal framework is Win32.  No good tools exist for it.  
Lot of Reactos applications have to be kept small faster and the least 
amount of overhead.  Dialog construction tool for it would make it 10 
times simpler.  I personally think most people are looking else where 
because nothing exists in Win32/64 to make it simple.

Cross platform is not exactly a issue here.  Win32/64 does fit reactos 
needs.  Just building in Win32/64 is a problem.

Good dialog construction tool would remove lots of the problems.

Peter Dolding