Need some opinions for a GUI editor

Flamaros flamaros.xavier at gmail.com
Wed May 29 02:36:42 PDT 2013


On Wednesday, 29 May 2013 at 07:56:19 UTC, Denis Shelomovskij 
wrote:
> 29.05.2013 1:25, Flamaros пишет:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I and a friend are developing a GUI library, and now our 
>> script engine
>> is ready to start a prototype (but far to be finished). We 
>> think to try
>> to create a GUI editor based on our library.
>> In this way, we'll see which features are need.
>>
>> My concern is about how the editor have to works, we see two 
>> different
>> ways to do it :
>> 1) Classic editor external to the user applications
>>  a) Good :
>>     - Lightweight (easy to deploy and test)
>>     - No need to modify application code
>>     - Stable due to isolation of application
>>     - Real-time edition but limited on one view (bad to 
>> preview menus
>> transitions)
>>  b) Bad :
>>     - Limited, plugins needed to extend editor components and 
>> his
>> knowledge of application (can't predict size of unknown 
>> application
>> specific items)
>>
>> 2) Integrated editor (launch with the user application in a 
>> second Window)
>>  a) Good :
>>     - Preview is the final result with real data
>>     - All application components accessible to the editor 
>> without
>> complex plugin system (in this way all editors components will 
>> be well
>> placed in the preview)
>>     - Full real-time edition (can preview menus 
>> transitions,...)
>>     - User can customize the editor
>>  b) Bad :
>>     - Intrusive in the application code
>>     - Force the user to port application on a desktop OS 
>> (Linux, Mac or
>> Windows), not friendly if he target only embedded devices (can 
>> be
>> bypassed with a remote system)
>>     - Less stable editor?
>>
>> The second solution is commonly used in the video game 
>> industry, but is
>> the best choice for a larger usage?
>>
>> What do you think about?
>
> As for me, a GUI editor is completely unneeded. Currently I'm 
> using GTK+ for my apps so I tried to use Glade a long time ago 
> but finished manually writing all the code as it:
>
> 1. It is not complicated and not time-wasted at all.
> 2. It gives you more control on the application.
> 3. It saves you time (!) as you can use you own functions for 
> common widgets creation/location patterns.
>
> So if your library isn't that silly one where you have to 
> manually specify widget location/size in parent don't waste 
> your time on GUI editor.

Our GUI library will be interesting for modern Interfaces with 
animations. I really think that it's easier to tweak animations 
and positions of items in real time.
The editor will not hide script code, so manual edition will be 
possible too.


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