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.
