Help with Developing a GUI for Fortran program
nikhil.k...@gmail.com
First of all, pardon me if some of the questions I ask seem
trivial. I am jumping into Fortran programming after a period of 6-7
years and I am not in touch with many of the current practices. I have
the following goals I want to achieve
- Develop a fortran program to solve 15-30 simultaneous Ordinary
Differential Equations (ODEs) such that the user of the program is
able to input (i) various constants for solving the DEs (ii) another
time dependent input function [X(t)] with the result that the
mathematical model of ODEs transforms X(t) into Y_predicted(t).
- I also need to optimize the model parameters such that the predicted
Y_predicted(t) matches with a user defined Y_experimental(t)
- I also want to develop a 'good' GUI so that a user who is not
familiar with programming languages should be able to use the software
(inputting data through an 'excel-like' interface, filling in values
for constants through the interface, analyzing the results, etc). I am
hoping for a good 'look and feel' for the software.
I would like to get your inputs on the following specific questions:
1. I selected Fortran since (i) I am somewhat familiar with it (ii) I
am given to understand that while some other options (JEE5 for
instance) are good for developing a GUI, they may not be efficient for
scientific operations. Am I right in my selection of Fortran? How does
Fortran compare with C++ for my kind of applications?
2. What is the cheapest (better yet, free) software that will provide
me a integrated environment for (i) writing the program and (ii)
developing the GUI, as the next alternative, if I have to use two
different options for writing the code and developing GUI, what are my
options?
3. Can one write Fortran codes in Visual Basic? If yes, is this the
best option considering VB will help me develop the GUI as well?
As you can see I do not have a lot of experience in the area, and
really need inputs from you guys on this.
Thanks in advance for your help!
e p chandler
It depends on what software you already have on hand. It is not too
difficult (except perhaps for passing character variables) to call
Fortran code from Visual Basic when the Fortran code is either
subroutines or functions placed in a DLL. You can also use Excel and
interface it with a Fortran DLL so that the functions in your DLL can
be used on the spreadsheet.
Your main constraint apparently is low cost. You can get a (free) copy
of VB Express from Microsoft that includes a stripped down version of
Visual Studio. This version of the IDE only works with the "VB". Also
you have to install much software including the dot net framework and
other pre-requisites.
g95 and gfortran are also "free". For use with VB/VBA I recommend the
MinGW distributions of this software.
I don't know about an IDE for Fortran. Some people here have
recommended Photran. This is based on the Ecllipse - Java framework.
There are other GUI building frameworks that are free such as JAPI or
GTK. But these require you to use Java or Tcl/Tk as well.
If you are doing professional software development, IMO, spend the
money on professional tools such as Winteractor or GINO.
-- elliot
Beliavsky
<snip>
> If you are doing professional software development, IMO, spend the
> money on professional tools such as Winteractor or GINO.
Several of commercial Windows Fortran compilers (Absoft, Intel, Lahey/
Fujitsu, Salford/Silverfrost) let you create at least simple Windows
GUI programs entirely in Fortran. I'd recommend trying Quickwin within
Intel Visual Fortran. For IVF there is also Xeffort http://www.xeffort.com/
"a free, open-source library for building GUI applications in all
flavors of Visual Fortran."
gary.l...@lmco.com
On Apr 30, 10:12 am, nikhil.kaviman...@gmail.com wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> First of all, pardon me if some of the questions I ask seem
> trivial. I am jumping into Fortran programming after a period of 6-7
> years and I am not in touch with many of the current practices. I have
> the following goals I want to achieve
>
> - Develop a fortran program to solve 15-30 simultaneous Ordinary
> Differential Equations (ODEs) such that the user of the program is
> able to input (i) various constants for solving the DEs (ii) another
> time dependent input function [X(t)] with the result that the
> mathematical model of ODEs transforms X(t) into Y_predicted(t).
>
> - I also need to optimize the model parameters such that the predicted
> Y_predicted(t) matches with a user defined Y_experimental(t)
>
> - I also want to develop a 'good' GUI so that a user who is not
> familiar with programming languages should be able to use the software
> (inputting data through an 'excel-like' interface, filling in values
> for constants through the interface, analyzing the results, etc). I am
> hoping for a good 'look and feel' for the software.
The best option for easily developing this type of user interface is
GINO (fewest lines of very straightforward code). However, it is also
the most expensive option. Quickwin is probably the easiest "free"
option (at least if you already have IVF or one of it's predecessors
in the CVF line), but even it isn't as easy as GINO. GINO provides a
spreadsheet-like array grid (text or value) with only around 3
subroutine calls (two for various attributes, headings, and cell sizes
and one to create). Version 7 was just released with new rich text
formatting capabilities, including hyperlinks, so you can do some
pretty sophisticated documentation with it as well as dynamic video-
game-like graphics.
Edward N Bromhead
> 2. What is the cheapest (better yet, free) software that will provide
> me a integrated environment for (i) writing the program and (ii)
> developing the GUI, as the next alternative, if I have to use two
> different options for writing the code and developing GUI, what are my
> options?
Since you are probably developing a code that is a "labour of love" rather
than a commercial proposition, and cost is a significant factor, the I can't
recommend GINO or Winteracter, as these are expensive, although they
do seem to offer a completely Fortran method of writing the GUI front end.
Similarly, IVF has a restricted period free trial that is not long enough to
get more than a taste for the Quickwin facilities - although I have to say
that
I never got on with Quickwin when it was an add-on to MS Fortran!
If you want to produce a commercial code using free tools, then I suppose
that the g95 or gfortran approaches are the most practical.
My route to producing a GUI was to learn what I needed to learn using the
Silverfrost (formerly Salford) free "personal edition" compiler.
You have a choice of developing programs that use .NET as a route to
Windows, or alternatively the ClearWin system. The Silverfrost system
is complete with an IDE, and apart
from an initial "nag" screen, exactly the same as the academic or
professional
versions. If you think that what you have developed has commercial
applicability,
then you can always buy the appropriate version and it will compile your
code
just the same as the free personal edition. For that matter, you can get a
version
of Winteracter or GINO to interface with it, and it interfaces with C or VB.
There is a very great deal more to a GUI than perhaps you realise, however,
and
writing one is not a task to be undertaken lightly.
FInd the download link at www.silverfrost.com
Best of luck.
Eddie
e p chandler
Yes you can do a GUI with ClearWin, but IMO it's not so easy. I look
at it as sending a series of obscure character commands to a very
smart graphics terminal. You have to learn its own graphics language.
Then send commands and deal with replies. Perhaps those who have spent
a lot of time with it have found it easy.
-- elliot
Wade Ward
"e p chandler" <ep...@juno.com> wrote in message
news:1177969253....@u30g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 30, 4:49 pm, "Edward N Bromhead"
> <edward.bromh...@deletethisbitbinternet.com> wrote:
>> <snip>> 2. What is the cheapest (better yet, free) software that will
>> provide
>> > me a integrated environment for (i) writing the program and (ii)
>> > developing the GUI, as the next alternative, if I have to use two
>> > different options for writing the code and developing GUI, what are my
>> > options?
windows. I wouldn't know if the Fortran Programming Language admits of the
existence of the OS called Windows.
Clearwin seems to be a good tool for a hobbyist, but there comes a point in
time at which you need to address Salford from the inside, and nobody's home
at the gate.
--
WW
Terence
A TUI is a Text User Interface.
If the OP really needs a GUI I would recommend getting a commercial
tool (Gino, Winteracter etc).
There are several free TUI interfaces "out there". We've been giving
away two TUI libraries; one that works with MS Fortran for DOS and
one that works with CVF Fortran 6.6c for Windows, so far untested on
IVF.
Gary Scott
Silverfrost seems to have substantially made it their own as far as I
can tell.
> --
> WW
>
>
--
Gary Scott
mailto:garylscott@sbcglobal dot net
Fortran Library: http://www.fortranlib.com
Support the Original G95 Project: http://www.g95.org
-OR-
Support the GNU GFortran Project: http://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/index.html
If you want to do the impossible, don't hire an expert because he knows
it can't be done.
-- Henry Ford
Georg
interpreter with Windows GUI. No need to learn a new language. Check
it this way:
1. Download from http://www.HicEst.com/download.htm
2. Start HicEst with File tutorial.dem.
3. The Excel-like MatrixExplorer dialog lets you choose from more than
50 demos.
4. Click "OrdinaryDiffEqu". This example plots a damped driven
harmonic oscillator (2 1st order ODEs). The user can play around with
the variables and with output settings.
5. Clone the 30 code lines to your own file. They contain the complete
dialog as well as numerics and graphics and can easily be extended to
your 15-30 ODEs. Short scripts like this are free.
6. Click "Data_Fit" to see a nonlinear least-squares fitting example
(here with mouse input of data). Combine it with the ODE solver.
Solving this "inverse problem" will require some more fiddling with
the ODEs integration parameters, dependent on stability and stiffness
of your system.
7. Have fun.
Georg Petrich
SimonG
It does depend on how slick an professional you want the program to
be. Personally I would use Tcl/Tk. It's free and very easy to write
decent GUIs. Some guidance on how to use it can be found at
http://wiki.tcl.tk/3359
Simon Geard
Arjen Markus
It contains a library for working with Tcl from within a Fortran
program
or the other way around. With Tcl/Tk 8.5 (which is the latest version,
currently in the final stages of development and release) you can make
very nice looking interfaces:
See the screenshots at http://wiki.tcl.tk/16993 for instance.
Regards,
Arjen
Beliavsky
Running a GUI created by Ftcl would require that Tcl be installed on
the user's machine, correct? That what I guess from reading
http://ftcl.sourceforge.net/deployment.html . Sometimes one wants a
stand-alone program.
Arjen Markus
> stand-alone program.
Hm, that information may be a trifle old:
- If you have a Fortran program using Ftcl, then it suffices to have
the
initialisation scripts and the shared/dynamic libraries.
- If you create a loadable Tcl extension (basically a library that can
be
loaded into the Tcl/Tk runtime executable), then you will need such
runtime executable. But that may be a wrapped runtime.
In short: there is no need to have Tcl/Tk installed on the target
machine,
just a few initialisation files and a few libraries or not even that.
I should make this more clear in the documentation.
Regards,
Arjen
Edward N Bromhead
>> Yes you can do a GUI with ClearWin, but IMO it's not so easy. I look
>> at it as sending a series of obscure character commands to a very
>> smart graphics terminal. You have to learn its own graphics language.
>> Then send commands and deal with replies. Perhaps those who have spent
>> a lot of time with it have found it easy.
> Clearwin seems to be a good tool for a hobbyist, but there comes a point
> in time at which you need to address Salford from the inside, and nobody's
> home at the gate.
> --
> WW
No, it's not easy. And, there do seem to be some horrid pitfalls to fall
into. The whole
business of programming a GUI is very different from what most people
(including me)
grew up expecting a Fortran program to look like! My first attempts (at
using ClearWin)
were abject failures, and I gave up - several times. My later attempts
succeeded. It depends
on how much effort you are prepared to devote to it - and how much money you
are
prepared to spend to make life easier. The OP did ask for extreme
cheapness, and
FTN95pe meets that criterion.
E
Jan Vorbrüggen
> windows. I wouldn't know if the Fortran Programming Language admits of the
> existence of the OS called Windows.
Nor does any other programming language standard, for that matter, for any OS
at all.
Jan
Catherine Rees Lay
be paramount, I'd recommend splitting this into two parts:
nikhil.k...@gmail.com wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> First of all, pardon me if some of the questions I ask seem
> trivial. I am jumping into Fortran programming after a period of 6-7
> years and I am not in touch with many of the current practices. I have
> the following goals I want to achieve
>
> - Develop a fortran program to solve 15-30 simultaneous Ordinary
> Differential Equations (ODEs) such that the user of the program is
> able to input (i) various constants for solving the DEs (ii) another
> time dependent input function [X(t)] with the result that the
> mathematical model of ODEs transforms X(t) into Y_predicted(t).
>
> - I also need to optimize the model parameters such that the predicted
> Y_predicted(t) matches with a user defined Y_experimental(t)
>
Write this in Fortran as a standalone program which reads the
user-specified bits from a text file. Make the text file format
"obvious" (e.g. have a comment before each piece of information saying
what it is. And have the Fortran program write the results out in a
similar way.
Note: I'm assuming the computational part is effectively a black box -
no need for interaction half way through.
> - I also want to develop a 'good' GUI so that a user who is not
> familiar with programming languages should be able to use the software
> (inputting data through an 'excel-like' interface, filling in values
> for constants through the interface, analyzing the results, etc). I am
> hoping for a good 'look and feel' for the software.
>
As a first pass, you/your users can fill in a dummy text file using a
standard text editor. This probably won't be enough in the long run, but
it will allow you to concentrate on the mathematical part of the program
without worrying about GUI programming.
Then, decide what tool you want to use for the GUI - could be just about
anything. All it needs to be able to do, compatibility-wise, is write
the text file in the format that your Fortran program expects (and read
the results back in).
This has the advantages that saving old sets of input and results
happens near-automatically (all you need to do is to allow the user to
change the names of the files), and that, for instance, you can easily
have the Fortran program run in batch mode on several different input files.
> I would like to get your inputs on the following specific questions:
>
> 1. I selected Fortran since (i) I am somewhat familiar with it (ii) I
> am given to understand that while some other options (JEE5 for
> instance) are good for developing a GUI, they may not be efficient for
> scientific operations. Am I right in my selection of Fortran? How does
> Fortran compare with C++ for my kind of applications?
>
I think Fortran's a good choice here for the computation code.
> 2. What is the cheapest (better yet, free) software that will provide
> me a integrated environment for (i) writing the program and (ii)
> developing the GUI, as the next alternative, if I have to use two
> different options for writing the code and developing GUI, what are my
> options?
>
There is no single integrated environment which will give you all three
of the Fortran language, a compiler, and a VB-like GUI development. Not
even for $$$. As others have said, if you want a real good look-and-feel
without a LOT of work, you'll either have to pay for something like
Winteracter or GINO on top of your Fortran compiler, or you'll have to
write the GUI in a different language.
> 3. Can one write Fortran codes in Visual Basic? If yes, is this the
> best option considering VB will help me develop the GUI as well?
>
I've heard it said that you can write Fortran in any language :) But no,
a VB compiler can't understand Fortran, and I wouldn't recommend writing
numerical codes in VB. VB would be a good, simple to learn, and not too
expensive choice for the GUI, though. (Though personally I'd go with
Delphi over VB - similar environment, Pascal rather than Basic).
Hope this helps,
Catherine.
--
Catherine Rees Lay
Polyhedron Software Ltd. Registered Office: Linden House,
93 High St, Standlake, Witney, OX29 7RH, United Kingdom.
Registered in England No.2541693. Vat Reg No. GB 537 3214 57
Bil Kleb
> Dear Colleagues,
Hi.
> 2. What is the cheapest (better yet, free) software that will provide
> me a integrated environment for (i) writing the program and (ii)
> developing the GUI, as the next alternative, if I have to use two
> different options for writing the code and developing GUI, what are my
> options?
Unless you want to do both (i) and (ii) in a sub-standard fashion,
I wouldn't look for an integrated environment; pick the most suitable
language for your computational portion, and use a web browser your GUI.
With the recent (re-appearance) of AJAX[1], the browser is fast
becoming the GUI of choice.
For example, I'm currently exploring the use of the Camping web
framework[2] for wrapping some of our Fortran computational engines.
Regards,
--
Bil Kleb
http://fun3d.larc.nasa.gov
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camping_%28microframework%29
Tobias Burnus
> There are other GUI building frameworks that are free such as JAPI or
> GTK. But these require you to use Java or Tcl/Tk as well.
Could you tell me why I need anything but Fortran with ISO C bindings
(or a C wrapper) to access Gtk? With a properly defined module GTK
the following program works with pure Fortran (plus the GTK
libraries).
program guiF
use iso_c_binding, only: c_ptr
use gtk
implicit none
type(c_ptr) :: window
call gtk_init ()
window = gtk_window_new (GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
call gtk_widget_show (window)
call gtk_main ()
end program guiF
Tobias
PS: A suboptimal and incomplete GTK+ module could look as follows,
tested with NAG f95 and gfortran (fortran-experimental branch).
module GTK
use iso_c_binding, only: c_int
implicit none
interface
subroutine gtk_widget_show (window) bind(c)
use iso_c_binding, only: c_ptr
type(c_ptr), VALUE :: window
end subroutine
function gtk_window_new(type) bind(c)
use iso_c_binding, only: c_ptr, c_int
integer(c_int), value :: type
type(c_ptr) :: gtk_window_new
end function gtk_window_new
subroutine gtk_main() bind(c)
end subroutine gtk_main
end interface
integer(c_int), parameter :: GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL = 0
contains
subroutine gtk_init()
use iso_c_binding, only: c_ptr, c_char, c_int, c_null_char, c_loc
interface
subroutine gtk_init_real(argc,argv) bind(c,name='gtk_init')
use iso_c_binding, only: c_int, c_ptr
integer(c_int) :: argc
type(c_ptr) :: argv
end subroutine
end interface
character(len=256,kind=c_char) :: arg
character(len=1,kind=c_char), dimension(:),pointer :: carg
type(c_ptr), allocatable, target :: argv(:)
integer(c_int) :: argc, strlen, i, j
argc = command_argument_count()
allocate(argv(0:argc))
do i = 0, argc
call get_command_argument(i,arg,strlen)
allocate(carg(0:strlen))
do j = 0, strlen-1
carg(j) = arg(j+1:j+1)
end do
carg(strlen) = c_null_char
argv(i) = c_loc(carg(0))
end do
argc = argc + 1
call gtk_init_real(argc, c_loc(argv))
end subroutine gtk_init
end module GTK
Gary Scott
GINOMENU Studio is coming along nicely for creating drag and drop GUIs
with Fortran.
>
>> 3. Can one write Fortran codes in Visual Basic? If yes, is this the
>> best option considering VB will help me develop the GUI as well?
>>
> I've heard it said that you can write Fortran in any language :) But no,
> a VB compiler can't understand Fortran, and I wouldn't recommend writing
> numerical codes in VB. VB would be a good, simple to learn, and not too
> expensive choice for the GUI, though. (Though personally I'd go with
> Delphi over VB - similar environment, Pascal rather than Basic).
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Catherine.
--
Gary Scott
Beliavsky
wrote:
> From your description of the problem, and the fact that cost seems to
> be paramount, I'd recommend splitting this into two parts:
>
>
>
>
>
> nikhil.kaviman...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues,
>
> > First of all, pardon me if some of the questions I ask seem
> > trivial. I am jumping into Fortran programming after a period of 6-7
> > years and I am not in touch with many of the current practices. I have
> > the following goals I want to achieve
>
> > - Develop a fortran program to solve 15-30 simultaneous Ordinary
> > Differential Equations (ODEs) such that the user of the program is
> > able to input (i) various constants for solving the DEs (ii) another
> > time dependent input function [X(t)] with the result that the
> > mathematical model of ODEs transforms X(t) into Y_predicted(t).
>
> > - I also need to optimize the model parameters such that the predicted
> > Y_predicted(t) matches with a user defined Y_experimental(t)
>
> Write this in Fortran as a standalone program which reads the
> user-specified bits from a text file. Make the text file format
> "obvious" (e.g. have a comment before each piece of information saying
> what it is. And have the Fortran program write the results out in a
> similar way.
In the business world, Excel is King, so I use CSV input and output
files, which non-programmers easily view and modify in Excel. Since
commas are treated as delimiters for list-directed READs, using CSV
rather than space-delimited files as input requires no extra
programming. An advantage of CSV output is that one does not need to
align the columns, which can be tedious and time-consuming. If the
output is space-delimited and will be read in Notepad, files with
columns not aligned will be ugly and almost illegible. Most Statistics
and graphics packages have built-in functions to read CSV files.
I have read that Improved ability to write CSV files will be added to
Fortran 2008. I don't remember the details, and in any case one can
certainly write CSV files in any version of Fortran.
Gib Bogle
> You can also have a look at: http://ftcl.sf.net
The bottom 2 links on this page: http://ftcl.sourceforge.net/
don't work (articles on Ftcl).
Arjen Markus
Oh dear, I meant to provide these articles in PDF form, but I
apparently
forgot about them :(. I will make amends ASAP.
Regards,
Arjen
Catherine Rees Lay
> Catherine Rees Lay wrote:
>> There is no single integrated environment which will give you all
>> three of the Fortran language, a compiler, and a VB-like GUI
>> development. Not even for $$$. As others have said, if you want a real
>> good look-and-feel without a LOT of work, you'll either have to pay
>> for something like Winteracter or GINO on top of your Fortran
>> compiler, or you'll have to write the GUI in a different language.
>
> GINOMENU Studio is coming along nicely for creating drag and drop GUIs
> with Fortran.
>
Yes, but you can't buy just GINOMENU Studio and use it to create GUIs
written in Fortran, because it isn't a compiler. You need to get the
compiler separately. That's what I meant. With VB, you get all you need
with one single product, and I got the impression that was what the OP
was hoping for. (Aren't we all? :) )
GINOMENU Studio = good solution, but not a free one. (Perhaps I should
add a disclaimer here that we sell it :) )
Gary Scott
> Gary Scott wrote:
>
>> Catherine Rees Lay wrote:
>>
>>> There is no single integrated environment which will give you all
>>> three of the Fortran language, a compiler, and a VB-like GUI
>>> development. Not even for $$$. As others have said, if you want a
>>> real good look-and-feel without a LOT of work, you'll either have to
>>> pay for something like Winteracter or GINO on top of your Fortran
>>> compiler, or you'll have to write the GUI in a different language.
>>
>>
>> GINOMENU Studio is coming along nicely for creating drag and drop GUIs
>> with Fortran.
>>
>
> Yes, but you can't buy just GINOMENU Studio and use it to create GUIs
> written in Fortran, because it isn't a compiler. You need to get the
> compiler separately. That's what I meant. With VB, you get all you need
> with one single product, and I got the impression that was what the OP
> was hoping for. (Aren't we all? :) )
>
> GINOMENU Studio = good solution, but not a free one. (Perhaps I should
> add a disclaimer here that we sell it :) )
Yes, I was just stating my happiness with Studio's recent advancements.
Certainly, it doesn't do everything, but it does an awful lot.
me...@skyway.usask.ca
that's for GUIs - if so , the WATCOM has fortran,compiler,
and GUI.
(they call it "graphical tools" )
I have not touched them. Command line and .bat are much
more efficient ways to run.
Chris
nikhil.k...@gmail.com
Thanks for all your responses and feedbacks. This is a BIG help!
Nikhil
> -- Henry Ford- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -