Windows interface builder?

[Stephen Scheck]

I need to buy a compiler/development system to do some windows
programming, but since I will be using it mainly for simple applications,
I don't want to have to spend a lot of time learning the all of the
idiosyncracies of the windows API. Is there some compiler package for
windows (C, C++, or Pascal) that has an interface builder, so I can
concentrate on data handling procedures rather than interface hacking?
Thanks,

Steve
dsc...@ucssun1.sdsu.edu

[John Grant]

Visual Basic, Microsoft Visual C++ and Borland C++ (and I
presume Borland Pascal too) all have provision for visual
design of the various resources used in Windows programs.
The C++ packages have Wizards and Experts to write most of
the boilerplate code for you.

All are very good. Personally, I don't let Wizards & Experts
write my code for me, but some prefer it this way.

I would suggest that you also have a very serious look at
Borland's Delphi (is it available yet?). It is said to
be better than all of the others in terms of simplicity of
use and power.
--
John A. Grant jag...@emr1.emr.ca
Airborne Geophysics
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa

[Lucien Cinc]

Stephen Scheck (dsc...@ucssun1.sdsu.edu) wrote:
: I need to buy a compiler/development system to do some windows

I have heard of such tools. I have not used one before, but I have been
told that protogen, can be used to build the GUI interface, then you simply
fill in the missing bits. Has anyone used protogen? What are your thoughts
on it?

_______________________________________________________________________
_ __
Lucien Cinc - - /, /, ,-||-,
Author of WinOne, A shareware )/ )/ ) ' ('||| )
Super Command Line Shell v5.5 )__)__) \\ \\/\\ (( |||--)) \\/\\ _-_
for Windows 3.1, Windows NT ~)__)__) || || || (( |||--)) || || || \\
lc...@moss.newcastle.edu.au ) ) ) || || || ( / | ) || || ||/
/-_/-_/ \\ \\ \\ -____- \\ \\ \\,/
Windows 3.1 version available from CICA :-
ftp.cica.indiana.edu:/pub/pc/win3/util/w_one49a.zip and w_one49b.zip
Windows NT version available from :-
ftp.cis.ksu.edu:/pub/upload/ntcmd61.zip

[r...@ais.com]

I have used Visual Basic extensively, and would recommend it
for someone who wants to write "simple applications" for Windows.
A Toolbar lets you drag buttons, scroll bars, file dialog boxes,
list boxes, etc. into a "window"; a double-click on the dragged
item will put you into an editor for the subroutine which will be
called when the user clicks on that item in the program. There's
a great deal more to it, of course, but that's the portion that
makes Windows programming simple(r). It even supports variable-
length strings -- what a concept! (hee hee)

I have recently purchased Visual C++, and face the daunting task
of learning the C++ language/environment/religion, and can't
recommend it for the same purpose. I have programmed
professionally now in 6 or 8 languages, and learning this looks
to be worse than all the others put together. Incidentally, I
have yet to find the C++ "visual interface" mentioned above --
but it's so large I could have overlooked it.

I have no experience with the others mentioned.

[John Grant]

In article <1995Jan3.2...@ais.com> r...@ais.com writes:
>In article <D1stL...@emr1.emr.ca>, jag...@emr1.emr.ca (John Grant) writes:
>> In article <3e83qg$9...@gondor.sdsu.edu> dsc...@ucssun1.sdsu.edu (Stephen Scheck) writes:
>>>I need to buy a compiler/development system to do some windows
>>>programming, but since I will be using it mainly for simple applications,

[...wants tools for Windows programming...]

[...my recommendations...]

>
>I have used Visual Basic extensively, and would recommend it
>for someone who wants to write "simple applications" for Windows.
>A Toolbar lets you drag buttons, scroll bars, file dialog boxes,
>list boxes, etc. into a "window"; a double-click on the dragged
>item will put you into an editor for the subroutine which will be
>called when the user clicks on that item in the program. There's
>a great deal more to it, of course, but that's the portion that
>makes Windows programming simple(r).

Any good resource editor (i.e. Borland's Resource Workshop)
can do all of this *except* clicking on the item to
bring up a window to write the code for the item.

>It even supports variable-length strings -- what a concept! (hee hee)
Look at the C++ CString class for similar capabilities.

[...]

[Craig Cockburn]

I'd recommend using Gutpa's SQLWindows Solo. It's a bit like Visual Basic
in concept and is easy to use. There's also good database support and it's
completely FREE.

It's available to FTP from the site wji.com, username ftp, password = your-
email-address. look in the gupta subdir - Solo is about 13Mb I think.
E-mail gu...@wji.com for more info

Craig
(happy SQLWindows user)

--
Craig Cockburn, Axios Systems, Eskbank, Edinburgh, Scotland Tel: 0131-663 3854
Help desk, incident management, config management, asset management software.