Subject: Re: Abstract dialogs.
From: Mike Nordell (tamlin@algonet.se)
Date: Thu Sep 28 2000 - 23:43:30 CDT
Martin Sevior wrote:
> While I would love to able to write a dialog once for every platform and
> leave it, I shudder to think of the amount of work this will require.
I get your point, and it will be *work*. I know some of the work involved
(been there, done that, so I have at least some experience in this area). It
wont be fun all the time, it will be really boring sometimes, but in the end
it will work the way it should have worked from the beginning (IMHO): Add a
dialog and it works for *all* platforms.
[GTK details]
> However I asume you are aware things like this...
I am aware of every platform dealing *very* differently with things like
this. I don't claim to be a "wiz" on each and every platforms GUI, but we
have the competence needed here. I think it can (and will) be done.
Actually, it's the only way I can see AbiWord (and later possibly AbiCalc)
work in a reasonable way.
> As I said I can't imagine this will work so I'm interested to
> see why you think it will.
Maybe your imagination is suffering, or I have a bit more experience in this
area? :-)
The reasons it will (or at least I think it will):
- No one wants to write a new dialog for each platform to every dialog added
to AbiWord.
- Ehhh... Isn't that enough
It will work. Dialogs c'tor or "init()" will take care of controls
positioning for each platform. What is the real problem is how to move data
(as in a string from an edit field, a bool from a checkbox and so on) back
and forth between the dialog and the class(es). We will have to create
platform independent classes for this stuff, but it won't be half as hard as
tracking every new addition of a new dialog to AbiWird for each and every
platform in the end I think.
You're free to think it won't work, but I *know* it can be made to work.
That's what matters to me.
> As someone who has done quite a number of gtk dialog front ends I don't
> think the the GUI code is all that hard. I can normally knock one off in
> less than 10 hours. The HARD part of writing a dialog is getting the xp
> backend code right.
My point.
> Look at Lists. 95% of the sweat in that dialog is in the backend code.
My point again. That 95% should be put on the XP implemetation. After that's
done, every platform should "just work".
> I love it when someone else produces a platform specific dialog. Its
> usually a little bit of straight forward work to port it to gtk. GUI stuff
> is easy,
GUI stuff is (reasonable) easy. Platform dependent dialogs are easy. Making
the user think of the UI as intuitive is the hard part. For us the "hard
part" is to decide what a Dialog should do and provide.
> doing the xp backend stuff is hard.
And that's the part I'm willing to do, or rather the "interfaces" and design
needed. It is hard to get it right, and I think it's needed.
/Mike
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