Code::Blocks Forums

Developer forums (C::B DEVELOPMENT STRICTLY!) => Plugins development => Topic started by: rickg22 on March 19, 2005, 07:11:02 pm

Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on March 19, 2005, 07:11:02 pm
OK guys. This is serious. I realized that there is NO wxWidgets designer tool in C++. At least not open source. You can read my blog (http://codeblogger.blogspot.com/2005/03/wheres-rad.html) to see how i realized this. (I wish to be wrong, somebody correct me please)

Since I want Code::Blocks to have one by version 2.0, we need to start working on this part of the project. Since yesterday.

So, here's my idea, more or less:

A RAD plugin for code::blocks. The RAD plugin will need to have the following:

* Design window, where you paint your frame (a.k.a. VB "form")
* Widgets Palette
* Object tree (it would go in a separate tab along with the project tree in codeblocks)
* properties window (it would also go in a separate tab)
* And finally, the interaction with the source code.

The central object will be an XML tree used to represent the frame.

Each of these elements will need to have its own C++ class, and they need to interface with each other. How? With the RADPlugin class, who will be the "manager".

Still, the design area is what's troubling me. How to implement it? Has anyone worked with wxdev-cpp to enlighten us about it?

Remember, fellow adventurers! We're pioneers in this unknown area of programming. YOU will be the ones who bring cross-platform RAD development to the world! Those who succeed in this mission will become heroes, and their names shall be remembered by the future generations.

Would you like to become a Codeblocks Hero? Please sign up, and volunteer! :)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: hd on March 19, 2005, 11:33:30 pm
Hi,

(Possibly you already know it, but..)

There is an ongoing discussion about this very subject in wx mail list.
Subject: A new dialog editor for wxWidgets


Maybe you can contact with them ?


--
Regards,
Hakki Dogusan
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rob on March 20, 2005, 07:54:48 am
take a lok at wxFormBuilder, its in c++, when I first saw it, i immediately thought that it would be the perfect base for a RAD plugin to codeblocks
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: cyberkoa on March 21, 2005, 05:07:12 am
I would like to join.  :oops:

However, I must mention earlier that I am really really new to wxwidgets . My C/C++ development is only up to DOS-GUI level, no experience in  MFC , OWL all kind of framework before. Furthermore, I have not use C/C++ for 5 years.

I am still in the process of learning wxwidget. Hope that you don't mind to have a inexperieced C++ programmer to volunteer to join.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: spawn on March 21, 2005, 05:02:41 pm
Hi,

i´ve read about your dessicion to create an frame(forms)-designer for code::blocks.

I´m coding since a few years in ASM and some C/C++, i have collected some experiences with wxWidgets during some boring sparetime...and some fights
with MFC ! :twisted:

now i´m searching some real interresting "todo´s", i mean projects, where i can spend some time on ( I HAVE TO MUCH ! ) And to get some more experiences in c/c++.

I would like to help you, so if you have some little ore little bigger "todo´s" for a bored coder, tell me!  p.s: wxDev-Cpp have some some little bugs, look at sharpDevelop, they have a good design decision for the problem of   Forms - Designer and XML. The Patterns can be used in c++ also... :P

Hope to hear form you soon...
Title: About joining the team...
Post by: rickg22 on March 22, 2005, 06:11:08 pm
Quote from: cyberkoa

However, I must mention earlier that I am really really new to wxwidgets . My C/C++ development is only up to DOS-GUI level, no experience in  MFC , OWL all kind of framework before. Furthermore, I have not use C/C++ for 5 years.


Hey that's no problem at all! I hadn't TOUCHED C++ before starting to work on code::blocks. Oh wait. No GUI C++ that is. My first experience with code::blocks began by tracking down segfault bugs (and i really messed up on my first "fix" :P )

Then it got all the way up. See, you can start by READING the code. You learn a lot that way.

And a wxWidgets tutorial wouldn't hurt, either. See, all the GUI is done with wxwidgets. So all you need is a handy class reference (i don't have one, so I search the web when I want some info), and of course, the wxWidgets source code.

The way i see it is not "GUI stuff", but "class stuff". That's all you need to know! It's C++ classes, so you read how the classes work, and ta-da.

Now, about JOINING the team:

Currently i'm the "teenage helper holy crap batman!" sidekick. It'd be unwise to let "newcomers" in just because we felt like it.

However, you CAN:
* download and install tortoiseCVS in your machine (or any cvs if you use linux)
* use CVS to get the codeblocks source code (using anonymous -readonly- account) and study it.
* make any changes you wish to YOUR copy. If you mess up, you perform a "clean update" CVS operation on your copy so it's left untouched. (Ah, the advantages of CVS :)
* post suggested fixes and questions in this forum. That's what it is for, after all! :)

Your first assignment would be to download CVS, download the wxWidgets 2.4.2 source code, and compile it according to the "compiling codeblocks" posts in the forums. You should download and install beta 6 mingw bundle, to make sure we're having the same setup.

So if you do this, you'll have taken the first step in the stairway of the Code::Blocks development team. You wouldn't be "officially" in the team, but more like "fandevs" (invented term of mine), and you would help us a lot! After all, I was a fandev before becoming a team member.

Quote from: spawn

I would like to help you, so if you have some little ore little bigger "todo´s" for a bored coder, tell me!  p.s: wxDev-Cpp have some some little bugs, look at sharpDevelop, they have a good design decision for the problem of   Forms - Designer and XML. The Patterns can be used in c++ also... :P

Hope to hear form you soon...


Yes, I know about wxDev-Cpp's bugs. After all, it's not dealing with xml, but with c++ source code. And that's ALWAYS asking for trouble.

I plan to use XRC for the forms. I hope we'll be working on an XML tree structure, with the visual stuff being only an INTERFACE to access it. The selection would be a list of xml nodes, and so on. But then again, it's only in my head :(

So, what's sharpDevelop? Mind enlightening me?
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on March 22, 2005, 06:55:23 pm
Quote from: rob
take a lok at wxFormBuilder, its in c++, when I first saw it, i immediately thought that it would be the perfect base for a RAD plugin to codeblocks


wxformbuilder homepage (http://wxformbuilder.software-libre.org/)

Yes, it definitely looks very interesting. I tested it. Unfortunately, I couldn't add any controls yet.

Yes, you're right, it looks perfect. The ideal thing would be to make a "form builder" plugin for code::blocks. The first to do would be to have the "properties" window, and the "object tree" window in the left pane of code::blocks. The editor window would be the panel or frame in question.

Anyone interested in making the port?
Title: Re: About joining the team...
Post by: cyberkoa on April 06, 2005, 06:36:57 pm
Quote from: rickg22

Now, about JOINING the team:

Currently i'm the "teenage helper holy crap batman!" sidekick. It'd be unwise to let "newcomers" in just because we felt like it.

However, you CAN:
* download and install tortoiseCVS in your machine (or any cvs if you use linux)
* use CVS to get the codeblocks source code (using anonymous -readonly- account) and study it.
* make any changes you wish to YOUR copy. If you mess up, you perform a "clean update" CVS operation on your copy so it's left untouched. (Ah, the advantages of CVS :)
* post suggested fixes and questions in this forum. That's what it is for, after all! :)

Your first assignment would be to download CVS, download the wxWidgets 2.4.2 source code, and compile it according to the "compiling codeblocks" posts in the forums. You should download and install beta 6 mingw bundle, to make sure we're having the same setup.

So if you do this, you'll have taken the first step in the stairway of the Code::Blocks development team. You wouldn't be "officially" in the team, but more like "fandevs" (invented term of mine), and you would help us a lot! After all, I was a fandev before becoming a team member.


Hi ,  downloading CVS using Tortoise CVS , wxWidgets package I already compile , now is only the beta 6 mingw bundle matter.

I already have mingw & msys installed , I do not download the beta 6 with mingw bundle.

I plan to download and install beta-6 mingw bundle , I just wonder do need to uninstall the mingw that already installed in my PC first ?

Where the mingw bundle will be installed to ?

And where the "compiling codeblocks" posts is ? I could not find the post under the development section ..

To start the "fandev" (<- I like this term  :D ) life,  I plan to start using code block to write a wxwidget program , and at the same time if I found any bug of code block , I shall try to fix it .
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on April 06, 2005, 09:28:50 pm
That's cool! About the bundle, I don't use it. I prefer to have codeblocks use my already existing mingw directories.

If you REALLY want to install the bundle, you have to uninstall the other version, and then install the bundle... i think... actually I only tried to download and run once, and I gave up ^^;.

Anyway, good luck, and welcome to the Codeblocks fandev club! :P
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: cyberkoa on April 11, 2005, 08:45:30 pm
Quote from: rickg22
That's cool! About the bundle, I don't use it. I prefer to have codeblocks use my already existing mingw directories.

If you REALLY want to install the bundle, you have to uninstall the other version, and then install the bundle... i think... actually I only tried to download and run once, and I gave up ^^;.

Anyway, good luck, and welcome to the Codeblocks fandev club! :P


oic , I thought all the developer use the bundle , that why I want to configure in that way .  If in this case , I also stay with currently configuration .

And , I try to find the resource on developing Code::Block using Code::Block in the forum and Wiki but could not get . May you tell me where can I find those information because I want to try to add some simple code in the code::block and build it.   :oops:
Thanks.  :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: apexhk on April 16, 2005, 12:32:08 pm
First of all, I am sorry that I just could do nothing to help out for the GUI builder because I am not a developer at this moment.  But I know the difficulties in realizing a GUI designer is so huge that without a large team of volunteers it may be a long way to go!  So we have to make C::B known to as much people as possible.  In that way, all the guru out there may know the good gene of it and get interested in joining to help.  May I therefore suggest that download links be placed in popular sites such as the "download.com" to promote C::B to the fullest extend.  Finally, I know there is a GUI designer known as "wxGlade" (written in python) which is also an open source project on SourceForge.net .  It is a "WYSWYG" visual designer which can generate both C++ code or XRC file format.  Although it is still a beta release, it may be worthwhile for a reference purpose.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on April 17, 2005, 02:24:20 am
Yes, well... let's wait till beta7 is released. Then we can start promoting codeblocks.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on May 06, 2005, 04:00:36 pm
Well, this is for those of you looking for a rad tool: wxGlade and XRCed. Both are in Python, but that shouldn't stop you from using them. At least wxGlade can even generate C++ code.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: David Perfors on May 06, 2005, 04:50:29 pm
Quote from: rickg22
let's wait till beta7 is released.
I is already released, you probably ment beta8 ;) oops, no, it is an old post  :lol:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 06, 2005, 09:04:03 pm
I got a mail from Yiannis. This weekend we have b8, yay! :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 12, 2005, 10:07:18 am
Hi everybody!
I just joind the forum, but some may allready know me from the wxWidgets forum.

I stumbled accross this thread while reviewing Code::Blocks and I do have to say that this is really some impressive work! Of all Editors I reviewed I have to say that Code::Blocks looks very promising to be THE Project manager for wxWidgets as it is available on Windows and Linux (a Mac port would be nice, too).

True, what it's missing (as with all other editors, except wxDev-C++) is a GUI editor. Now this could be a point where I could jump in...
I started development on such a beast some time ago. My original plan was to create a GUI editor that would have code editing features similar to VB. Now, parts of the GUI editor itself do work, but I started thinking that implementing code editing features would be a hell lot of work and since there already is a decent code editor (namely Code::Blocks) it would be like reinventing the wheel. I didn't have a close look at the plugin API, but I think that rewriting parts of my work could implement it as a Code::Blocks plugin.

My major problem for the time being is: I lack the time to develop the GUI editor much further... Sad but true: The job is more important.
At first I didn't want to publish my work in progress, but seeing that it wouldn't get any further without external help, I guess it would be that best choice if I team up with others who'd like to help in developing it.

The editor is a standalone MDI app at the moment, but I guess ut can be turned into something more fitting for a plugin. Some standard widgets have been implemented, as well as sizers. You can save XRC files and they work, loading makes some trouble, but that can be fixed.

I'll post a screenshot of my work in progress. Please comment on the following questions:
1. Do you think that it looks promising?
2. Do you think that implementing it as a Code::Blocks plugin would be a good idea / possible?
3. Is there somebody working on something similar?
4. Who would like to team up and develop this beast?

Here's the screen shot:
(http://www.upcase.de/stuff/ResEditScreen.jpg)

I'd really like to see my work prosper. I fear that if I keep it to myself it will never be finished and all the work I put into it will be lost and a waste of time...
Having Code::Blocks as THE editor would be a real blast! Keep up the good work and please contact me if you think that my work and my person could be of use here.

Regards,
   upCASE
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: David Perfors on May 12, 2005, 11:34:09 am
Hi upCase, this looks very promising, and although I am not an official code block developer, I think that it is usefull to make a plugin of it. I am willing to help, but I also run out of time, till the summer holliday I hope.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on May 12, 2005, 01:56:23 pm
Hi upCase,

this looks really promising. I must say that I 'm impressed :)

Quote
1. Do you think that it looks promising?

Already said that ;)

Quote
2. Do you think that implementing it as a Code::Blocks plugin would be a good idea / possible?

Very good idea and certainly possible. Whatever implementation detail is needed, will be added. The C::B API has not stabilized yet, so no big-deal if we break it while adding your editor as a plugin.

Quote
3. Is there somebody working on something similar?

AFAIK, no, nothing serious at least. I haven't seen any kind of WIP...

Quote
4. Who would like to team up and develop this beast?

I could try, initially, to "embed" it in C::B as a plugin. After that, someone might have to step in but that would be the easy part, methinks  :lol: .
I 'm sure that Rick would like to maintain it. Or it could be anyone else...

Yiannis.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 12, 2005, 03:01:00 pm
WOW!! This editor r0xx0rz!!!!1 <--- teenager leet talk :lol:

Seriously, this appears to be *just* what I had been searching for. upCASE: Please share the code! :D

Oh, yeah I forgot. There IS somebody working on something similar, BUT he's not part of the Code::Blocks team. His name's JA Hurtado, and he's more or less a visitor here. His project is called wxFormBuilder, located at sourceforge.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxformbuilder/

However, no work has been done to integrate it with codeblocks. So my vote is for adapting your code for codeblocks. You're welcome to talk to him, however, in case you want to share with his editor, too. Who knows, maybe there could be a merger or something. You'd have to analyse.

Can your editor be implemented as a plugin?

Yes, we've been working on some structural changes on the SDK (and will work on more! MUAHAHAHAHA :twisted: ).
The first important change was to define a custom editor window. Such editor window could be your dialog designer.
Second, I'm planning on simplifying the API so you won't have to recompile plugins after each minor change, but I need to discuss it with Yiannis (Mandrav) first.

As a side note, what inspired me to join this project was, ironically, wxDevCpp (a customized version of dev-cpp that had an integrated dialog designer). Because it was written in Delphi, I wanted to make a devcpp clone in C++ so we could work on a dialog designer add-on. What was my surprise to see one of the authors of devcpp do even more (not just a clone, but an IDE planned to work with MANY compilers, and be extensible with plugins!).

Anyway, back to the topic, the CodeBlocks IDE is about 60% SDK, 35% plugins and 5% the main code. (I want to take out the plugin initialization from the main code and put it into the SDK where it belongs, but that's minor details). I'm quite confident that your editor can be implemented as a plugin.

So... welcome to the community,and hopefully, to the team ;-)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 12, 2005, 03:02:23 pm
P.S. Mind telling us where your Code::Blocks review is? ;-)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 12, 2005, 03:53:54 pm
Hi!
First of all: Thanks for the big bouquet of flowers :D
Glad to hear tha you like it and don't just say: "Bah, go away" :D

Quote from: rickg22
So... welcome to the community,and hopefully, to the team

Glad I found some open ears, eyes and minds :D
The question: How?
I mean, I do want to share the code (I suppose I get some credit for that  :lol: ), but how can/should we do it? What's your normal procedure? Sourceforge, or just a shared zip?
Currently I'm working with VC++ 7.1 on it. I want to get some stuff working (like loading a project) before I put the code somewhere. I hope this doesn't take too long. Then, some more widgets could be added. I'd be willing to do that and maintain the main code base, as I started it and the code sometimes is very "hackerish" (I guess this is normal for such a project, but anyway). Implementing it as a plugin is something I would love to give into trusting hands, as learning about the SDK and changing the code should be done by someone who knows what he's doing. I'm willing to have a look at it, but I guess I won't be much help. Maybe it's possible to have it in two versions: One as a plugin and one as a standalone...
Anyway, tell me what you think would be best. Reach me via mail if needed or if this is going off-topic.

Quote from: rickg22
P.S. Mind telling us where your Code::Blocks review is? ;-)

Well, I meant I reviewed it for personal purpose. I read about it some time ago and tried it out. But as I'm mainly working with VC++ on the job, I had no chance to run it to its full extend. Maybe I'll try and use it with the VC compiler here one day, but currently we're on a project and my coworkers wouldn't like skipping the IDE :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: AkiraDev on May 12, 2005, 04:06:12 pm
Hi upCASE!

Glad to see your RADtool is growing just fine! I hope you guys can reach an agreement that speeds up both the plugin interface and the frame editor development - maybe making upCASE's code also available in this site would help to gather volunteers?

Hope to meet ya again any time soon! Maybe in the wxForum? ;)

Greets
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: David Perfors on May 12, 2005, 07:27:19 pm
Quote from: upCASE
Implementing it as a plugin is something I would love to give into trusting hands, as learning about the SDK and changing the code should be done by someone who knows what he's doing.
hmm. that is not including me  :cry: I think I just have to try :lol:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 12, 2005, 08:47:37 pm
Well, an idea is to send us the zip file or publishing it in a webpage so we can d/l it - or you could host it at sourceforge, that's not a bad idea either :)
However you please. Just make the code available. Later we'll deal how to re-distribute it.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on May 12, 2005, 09:24:09 pm
Quote
I mean, I do want to share the code (I suppose I get some credit for that), but how can/should we do it? What's your normal procedure? Sourceforge, or just a shared zip?

We can put it in the upcoming "contrib" folder, to signify that it's a work-in-progress.

Quote
I'd be willing to do that and maintain the main code base, as I started it and the code sometimes is very "hackerish" (I guess this is normal for such a project, but anyway)

That's what I want to hear :). I agree that you should be the maintainer. You know it better than any other ;).

Quote
Implementing it as a plugin is something I would love to give into trusting hands, as learning about the SDK and changing the code should be done by someone who knows what he's doing

I think it would be better to make it a custom editor, registered for XRC files (for example). I haven't looked at your code, but to implement a custom editor in C::B, you just inherit from EditorBase (which inherits from wxMDIChildFrame and when we ditch MDI it will inherit from wxPanel). Unless you are doing magic stuff in your initialization code, I believe it should be pretty easy to embed you editor in C::B :D

Quote
I want to get some stuff working (like loading a project) before I put the code somewhere.

We can add the code in CVS and you can work from there. This way more people might want to join you :D
And don't forget the motto of open source: release-early, release-often ;)

Yiannis.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 13, 2005, 08:42:49 am
Hi!
Quote from: mandrav

I think it would be better to make it a custom editor, registered for XRC files (for example). I haven't looked at your code, but to implement a custom editor in C::B, you just inherit from EditorBase (which inherits from wxMDIChildFrame and when we ditch MDI it will inherit from wxPanel). Unless you are doing magic stuff in your initialization code, I believe it should be pretty easy to embed you editor in C::B :D

I'm not quite sure I got that, maybe due to my fair knowledge of how C::B was implemented and how the SDK works. Currently the editor is a MDI Frame, too. So you mean I should implement it so that it gets "embedded" into C::B on start? Like adding a toolbar, menu etc. to the main editor?I just played with the plugin generator plugin and saw that it has options for that currently disabled.

Quote from: mandrav

We can add the code in CVS and you can work from there. This way more people might want to join you :D
And don't forget the motto of open source: release-early, release-often ;)
.

Good idea. I'll straighten things out in the code to get loading and saving to work properly and maybe add some more widgets. Then I'll be happy to upload. In some parts the code is a real mess  :D Extreme programming, here I come  :D Maybe I should comment the code in some places, although I doubt that it will be easy to understand. The handling for events when adding widgets (especially into sizers) is pretty complicated and I still have to clear the massive object dump I get at the moment  :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on May 13, 2005, 09:44:04 am
Quote
I'm not quite sure I got that, maybe due to my fair knowledge of how C::B was implemented and how the SDK works. Currently the editor is a MDI Frame, too. So you mean I should implement it so that it gets "embedded" into C::B on start? Like adding a toolbar, menu etc. to the main editor?I just played with the plugin generator plugin and saw that it has options for that currently disabled.

Take a look at this (http://www.codeblocks.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=249) thread. It was the first attempt at creating a custom "editor". It also contains a link to a test plugin I hacked up quickly to test it. Download it and take a look.

To really embed your editor, it can't be an MDI frame. It must be an EditorBase (which is a wxMDIChildFrame for now). Also, until we add a docking library in C::B, your tool windows should have the wxFLOAT_ON_PARENT style flag.

Anyway, I think you should download the test plugin mentioned above and see for yourself. If you don't get it yet, or you think that it's too much of a hassle, you can initially set your application as a registered XRC MIME handler and have C::B launch it (optionally modal) as an external application.
Or you can go on asking me (publicly or in private) anything you don't understand yet ;)

Yiannis.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 13, 2005, 05:24:07 pm
Quote from: upCASE
Maybe I should comment the code in some places, although I doubt that it will be easy to understand.


Why not grab Windows Paint (TM) and make a nifty diagram of how the classes work?

Quote from: Mandrav
To really embed your editor, it can't be an MDI frame. It must be an EditorBase (which is a wxMDIChildFrame for now). Also, until we add a docking library in C::B, your tool windows should have the wxFLOAT_ON_PARENT style flag.


And you may also want to take a look at the codecompletion plugin to see how it allocates a tab in the left pane (for the property editor).
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 13, 2005, 05:52:10 pm
Hi!
Quote from: rickg22
Quote from: upCASE
Maybe I should comment the code in some places, although I doubt that it will be easy to understand.


Why not grab Windows Paint (TM) and make a nifty diagram of how the classes work?

Quote from: Mandrav
To really embed your editor, it can't be an MDI frame. It must be an EditorBase (which is a wxMDIChildFrame for now). Also, until we add a docking library in C::B, your tool windows should have the wxFLOAT_ON_PARENT style flag.


And you may also want to take a look at the codecompletion plugin to see how it allocates a tab in the left pane (for the property editor).

1. Once the time comes, I let doxgen do the job :D
2. Good idea, I'll check it out.

As I won't be online until Tuesday (since in germany monday is a holiday and my wife and son won't approve I spend the time coding :D), I htought I give you a little yummy for the weekend and upload my development beta release as a binary to try out.
Get it here: http://www.upcase.de/stuff/wxResEdit.zip

Please comment on bugs and improvements. Saving and loading works to some extend, XRC code generation seems to be fine. Note that only some widgets are implemented and editing a project after loading it will lead to crashes when trying to add new stuff to sizers.

Have a nice weekend!
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on May 13, 2005, 11:29:52 pm
As I've wrote on another post:
=)

A RAD for wxWidgets inside CodeBlocks
One of the best wxWidgets RADs right now (IMHO) is DialogBlocks, so I think that we have 2 great options
-Ask Julian Smart about making a plugin of DialogBlocks for CodeBlocks, or better yet, convince Julian to distribute by default the combo of CodeBlocks+DialogBlocks plugin (the best combo for replacing VC+MFC).
-Ask Julian to donate most of the DialogBlocks code.
He already has done that for another IDE (CodeDragon - wxStudio), but that project isn't maintained anymore.

http://www.anthemion.co.uk/dialogblocks/
http://wxstudio.sourceforge.net/

Anyways the first step and most easy would be to ask Julian to make DialogBlocks generate CodeBlocks projects (currently DialogBlocks generates Visual C projects, makefiles, etc a very handy feature)


Note that I encourage to do a RAD from scratch, but I'm afraid that it never gets finished nor maintained anymore.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on May 14, 2005, 01:49:52 am
Well, there's a downpoint to using dialogblocks. It's commercial. And we've seen what can happen when we rely on proprietary technology for open source projects: Bitkeeper (Linux), Sun proprietary Java extensions (OpenOffice.org)...

It's better if we have 100% open code in codeblocks
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on May 14, 2005, 11:02:23 pm
Yes, DialogBlocks is commercial, but isn't developed by a MegaCorporation, it's developed by Julian Smart, no joke =) I mean, he is the most important developer in wx.
And he was gently enough to donate almost all of the RAD code to an IDE opensource project:


-Ask Julian to donate most of the DialogBlocks code.
He already has done that for another IDE (CodeDragon - wxStudio), but that project isn't maintained anymore.

http://wxstudio.sourceforge.net/
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 15, 2005, 05:39:05 am
let's see how upCase's code works. But I don't think using Julian Smart's resource editor would be good, i mean, if he wanted to make it GPL he would have. He has to live of something.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on May 15, 2005, 07:20:25 pm
First of all, upCase, keep your good work =)

Anyways, regarding DialogBlocks always exist the option of donate part of the code (probably the difficult parts to upCase) to an opensource project (more if you consider that Julian already did that in the past).

I've talked to Julian about making it a plugin or generate projects and he replied:

Quote
Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give them some thought.
Making DB into a plugin is non-trivial, and potentially
a distraction from my rather long to-do list, but generating
a CB project should be more do-able.

Regards,

Julian


 :)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: David Perfors on May 17, 2005, 07:30:32 pm
That is very nice, but why not making our own, by using the code if upCase? I know that it takes some time to get it all working correctly as it should, but it is ours then, and we know what the code is doing, so we are not depending on Julian to include bugs and features :)

upCase: your program looks very prommising, hopefully we can get a plugin of it very soon.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 18, 2005, 08:32:01 am
Hi!
Quote from: mispunt

upCase: your program looks very prommising, hopefully we can get a plugin of it very soon.

Thanks! I'm trying to get rid of some bugs and implement some new widgets. I will have to change some things in the propertygrid to make it more "intuitive" and give it the ability for event tables later on.
First step will be a MIME plugin I guess.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on May 18, 2005, 08:48:51 am
Quote
First step will be a MIME plugin I guess.

"The easy way out" :)
It's better this way, at least until it's stable. So you won't have to chase bugs around your code *and* codeblocks ;)

Yiannis.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on May 18, 2005, 09:44:53 am
I think we all agree that upCase RAD looks very promising :)
And, in the long-term using upCase implementation is the best
In the meantime, some kind of integration with a currently very functional working implementation of a wx RAD (like DialogBlocks or wxDesigner) is desired.

For example, if DialogBlocks outputs Code::Blocks projects you'll end having a platform to develop more fast and easily the upCase RAD GUI itself and working right now.

I also vote for the upCase MIME plugin easy way, dealing with less bugs the better =)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: DreadNot on May 20, 2005, 03:20:03 am
What's the status on this thing  8) .
I'm seriously fed up with no community IDE having a decent RAD tool.
I've been using Dev-Cpp for some time but didn't care to contrib to a Delphi codebase.
C::B looks like a very good start as a direct replacement to Dev-Cpp for me.
As I'm an experienced C++ programming and I have some free time, I wanna jump in with both feet  :D .

BTW, it's kinda funny that C::B is wxWindows based and that wxWindows is primarily maintained by Julian Smart, but this discussion sounds really down on using him as a source for the RAD tool.  He can essentially do what he wants with his code as a commercial product, but asking him to contribute is cheap.  If he wants to contribute some or all of his codebase under GPL to C::B, are we not worthy to receive it?  He doesn't have to develop the plugin, just post the code (or significant portions) under GPL for our use.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: DreadNot on May 20, 2005, 03:26:32 am
Oh, yeah.  What about wxFormBuilder?
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 20, 2005, 07:53:33 am
Apparently upCase has done us the favor by donating his personal RAD. byo is working on it, as you can see in the thread "wxMDIChildframe crash" (can't change the title, sorry :-P ). There's a screenshot there! :D
Title: completely OT
Post by: tiwag on May 20, 2005, 08:17:52 am
Quote from: rickg22
... as you can see in the thread "wxMDIChildframe crash" (can't change the title, sorry :-P )...


maybe the title isn't so bad  :lol:
*sorry* couldn't resist  :D
Title: form editor...
Post by: thedeurf on May 22, 2005, 05:16:20 pm
Hi !

I'm currently working on a wx form editor. At this point, I've just finished the edition mechanism and i plan to distribute my (open-source) software until i add all the wxWidgets into it. After that, i'll add the sizer edition and many things that will permit this software to be a complete form editor.

This is a standalone editor but I think it can be converted as a code::blocks pluggin ( I'll search for code::blocks developpers later to do it )

Your project is great and i think code::blocks can become the best developpment editor. i can send files to anyone who is interrested by my editor.

Regards. ( I'm sorry but my English is'nt verry good !!!  :oops:  )
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: cyberkoa on May 23, 2005, 01:27:45 am
It seems like a few ppls are working on the RAD tools/plugin

  upCASE - wxResEdit , standalone App wxCode genarator

  byo - a RAD plugin , modified from upCASE's code ?/or own code

  thedeurf - working on a wx form editor


Frankly say , I do not know how to code the RAD tools but I really hope that the RAD tools can be implemented in Code::Blocks either by plugin or embeded in the main code. I can help to do some simple coding.

 I believe in co-operation make the best & fast output.

 It is now in a promising stage , I really hope that the 2 parties , code::blocks developers and the RAD tools developers can work out an agreement on the RAD tools , at least on the following things

   a) should it be done as plug-in or embeded code in main code?

   b)should it be a code generator or more sophisticated RAD tools that can make the coding on fly , for example , doubleclick the button on the form bring will pointer the line to the button-click event functions.

   c)whose code should be used as the RAD tools base code , I suppose everybody hope that it must be "open source" with wxwidgets license or GPL.

   
  Hope to hear the decision to start the RAD tools /plugin coding together instead of lone ranger programmer. Hope that I would be able to contribute at least something.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: thedeurf on May 23, 2005, 03:34:11 am
the project that i'm working on is able to coding on the fly : the code portions are added / deleted between markers just like wxDev-Cpp and the event editor only create function if it doesn't exist and modify their name and parameters when needed.

Before write more code, i will learn the code blocks source code to write something that can be integrated easily....  :wink:

Thanks for any help, you're welcome !!!  :mrgreen:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 23, 2005, 09:32:55 am
Hi everyone.
I don't know How I've missed this topic :/ must read more :).
As I see few programmers are working on RAD tool (I work toom see http://www.codeblocks.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=249).
Will it be a competition or cooperation ?
What do You think ?  :wink:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: David Perfors on May 23, 2005, 10:21:53 am
I don't know if it is a competition or coopreation. Hopefully those RAD tools are dirffrent from each other, so very one can choose it own RAD tool.
On the other hand I am hoping that they look the same, so we can merge them and join forces, so we get one good RAD tool.

When looking to the design of C::B I think that the RAD tool should be a plugin. almost everything is a plugin, even the compiler :)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 23, 2005, 05:27:21 pm
Heh, just can't wait to see all those plugins :). Can't wait to write my first wxApp with C::B using RAD (even if it won't be mine  :D ). So let's back to work :)
There are some widgets to write ;)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: thedeurf on May 24, 2005, 12:15:20 pm
Hi !

I wanted to tell you the status of my project :
The Widget creation, manipulation and edition system is now completed ! i'll code the event handling system next...

Some project specifications and advantages :
my designer is easy to update with the new versions of wxWidgets. for all widgets, a simple modification in a text file and only in one source file is needed to add a property or an event. So any coder will be able to modify it easily ! 8)

So lets back to work !!!

C U Later guys !  :wink:

PS : I'll give you a link for a screenshot later...
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 24, 2005, 01:02:54 pm
Hello,
If You want to see My plugin working, it's currently in current codeblock's CVS tree: codedeblocks/src/plugins/contrib/wxSmith.

thedeurf: Waiting for Your screenshoot :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: thedeurf on May 24, 2005, 03:25:37 pm
hummmmm your project seems to be easier to integrate as mine.... I think i took a wrong way...  :x  
But if you want I help you to code your RAD tool, contact me on my mail address. I'll be happy to become a wxSmith developper  :mrgreen:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rob on May 24, 2005, 03:48:08 pm
Hey thedurf, good to hear that you are joining the RAD developers. I am just following the list, and if I understood things propperly, the code byo is working on, is based on work form upcase (who has no time anymore). Byo also abandonned his first own attempt for a RAD tool. I think this is just how Open Source works. Great, not ???
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: thedeurf on May 24, 2005, 03:50:07 pm
I'm agree.... when we're not alone we are strong !!!!  :mrgreen:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 24, 2005, 04:04:40 pm
Hi!
Quote from: rob
I am just following the list, and if I understood things propperly, the code byo is working on, is based on work form upcase (who has no time anymore).

Errmm... Well, actually I am still working on the code and I do have time (just not that much..). The way I got it is that byo is working on a wxFormBuilder plugin, while my project is a standalone. Currently I'm the only one developing it, but I plan to contribute it...

BTW: Maybe there will be an update for you to play with later on. :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 24, 2005, 06:19:17 pm
Quote from: rob
Byo also abandonned his first own attempt for a RAD tool.


Hmm, didn't said that. Still working on my first RAD tool, started developing it after I've found C::B. Hmm, maybe missed something or said something stupid  :wink: .  Heh, must read this forum again :wink:. Maybe it will be better for me to abandon my code, maybe there will be ability to do both :D (that would be great)

Hmm, upCase's work looks very nice and I hope that there will be a plugin in future allowing to bind it to C::B :).

One other think I wanna say: i'm happy that there are peples like upCase - because other people can choose their favorite tools without any restrictions. People should choose what they like, not what they can afford :).

And that's other great thing in Open Source :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rob on May 24, 2005, 06:55:39 pm
Ohhh !  It looks I didn't got it propperly, how the differnt RAD tools are related. Sorry for that and my missleading post, and I hope I have offended nobody, but thanks for clarifying, and I hope everyone of you RAD developers benefits somehow from the projects of the others.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: thedeurf on May 24, 2005, 07:03:35 pm
It didn't hurt anybody I think !  :wink:

I will join the byo's project at this time. it will be easier to make a good plugin together. 8)
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: jahurtado on May 24, 2005, 07:37:39 pm
Quote from: upCASE
The way I got it is that byo is working on a wxFormBuilder plugin


Anybody is working on a wxFormBuilder plugin?

wxFormBuilder is in active development, a new developer join to me and soon there will be a new development version. If anybody considers wxFormBuilder as a codeblocks RAD plugin, please contact me, I would like to know about problems, pieces of code to rewrite, etc.

Regards,

Jose Antonio.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 25, 2005, 12:17:44 am
Quote from: byo
Hmm, upCase's work looks very nice and I hope that there will be a plugin in future allowing to bind it to C::B :).


Uh... weren't you actually working on it? :? NOW I'm confused.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 25, 2005, 08:40:20 am
Hi!
Quote from: rickg22

Uh... weren't you actually working on it? :? NOW I'm confused.

 :lol:
Ok,just  to clearify: Currently I'm the only one developing my GUI editor. I'm making quite good progress right now and added some new features (because I feel that having these features currently is more work than implementing new widgets). Once I got something that really works for others, I'd be happy to contribute the code or parts of it, so thta others can join in and make a plugin out of it. So far it's still a standalone app. The app will, however, use a mime plugin at first for C::B. Maybe I'll add support for different types of project files so that one can choose either to use the plugin, or work with the editor and export C::B (maybe Dev-C++ and VC++) project files.

I have to fix some minor things and review parts of it. I'll post an updated version later this day for you to review and comment on.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 25, 2005, 09:56:45 am
It seems that RAD development got little bit weird.
As I undedrstant we currently have:
upCASE-s standalone app
wxFormBuilder also stasndalone app
wxSmith (mine) plugin only.
thedeurf also started to work on his own plugin but he decided to join me

IF nothing will be changed,  there will be three different plugins for wxWidget RAD development. Somehow it's good because developers will be able to choose what they want. But shouldn't C::B has one RAD tool system ? And if Yes, which one of projects mentioned above should be used ? (I guess that nobody would like to abandon his project so this may be a serious problem ;) )
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: David Perfors on May 25, 2005, 10:17:04 am
Perhaps we could merge the projects, and get the best out of them ?
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 25, 2005, 10:32:37 am
Hi!
Quote from: byo

IF nothing will be changed,  there will be three different plugins for wxWidget RAD development. Somehow it's good because developers will be able to choose what they want. But shouldn't C::B has one RAD tool system ? And if Yes, which one of projects mentioned above should be used ? (I guess that nobody would like to abandon his project so this may be a serious problem ;) )

Right... I disslike the thought of having wasted my time (about 6 month or more now) developing my editor for nothing... Not now as it actually starts working :D
Honestly I don't really know if it will ever be possible to integrate my editor as a "true" plugin. I never intended that when I started it, so maybe it isn't even possible without rewriting most parts.

Quote from: mispunt
Perhaps we could merge the projects, and get the best out of them ?

I doubt this will be possible as I guess we all did it in a different way, with different thoughts on our minds.

Diversity isn't a bad thing after all. C::B will have a GUI plugin like byos. I had plans to make it possible to import rc files and Qt Designer files with my editor and let it generate different project files. Maybe I'll stick with that idea, so changing toolkits will be made easy.
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 25, 2005, 11:22:32 am
Quote from: rickg22
OK guys. This is serious. I realized that there is NO wxWidgets designer tool in C++. At least not open source.


Heh, currently I see many tools :)

I think that we all should keep working on our codes. Each tool is a valuable thing and none of us - developers has wasted time during creation. As I suppose many wx devecopers will use different tools for different things. And as I guess f.ex. my plygin could be good bor wx Beginners but proffesionals could use upCase's standalone app to use special adventages of his work.
I hope that all apps and plugins will cooperate in future,  so there's nothing to care about for now (QT has really nice tools for it's windows development but these are standalone apps and as I remember Kdevelop use them) :).

Hmm, I have one question dedicated to C::B leaders (mandrav, rickg22), what's Your opinion ?
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on May 25, 2005, 12:14:55 pm
Quote
Hmm, I have one question dedicated to C::B leaders (mandrav, rickg22), what's Your opinion ?

Plurality and freedom of choice is never a bad thing ;)

Yiannis.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: upCASE on May 25, 2005, 05:31:41 pm
Hi!
Ok, so here it comes: The new updated development release/snapshot of my GUI editor.

First a new screenshot:
(http://www.upcase.de/stuff/wxRapid.jpg)

You can download a copy of this beast at http://www.upcase.de/stuff/wxRapid.zip

- I implemented most of the widgets in a basic form (meaning: some og them don't work as expected).
- wxPropertyGrid has been updated to a development release after a short mailing with its creator Jakko.
- XRC code generation works almost perfectly.
- For the XRC code, a cpp/h file will be generated that loads the XRC and gives you control over the used variables.
- Basic support for event handlers has been implemented. I used a hacked version of wxLongStringProperty for that, displaying a STC editor. wx classes should be colorized.
- Event handling code will be generated in the cpp/h files, but don't expect too much :D

I hope you find this a good thing. Still, a lot is missing. There will be Menu bar editing and Status bar creation (it's there in a basic form) in the next release, maybe tool bar support too. Some problems with not existing widgets (like wxCalendarCtrl) for XRC will have to be reviewed. Aynway, I think it's getting better and better. Hopefully there will be something that really works in the near future.

Oh yes: There will be "pure" C++ code generation.
Cross your fingers that I find the time for these changes :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 25, 2005, 05:57:06 pm
OK I think diversity is good. Evolution in action! :D Survival of the fittest *evil grin*.

And I'm sure that someone'll be able to integrate upCase's wxRapid with C::B. But you know, I think we should post a thread on each plugin under the development forum. And then each author would explain *in his own words* how his plugin works.

This way we could do a brainstorm and perhaps merge the important parts of each plugin.

 mean, there are COMMON things in the plugins. Like the properties pane, the object tree (above the properties), the widgets palette, and of course, the GUI area. So if each one says how each one is implemented, maybe someone out there can take the best out of each and paste the code like crazy :P.

So feel free to create your "my RAD Editor" threads. I'm 100% sure that many good things will come out of it.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on May 25, 2005, 11:45:10 pm
I' m up for joining byo on wxSmith with two requests:

1. A proper plan of attack--er, some kind of informal or formal documentation--is draw up and modified as needed to manage this very important project.  Something like an action list of development items subdivided as needed.  Or something else.

2. Since this is apparently the first and only RAD plugin, all other standalone candidates are reviewed for partial inclusion to minimize reinventing the wheel, as it were.  Perhaps all involved can make their case for their own priorities.  This doesn't mean each would be involved, but any code could be contributed and reviewed.

My reasoning for this is that, while others have stated the obviousness in diversity, it occurs to me that "united we stand, divided we fall".  I would hate to see all this fabulous energy wasted.  I've also seen other project deteriorate due to lack of perseverance--note the other attemps at public domain RAD tools that have wasted away.  So let's capture this energy in a unified effort while we still can.

I expect (1) will take some time (month or two) and (2) will impact (1) and may depend on the cooperation of others.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: DreadNot on May 25, 2005, 11:47:19 pm
Sorry  :oops:.  Wasn't logged in.  The above was mine.

DreadNot
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on May 26, 2005, 12:33:23 am
Yes, I forgot to mention :P While diversity is a good thing in evolution, so is DNA recombination.

Anyway, I just tested byo's plugin, and I think we can work from there: Improve the interface, etc. However, without a manual (or blueprint) it'd be hard to improve specific parts. What *particularly* worries me is the object construction handling of events. Byo's approach is to make a derived class out of each widget. While it does work, i'm sure there's an alternative approach, like trapping the events so they won't get to the widgets or something. I think I read something in the wxWidgets manual about disabling events for GUI designers (and that's what we're doing, right?)

upCase, how did you implement this part?
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 26, 2005, 02:05:34 am
Quote from: rickg22
What *particularly* worries me is the object construction handling of events. Byo's approach is to make a derived class out of each widget. While it does work, i'm sure there's an alternative approach, like trapping the events so they won't get to the widgets or something.


Yep, I know it can worry, I've created these few widgets currently available in wxSmith rather for testing that for a real working. In fact all system could be reduced to one or few classes which would easily handle all default widgets. In fact there's no neeed to derive class for each widget in preview - it will be simpler to add event handler to existing widget. I just haven't focused on that problem yet :oops:
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on May 26, 2005, 02:40:51 am
I've just created new topic dedicated to wxSmith:

http://www.codeblocks.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=372
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on May 26, 2005, 10:33:41 am
Hi!
Quote from: rickg22
What *particularly* worries me is the object construction handling of events. Byo's approach is to make a derived class out of each widget. While it does work, i'm sure there's an alternative approach, like trapping the events so they won't get to the widgets or something. I think I read something in the wxWidgets manual about disabling events for GUI designers (and that's what we're doing, right?)

upCase, how did you implement this part?

I created one master class as a base class for all widgets. This class is an eventhandler for stuff like moving, clicking, etc. The widgets are derived from this class, as well as sizers. The base class also stores meta infos like variable names.
Just let me say that the way I did it works, but it's not really elegant. The widget creation part is a real mess and doubles some things. It works though :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: thedeurf on May 27, 2005, 11:04:59 pm
there is a screenshot of my wxFormDesigner :

(http://mindwhispers.free.fr/screenshot.jpg)

It's not a CB plugin but i'll integrate it later when it will be stable and complete.

The icons are not the definitive ones it's not finished at all

You can modify controls with a drag and drop as the delphi manipulation system... 8)

but i progress as well as possible !  :D
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on June 02, 2005, 09:19:35 am
No offence to anyone, but I think the RAD idea needs some sort of management. Put someone in charge of RAD for Code::Blocks. I know having more than one RAD provides diversity and options, but it also wastes too much time on re-inventing the wheel.

In this case, 3 people are doing essentially the same thing! All are re-inventing the same wheel!

Why not organise everyone into diverting their energies working on the same wheel?
Getting all the developers together produces far better results than three separate solutions which are semi-complete with half-hearted to no decent documentation.

We use upCASE's code as the basis. We discuss what we want in Ver 1.0 of RAD for Code::Blocks. We set goals for each version, etc. This is where all developers wanting to get involved has their say at what they want to add. The person in charge of RAD makes sure everyone agrees to the features they want to add.

We start off with, a version that is labelled EXP (eg : Ver 1.0-EXP) for experimental. This is where developers throw in their contribution, add a new feature, etc. This is not guaranteed to work 100% stability.

After all the features (goals) have been achieved, we freeze development and test.
=> Ver 1.0-ALPHA-1, Ver 1.0-ALPHA-2, etc.

We fine-tune and tweak for max stability and performance.
=> Ver 1.0-BETA-1, Ver 1.0-BETA-2, etc.
=> We also take the time to document the new features and tutorials, etc.

Once its solid as a rock, it will be released
=> Ver 1.0-STABLE.
=> With full documentation.
=> This is the complete and polished one.



Yes I know, this approach requires more effort. BUT:

(a) All developers will have a strong purpose and their energies are focused on the goals. (So they don't feel so overwhelmed and have more time to spend on family, etc).

(b) Developers won't be doing redundant things. (I find it ridiculous if 20 people are doing the same thing!)

(c) The result is a FAR more polished RAD than anything (open-source wise) out there.

(d) The community will recognise it (Code::Blocks and RAD) without the need to advertise. If you're good at something, you don't need to say a thing. Your creation and skills says everything for you....And if you know your software is crap, you could do what MS does and start ridiculous FUD campaigns like "Get the Facts". :)

(e) The overall IDE with RAD will be a far more polished solution, which could rival some commercial solutions. Everyone loves rock stable software.

(f) If you attract attention of companies supporting open-source, you get quite a number of new features from them. (It could be something that no one else has thought about, but they like to add to your code). Who knows, you may even get monetary support from organisations and folks who love using your tools.


You may have wondered why I'm suggesting all this. Well, its that I'm sick of most open-source solutions doing things without properly defined goals and management. ie : Its all over the place. Bugs remain open, documentation and help files is incomplete, etc, etc. A simple thing like a checklist really does go a long way!

Everyone is wanting to do their own thing and the result is a software that isn't good as it should be. That pisses me off. Half-baked solutions written by programmers in their spare time. (Bill Gates is laughing, as all this software isn't a threat to his profits).

What's worse is they lack the proper documentation. Every newbie would like to contribute and use open-source software...But if there is no documentation with tutorials and such included with software, folks get a little fustrated and use something else.

Take wxWidgets as the prime example. There is no proper tutorials to get newbies started and understanding of the tools...Sure, a book is coming to address this issue...Why didn't they have some documentation like a electronic handbook in the first place? There wouldn't need to be visiting Amazon.com to buy a stinking book just to get a clear grasp of wxWidgets. (You saved a few thousand trees as well).

I'm saying all this because I see Code::Blocks have alot of potential. This potential could be ruined if everyone does their own thing.

mandrav has laid out the basis (Code::Blocks) for us to build on. All we have to do is organise ourselves into teams that are responsible for a particular plug-in. (Or a feature of that plug-in)...Say wxWidgets's network component, etc.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on June 03, 2005, 02:54:11 pm
I agree to the poster abov me.... Truly diverisfication and freedom of choices are cool, but.... First of all, rather than having the freedom to choose between 3 half-backed RAD-Tools, I'd like to have 1 that really works and that really makes progress.

Still, something I'd also like to notice: while C::B surely needs a RAD-Tool, I think whatever is going to be the "the standard" wxWidgets RAD-Tool should not be bound to an IDE. Seen from this point of view it may not be bad that there's more than one RAD-Tool in the pipeline. So my plead would be

a) the dev's of the 3 RAD-Tools should please _WORK TOGHETHER_ to create ONE REALLY GOOD RAD-Tool instead of 3
b) whatever comes out of this work should also be able to function as standalone app


just my 0.02 $
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on June 03, 2005, 03:24:41 pm
It would be cool to have the RAD working as a standalone app BUT, it would be very time consuming, because the RAD developer would be himself doing a lot of things that are already included in C::B.

As real life examples see:

-DialogBlocks: It is a standalone app, but as time has passed, Julian had to make it almost like an IDE to be more usable (it haves a code editor, generates MSVC projects, compile and debugs programs), so at the end is like having an IDE inside the RAD (instead of having a RAD inside the IDE :) ).

-MFC editor from MSVC: It doesn't come as a standalone app, for the same reason avobe.


So at first having the RAD as a standalone app appears to be ok, but as the time passes the RAD developer would be implementing all the things an IDE haves.


IMHO in the situation that makes sense to have a standalone RAD is in a XRC only resource editor.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Urxae on June 03, 2005, 04:48:10 pm
If a standalone RAD tool is wanted, maybe a stripped-down version of Code::Blocks could be created that only has the things that would be needed for RAD?
Since it's modular, it may not be too hard to do, removing all other plugins and maybe disable the text editors might go a long way. (Are the text editors necessary for writing event handlers? Not sure what a 'standalone RAD tool' is supposed to do and not do...)

This is basically what happened with Eclipse: It started out as an IDE in which almost everything was a plugin, and a year or so ago they released a rich client platform (http://www.eclipse.org/rcp/).

Something to think about...
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Lexx on June 06, 2005, 09:26:56 am
Hi!

I use DialogBlocks for wxWidgets and C++ applications.
http://www.anthemion.co.uk/dialogblocks

Lexx
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: Anonymous on June 07, 2005, 07:07:52 pm
Whould it be possible to use José Hurtado's own plug-in system and xml parsing code into wxSmith and ask them to join this team?
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: heromyth on July 03, 2005, 02:59:37 am
Does anybody pay attention to  visualwx(http://visualwx.altervista.org/). However, it does not open source.
Title: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: rickg22 on July 03, 2005, 03:45:49 am
I'd rather have an open source tool (I think we had talked about this already - look at what happened to Linux and bitkeeper - search in slashdot -). But thanks for the suggestion :-)
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: baboo on November 14, 2005, 07:48:11 pm
Hey,
What happened with the RAD tool... We are all waiting for a release to test it, to give some feedback at least.
Give me some info if there are any news, please.
Thanks a lot.
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on November 14, 2005, 08:01:30 pm
My current solution: use DialogBlocks until wxSmith gets stable (I'm refering not that it's crashing, but stable on the API and code generation)
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on November 14, 2005, 10:13:28 pm
Hey,
What happened with the RAD tool... We are all waiting for a release to test it, to give some feedback at least.
Give me some info if there are any news, please.
Thanks a lot.

RAD tool is included in Windows version of RC2 installer but not selected by default.
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on November 14, 2005, 10:17:21 pm
My current solution: use DialogBlocks until wxSmith gets stable (I'm refering not that it's crashing, but stable on the API and code generation)

DialogBlocks seems to be good suggestion - I haven't working with it but it seems to be very usefull :)
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: takeshimiya on November 14, 2005, 10:35:31 pm
Yep, it's the current most well featured RAD for wxWidgets, it's similar to Code::Blocks (supports multiple compilers).
And it's developed by Julian itself, so that says something :D

The best about DialogBlocks is that it blends well the C++ code and the widgets, so every time you edit a widgets the changes get reflected in the code (or the XRC)

It automatically inserts code (or XRC handling) between ////@begin and ////@end like:

Code
////@begin WxCoolBarSampleApp initialisation
    // Remove the comment markers above and below this block
    // to make permanent changes to the code.

#if wxUSE_GIF
    wxImage::AddHandler( new wxGIFHandler );
#endif
    wxCoolBarSampleFrame* mainWindow = new wxCoolBarSampleFrame( NULL, ID_FRAME );
    mainWindow->Show(true);
////@end WxCoolBarSampleApp initialisation

And you can insert validators and variables to each widget in your dialogs.

Fortunately wxSmith is catching up very fast!
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: baboo on November 17, 2005, 05:14:00 pm
"RAD tool is included in Windows version of RC2 installer but not selected by default."
....
Man... RAD tool is included on Windows version and not on linux version? ... hmmm  :? :cry:
Why?
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: byo on November 17, 2005, 06:13:55 pm
"RAD tool is included in Windows version of RC2 installer but not selected by default."
....
Man... RAD tool is included on Windows version and not on linux version? ... hmmm  :? :cry:
Why?

There is source code but must be manually compiled in C::B (wxSmith is not yet included into automake build :() and some files need to be copied into wxSmith's data directory . There's post about this somewhere :). I have some difficulties with current CVS version, but RC2 should work fine :)
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on November 17, 2005, 07:02:34 pm
(wxSmith is not yet included into automake build :()

This is because you 're adding/removing files all the time :)
Seriously, I can (and probably will) add it in the build system but are you willing to add/remove files to/from the build when you change the project? I.e. you will have to keep it in sync with the project files...
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: cyberkoa on November 17, 2005, 07:47:42 pm
(wxSmith is not yet included into automake build :()

This is because you 're adding/removing files all the time :)
Seriously, I can (and probably will) add it in the build system but are you willing to add/remove files to/from the build when you change the project? I.e. you will have to keep it in sync with the project files...

mandrav, is it possible to add wxSmith to the automake build and if any changes of the files in the project , we can do manual modification on the wxSmith portion in the automake build script ?

At the moment , I still could not run wxSmith on my Ubuntu , if there is a wxSmith built in , I can help to try out the wxSmith and help to find out bugs on wxSmith on GTK.
 
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on November 17, 2005, 07:52:44 pm
Quote
mandrav, is it possible to add wxSmith to the automake build and if any changes of the files in the project , we can do manual modification on the wxSmith portion in the automake build script ?

That's what I asked ;)
Should I add this to the build? I guess the answer is yes then :)
Title: Re: RAD TOOL developers wanted
Post by: mandrav on November 17, 2005, 11:15:58 pm
Well, I 've added it in the build. wxSmith builds when configure runs with --enable-contrib.
I got to tell you: it works SWEET :D

Btw, a minor bug I noticed is that in the generated header you add all #includes for widgets inside a #ifndef WX_PRECOMP block. This doesn't work for me (not in windows, not in linux) and compile fails.
This check is not needed anyway, because if the precompiled header has been used, files belonging in it will not be used whether you guard them or not.
In case it's not clear, take your tutorial, add a wxTreeCtrl and try to compile :)