New wxFormBuilder development snapshot

[jhurtado]

A new version of wxFormBuilder, a RAD Tool for wxWidgets with plugin extensions for custom widgets, is out!

wxFormBuilder is now very usable and there are important improvements on this version.

Features and changes:

- User interface is more practical and easy to use.
- Replacement of object properties window with wxPropertyGrid component.
- Undo/Redo
- Cut/Copy/Paste
- Xrc Import/Export customizable from the plugin interface.
- C++ code generation based on templates.
- MenuBar support for frames (not finished)
- Work on Linux

You can download sources and an installer for win32 on
http://software-libre.org/project/showf ... roup_id=71
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfil ... _id=135521

See screenshots on:
http://wxformbuilder.software-libre.org ... l#capturas
http://wxformbuilder.sourceforge.net/in ... l#capturas

Best regards,

Jose A. Hurtado

[upCASE]

Hi!
Impresive I must say!

Maybe I should have spend more time on sizer code for wxRapid then on implementing all widgets
Seriously: It works charming and seems to be extensible through XML, a feature I've planned for wxRapid too, but that didn't make it too far. Cut and paste is really cool and the change to wxPropertyGrid was perfect.
As for the code: One can really tell that you spend quite some time on it. It's clean and tidy. Compared, mine is a real mess

Keep up the greate work! So far I'd say that we're surely no rivals, as wxRapid isn't that mature and it's power is more like "free hand editing" than sizer based code.

Again: Great work!

[jhurtado]

Again: Great work!

Thanks UpCase for your comments, we still work for more features.

"Free hand editing" is quite attractive and more easy for many people that work with others RADs such VB or Borland C++Builder. But I suggest you that remove the MDI frame and use normal Frames in order to Linux support.

Regards.

[jhurtado]

A new snapshot has been released on:

https://software-libre.org/project/show ... roup_id=71



Notes:
- Some Components don't support XRC import/export.
- Menubar only can be created on wxFrame but wxFB doesn't make this restriction.
- Use absolute path on property values.

ChangeLog:
- Bugfix on Undo/Redo with Cut&Paste operations.
- Bugfix on C++ code generation (#define ID_ on header file)
- A preliminary code generation with relative path.
- Shortcuts for common operations.
- More components.
- improvements on Menu editor.
- Toolbar/Statusbar support.
- Improvements on Designer (wxFrame emulation and better resizing).

[Ric]

This has great potential, but I couldn't find any documentation expaining how to use it. Are there any instructions elsewhere?

[jhurtado]

This has great potential, but I couldn't find any documentation expaining how to use it. Are there any instructions elsewhere?

There are no user manual
But you can try to use it with examples, it's not dificult once you understand the sizer philosophy.

Regards

[daddydave]

I'll definitely install this, the screenshots look nice. After piddling around with DialogBlocks, it seems that a tree control is a necessity for sizer manipulation. Hard to see the sizer relationships otherwise.

[jhurtado]

A new release (20050710) is available for download.

http://software-libre.org/project/showf ... roup_id=71
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfil ... _id=135521

[tbreina]

There are no user manual Sad
But you can try to use it with examples, it's not dificult once you understand the sizer philosophy.

Jose,

Where are the examples? Do you mean wxWidgets examples?

I tried using it tonight, but can't seem to add anything at all. It just seems to show a tiny gray square. Perhaps someone could create a simple "Hello world!" tutorial to help out. I think once I know how to add components, the rest will be more intuitive.

Thanks.
-Tony

[jhurtado]

Where are the examples? Do you mean wxWidgets examples?

On %INSTALLDIR%\wxFormBuilder\projects\examples\

example1.xml
example2.xml

I tried using it tonight, but can't seem to add anything at all. It just seems to show a tiny gray square. Perhaps someone could create a simple "Hello world!" tutorial to help out. I think once I know how to add components, the rest will be more intuitive.

Try this sequence:

- Create a Dialog (Palette forms : Dialog)
- Create a BoxSizer (Palette layout: wxBoxSizer)
- Create a Button (Palette common: wxButton)
- Edit label property with "Hello World!"

Regards

[tbreina]

Try this sequence:

- Create a Dialog (Palette forms : Dialog)
- Create a BoxSizer (Palette layout: wxBoxSizer)
- Create a Button (Palette common: wxButton)
- Edit label property with "Hello World!" Smile

Awesome! That's easy and worked just fine for me.

Thanks.
-Tony

[daddydave]

I like a lot of things about wxFormBuilder. A few quirks I noticed:

It's interesting that I get the message "You must set a path for files" even though code is actually generated. But I wouldn't know that until clicking the C++ tab. Maybe setting the path could be deferred until I do a save from the C++ tab.

If a control doesn't do anything until I create a form/dialog/ or panel, maybe those controls should be grayed out or invisible? Or do they do something?

The controls on the tabs seem a little odd to me, because I am accustomed to seeing all the controls at the same time. I do appreciate the separation of sizer controls from the other ones. Probably something I could get used to.

Things I like about wxFormBuilder:

Properties are grouped by function.

You can work on multiple forms at one time. I suggest that you enhance this by adding Copy in addition to Cut and Paste, so the user could use a second form as a "sandbox" or testbed.

Property names that match the wxWidgets documentation as closely as possible. It can be frustrating to try to follow sizer tutorials or documentation when this isn't the case.

Good support for sizers (similar to Dialog Blocks visually), including setting growable columns on the FlexGridSizer (a tooltip saying to enter zero-based sizer columns separated by commas would be nice.)

[jhurtado]

It's interesting that I get the message "You must set a path for files" even though code is actually generated. But I wouldn't know that until clicking the C++ tab. Maybe setting the path could be deferred until I do a save from the C++ tab.

wxFB needs a path, if path property (of project object) is empty, file won't be generated. Also, you need set the path for bitmaps properties because they are store with a relative path to the path property.

If a control doesn't do anything until I create a form/dialog/ or panel, maybe those controls should be grayed out or invisible? Or do they do something?

The number of controls can be so big, checking every palette button could be inefficient. Perhaps it would be enough with a message on status bar to let you know that you can add (or not) a particular control.

The controls on the tabs seem a little odd to me, because I am accustomed to seeing all the controls at the same time.

We don't like the component's palette at all. I don't like to go from one tab to another (form -> sizer -> common -> sizer -> ...) we are thinking about it.

You can work on multiple forms at one time. I suggest that you enhance this by adding Copy in addition to Cut and Paste, so the user could use a second form as a "sandbox" or testbed.

It's done on CVS, it will be on next release.
Note: You already can copy&paste objects although it doesn't appear on popup menu.

Thank you very much for your feedbacks.

Regards.