Re: The GUI Returns

Horacio Lopez wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> <RANT mood="moderate">
> I had a look at a Python project at
> http://anygui.sourceforge.net/
> 
> Quoting them:
> "The purpose of the Anygui project is to create an easy-to-use, simple, and
> generic module for making graphical user interfaces in Python. Its main
> feature is that it works transparently with many different GUI packages on
> most platforms. "
> 
> 
> This sounds very close to a rant we had some weeks ago about what way we
> should go if we wanted a coherent standard GUI API that doesn't suck.
> I am not sure yet if they will achieve their goals, but it's something to
> have an eye on, if they do it with Python, we can do it with Ruby too.
> 
> I am aware of the Ruby-based Locana project,  (http://www.locana.org) but it
> looks to me like people didn't show much interest on it.
> (maybe I am wrong, but I haven't seen many posts on Locana in ruby-talk)
> 
> Again, which way should we go ?  (in pain order)
> 
> 1) Full implementation of a Ruby GUI  ('a la Swing) ?
> 
> 2) GUI Abstraction Layer  ('a la Locana / Anygui )
> 
> 3) Give up, code for one toolkit and resign being fully cross-platform
> (or code for different toolkits and platforms, a coder's nightmare)
> 
> 4) Don't do GUIs
> 
> </RANT>
> 
> Just thinking out loud, what's your opinion ?
> 
> cheers,
> 
>                 vruz
> 
> ----
> http://www.ruby-es.org - Ruby en Espal
> FreeRIDE - http://www.rubyide.org
> The Free Ruby Integrated Development Environment
> 
> 
> 
> 

I am very interested in Locana:)  I am trying to get the HTML interface 
to Locana ready for release.  Having some difficulty getting the HTML 
events back to Ruby.  It is my opinion that Locana is missing a lot of 
necessary features for it to be considered a good API.  I intend to 
remedy this over the next few months.  If anyone has any suggestions on 
how to make the interface more appealing, I would love to explore them.

I prefer the 2nd option becuase it allows me to write code once and run 
in the platform that is most suitable for the applicate.  My initial 
intent with Locana was to create an interace tha would run on my PC and 
be able to publish it on the web with no additional coding.  The idea is 
that most shops have a lot of users that need some access to data and 
some power users that need a lot of access to data.  The casual users 
could use the HTML interface (Ruby and Locana are not needed on these 
computers) and the power users can install Ruby and Locana to get the 
nicer interface.

-- 
Michael Davis
Database Architect and Senior Software Engineer, Seva Inc.
Email: [e-mail]