Fanning Software Consulting

Should I use the GUI Builder?

QUESTION: What is your opinion of the IDL GUI Builder? Should I use it?

ANSWER: My opinion of the GUI Builder is that it is not quite ready to be a useful tool. Not because it doesn't work like it is suppose to work. But because it is still too limited in what it can do. I think RSI is going in the right direction here. I just don't think they have arrived at their final destination.

Here is a recent question from Karl Young on the subject and my answer, as recorded in the IDL newsgroup. I should note that other people on the newsgroup took issue with my characterization and find the GUI Builder helpful. You should definitely try it for yourself before coming to any conclusion.

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   Subject: Re: IDL 5.2 GUI Builder Tutorial ?
   Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 07:30:37 -0600

   Karl Young writes:
    
   > In my style of always looking for a quick fix I was wondering if anyone
   > knew of any kind of tutorial on the GUI builder in IDL 5.2. From some
   > brief fiddling it looks reasonably easy to use but I'd like to see a
   > couple of simple examples of building an interface and filling in the
   > code so's to get started on the right foot. I'd be amazed if David
   > didn't have something up his sleeve but I haven't scoured his web page
   > very thouroughly lately. Thanks for any tips (including any advice to
   > stay away from the GUI builder ...)

   The problem with the GUI Builder is that it is just 
   that--a GUI Builder. No one I know builds GUI's just 
   for the fun of it. Most people build applications. The 
   GUI Builder is decidedly NOT an application builder, 
   although I think this is RSI's intention for it, 
   eventually.

   So, to give you an example. You open the thing up and
   build your nice interface. The API is slick, very Visual
   Basic looking, and quite easy to use. Your expectations
   are rising. Although it is not *exactly* WYSIWYG, it's
   pretty darn close and better than what you might have
   expected if you had tried to build an application builder
   on your own with IDL's widgets. :-)

   Finally, you get something that looks pretty good and
   your hit the button that generates the actually IDL
   code. Cool! Although it uses Stein Vidar's-preferred
   method of a huge big event handler, I've been down this
   road too and can't fault RSI for making this choice.

   But, of course, the code doesn't *do* anything. All the
   event handlers are stubbed out "shells", there are no
   positional or keyword parameters defined to get data into
   the program, no provision for passing information around
   in the widget program, etc. Oh, oh. Bad news here. You
   are going to have to learn some widget programming anyway
   or you aren't going to be able to get any but the
   very simplest programs to work! 

   Now, leave aside the handicap of having to work with
   code you didn't exactly write. We have all been
   down *that* road and no one wants to be reminded of it.
   Forge ahead to actually adding some code so that the
   program does something useful. 

   Hey. Not too bad! Things are cooking now. 

   But, whoops! You forgot you wanted the user to
   be able to apply the FOO procedure, or your $*&^@
   boss, who couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the
   directions were written on the sole, doesn't like
   the interface design, or whatever it is. But you
   have to make a design change.

   Now you have a bit of a problem. 

   If you go back to the GUI-Builder, you are going
   to lose all that work you just went to adding code
   that actually makes your program work, because the
   GUI-Builder doesn't know about (or even care about,
   if you really want the truth) how many hours you
   have spent slaving over a hot computer.

   If you make a *new* design, you are going to have
   to save the file under a different name, cut and
   paste all the useful bits from the old program into
   the new one, finally re-name the new program, etc.
   Doesn't sound like productive programming time to
   me. And how many errors do you think you will
   introduce in the cut and paste operations?

   Alright. So forget that. You're sticking to the program
   that works. But guess what? You can't use the GUI-Builder
   now. Because the GUI-Builder builds GUIs and now *you*
   are building applications. Something else, entirely.

   And here is more bad news. You are going to have to
   make your design modifications onto a GUI program
   scaffold that was decidedly a compromise to begin with.
   That means that it wasn't written from the get-go
   with the notion that it might actually have to be
   changed. (To my mind this means it was designed by
   a computer scientist rather than a scientist who
   uses a computer, but never mind about that.) So
   now you have to know about widget programming AND
   you are saddled with a program you didn't write
   and wasn't designed in the way you would have designed
   it were you writing it from scratch yourself.

   And all of a sudden, the notion of a GUI-Builder, 
   which seemed like it was going to save you loads of
   time and effort, feels like a stone around your
   neck and you feel yourself sinking into that
   programming quagmire faster and faster.

   My suggestion? Pay the $75, get the book, and
   learn how to write a widget program the right way
   to begin with. Besides lining my pocket, you'll
   thank me every way to Sunday every time you want
   to add a new feature to your program. :-)

   Cheers,

   David

   P.S. The above description of the GUI-Builder is my
   personal (and probably biased) opinion and has absolutely 
   nothing whatsoever to do with anything else. Including, 
   some might argue, the facts of the case. I strongly
   recommend you try the GUI-Builder yourself and form 
   your own opinions. :-)

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