I'm trying to develop a desktop program, unifying java and javafx.
For now, I want to know recommendations about how to create a rich menu interface for my program, something like the menu of Office 2007 or Modellus.
So, what you recommend to start developing that?
I don't know what level of experience you have with JavaFX, but if it's limited, then start with the tutorials at javafx.com, and similar on the web (see Jim Weaver's site).
From there I think your best bet would be to find similar open source applications and learn from those. Frankly I think it won't be easy because there's not a great deal of similar applications out there to learn from.
However you could take a look at Project MaiTai, MusicExplorer for starters.
Related
I want to develop a WYSIWYG editor for developing Mobile Apps (Hybrid). Looked into the following link. Develop a WYSIWYG editor in eclipse plugin
I have read about GEF. But some of my friends told me that GEF is outdated and there are some alternative frameworks coming up. I couldn't find any such framework.
Kindly let me know whether GEF is the best bet or is there any other framework which I can use to develop screens for Mobile Apps
Thanks
I did some searching about a year+ ago (see here), and GEF came out as the best choice. If there are other frameworks out there that I don't know of, please ask your friends to tell, but from my knowledge there aren't many. GEF is VERY complex, but at the same time provides the best abstraction to develop editors, with a lot of built-in capabilities. There is also a plan for GEF4, but that is long range.
In short, ask your friends for concrete examples, and if they can't provide you good ones, go with GEF. The future is always more promising than the present because it is not yet here :-)
I have been working on a project model and pretty much completed it. Now I must implement the view of the project. I like eclipse view layout very much and tried to implement like this but I couln't. And then download source code of eclipse but couldn't find my specific code snippet in all of the source code. I mean I want to take basic layout implementation like eclipse Coolbar,ctabfolder and events. any suggections ?
Thanks.
If you like the Eclipse look and feel and the components used, you should have a look into the technologies used with Eclipse:
SWT is the GUI toolkit. It differs from Swing in that it uses the native widgets, if possible. This makes an application using it behave more like a native application than Swing does, which has its own set of components. You will find the raw components that you mention here.
JFace is an application framework based on SWT. It provides higher level conceptual components.
Eclipse RCP is a platform for building application. It takes away some common tasks of application building but, of course, you need to learn the concepts first.
Swing has similar components, but does not use the native widgets. It draws them itself. In my opinion Swing is easier to learn and to use but the results of SWT are often nicer - you can often "feel" that a Swing application behaves not completely right. It is better if Swing applications do not try to mimic the native look and feel to avoid the uncanny valley effect. So expect your resulting application to look and feel different.
There are more documentation and third-party libraries available for Swing, for example the very nice Netbeans RCP that let's you easily build applications.
What you are looking for is a docking framework. What the best framework is is open for debate.
You might have a look at this question for a list of popular frameworks
I wish to write my own Python IDE (just for the heck of it). I was wondering if I could use Eclipse as a foundation. This will save me from coding a whole lotta things (code editor, intellisense and so on).
To understand what I mean, please take a look at Visual Studio Isolated Shell. I'm essentially looking for something equivalent. Searching on Google hasn't helped. Is there anything like this available in Eclipse's case?
Yes. Eclipse is designed to have additional languages added and there is extensive support for this kind of plugin development. I'm surprised Googling didn't help - there's an entire site dedicated to a tutorial on the basics and a toolkit for developing such things
I am looking to speed up time to develop website layouts. So I am wondering if using DreamWeaver for layouts is useful - efficient. I am looking at purchasing this software, so, I had a few questions.
I am very comfortable coding HTML, CSS and JavaScript(jQuery) by hand in either PHPDesigner or Notepad++. Most of the time for layouts I use FireFox and Firebug to see results in real time, and then check if it works across different browsers.
I want to know the opinion of people who have worked on the front-end:
I feel code validation is important but not the end of the world(as my priorities) - I do however like to change my code often by hand. Does the output from this software let you do this?(compare to the html/css that micorsoft word vomits - Does this software do a similar thing?)
Is this software used as a primary design tool by people who can code by hand and does it actually improve efficiency? or is it just for newbies?
I understand the Adobe family of products work really well with each other but I am trying to understand is if DreamWeaver really deserves to be in the front-end workflow(if you are proficient coding by hand).
Once you work with HTML/CSS/Javascript enough, it isn't difficult to "code by hand" but it is important to remember that front-end developers also code with their eyes, as well. There is a lot going on up front that depends entirely on the code that runs on the client and you want to use an editor that helps you organize your code and, more importantly, gives you visibility into the challenges presented by complicated CSS and adhering to web standards.
If front-end coding was nothing more than pushing around angle brackets then notepad and repeatedly pressing F5 would be enough. A great web editor will present the structure of your code in a meaningful way and all of your HTML, CSS, and Javascript takes on a complete feel.
You want a professional editor that will allow you to:
Understand CSS inheritance
Run visual diagnostics
Debug across different browsers
Create modern layouts/designs that are faithfully represented
I haven't used Dreamweaver in a few years but, these days, I'm really enjoying Microsoft Expression Web. It is not the FrontPage mess of yesteryears - it is a serious tool for web design and I urge you to take a close look. The code is clean and smart and it certainly gives you the option of using its tools to build a site or you can code everything 100% by hand. Don't forget, the key is not deciding which editor is best for coding by hand. The thing you should be looking for is which editor makes you a better developer.
Regardless of whether or not you're a Microsoft, LAMP, or other platform person, Expression Web is a great tool for front-end developers.
I've been using Dreamweaver for a few years now. While I initially used some of it's code generators, these days I pretty much spend my time in the code widow coding by hand and viewing the output in the browser. The design window is nice for simple coding as it will build the html for you. However, I did have problems getting the right insertion point to edit it. For example, it might place my update before and end tag when I wanted it to be after it. That led my to switch to the coding window to be sure.
I do like the fact that it opens all included files specified in the file you originally opened. I also use it's site views to synchronize my changes to the production server. I'm sure I could take advantage of other features if I bother to learn them. I haven't used any tools besides FrontPage so I can't compare.
Best thing that happened to me was learing about Eclipse and then after about Aptana. I was using notepad++ for everything, but now im doing everything with eclipse and aptana as plugin for eclipse. Just my 2 cents. Oh and its free.
Primarily I do use Adobe Dreamweaver when working on websites. It is a pretty nice tool to use along with Adobe Photoshop for any graphic designs that I create.
Also, I use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for Web Application Development (i.e Console apps, Web Apps, Silverlight, etc.). VS is a little different from DW but its still a nice tool for development projects.
Alison, I looked a preview of Expression Web and may check it out. It may aid as an impressive tool for my front-end dvelopment work. I also tried Microsoft Expression Blend when designing Silverlight applications. It does remind you of how Expression Web looks and feels
I am looking into designing new features for Eclipse-based programming tools, from the requirements/ideas perspective. To really do this quickly, I would like to sketch UI elements without having to code things -- my concern is with the concepts and ideas right now, not the possible later realization. Are there any such graphical sketching tools for Eclipse?
(on a side note, I should also note that I find Eclipse a better idea every day, in the way that you can combine partial systems from very many different sources into a single environment. It really is the future of IDEs, especially for embedded systems. It used to pretty horrible pre-Eclipse-3.0, but now it does seem to work)
WireframeSketcher is a tool that helps quickly create wireframes, mockups and prototypes for desktop, web and mobile applications. It comes both as a standalone version and as a plug-in for Eclipse IDEs. It has some distinctive features like storyboards, components, linking and vector PDF export. Among supported IDEs are are Aptana, Flash Builder, Zend Studio and Rational Application Developer.
(source: wireframesketcher.com)
Incidentally, NetBeans is known for having a really good GUI editor (Matisse), but I realize that you weren't asking about NetBeans :)
I've tried the Visual Editor Project before, but in the past it crashed my instance of Eclipse, and I haven't visited it since.
Jigloo is a new one that I'd like to try out soon.
This is really specific to Eclipse: it is the platform of choice for general IDEs today, and I am looking to sketch out extensions to it. The target programming language is more likely to be raw assembler and C than anything else -- OS, driver, system-level debug.