[TMKCodes]

In web development i absolutely hate GUI Builders, but in application development i like to use Qt Studio as it's GUI Builder is simple and it generates simple code what is easily edited if needed. In web development i program my GUI myself, but in programming software with languages like c++ i use GUI Builder if i need the app quickly for myself and i don't care in this case how the builder works, but if i make software that i think some other people will use, i will use my programming time to develope the GUI myself. As some of here have already stated GUI Builder usage really depends on the task, does the task require us to have manageable code what we can edit or can it be messy and generated?

This post has been edited by TMKCodes: 19 September 2009 - 10:31 PM

[ayman_mastermind]

Actually it depends on the task at hand. For big systems and complex stuff GUI builders are usually the chosen ones in the industry. I have worked at a software company that develops systems in Java. We use the JBuilder IDE along with it's editor to speed things up, as long as you know what you are doing and using the builder properly everything would be fine.

On the other hand, GUI builders/visual designers for web development(known as WYSIWYG editors) really suck(most of them). I worked at a web development company this summer and we never used visual editors for their web apps. just pure hard coding and this is the method I usually prefer(although the design was pretty decent).

For small and personal projects I usually hard code my Java GUIs most of the time, it just makes things more flexible, you know every part of the code you are writing and fun In case there is a deadline for my work and I need to go fast, the Netbeans GUI editor would be my way to go

[nirvanarupali]

Marty2 is absolutely correct.

Nothing more I can add.

[SpeedisaVirus]

After writing my first extensive GUI for a Java project I am a believer in GUI builders. I can go back over the generated code later after the app is functional to clean up any issues I may have with how the code was generated but shaving many hours off it's worth it.

[syfran]

As long as you're not learning, I can't tell you how many times someone is having a gui problem and comes onto the forums with netbeans generated code. Its impossible to help them in most cases when you can't read the code itself.

[KYA]

If you refactor correctly and follow a MVC or similar paradigm, it is impossible for your view code to screw up functionality. Hence, I don't know why people ask for help with the editor code, you're not meant to look at it really. Any functionality (problem or otherwise) isn't even going to be in the "collapsed section".

[SixOfEleven]

I like to use Visual Web Developer for my web pages but I do not use the GUI builder part. All of the code I write by hand. I just like being able to easily flip over to the design view and see how the layout is working. The problem with relying on designers for web sites is that sites will look different in the different browsers. What might look good in the design view of VWD could not line up at all in Firefox.

Martyr2 had a valid point though. At times we seem to be in a "GOOD ENOUGH" state with disposable solutions.

[sparkart]

I don't know about web development, but with desktop applications I see no problems with using GUI builders (Visual Studio).

[markhazlett9]

e_barroga, on 20 Sep, 2009 - 01:10 PM, said:

I don't know about web development, but with desktop applications I see no problems with using GUI builders (Visual Studio).

Have you ever tried looking at the code that it generates? It is usually extremely bloated as it has to account for much more that what you are usually adding to your application. I find that it makes development faster when you first start out but over time your development gets slower and slower to a point where it's cheaper to just throw out the entire application and start over. I think they are good for prototype's and that's about it.

Cheers

This post has been edited by markhazlett9: 20 September 2009 - 04:56 PM

[DaneAU]

KYA, on 19 Sep, 2009 - 12:10 PM, said:

The reason I ask is because I find the Netbeans visual designer (for java apps in this context) absolutely wonderful. It allows me to focus on the core of the application rather then swing components.

This is true, the netbeans designer is awesome and cuts down so much time on basic applications. In the end the interface is the candy on top of a complete application where the nuts and bolts internals are where the time is meant to be spent. In saying that, the interface tends to be my last thing to focus on and i really don't spend much time on it ~ hate designing / layout planning but meh i don't work for a company so its all hobbiest.

On the flip side, its important not to always use a GUI builder as you may forget how to manually do it if say for instance the netbeans gui builder suddenly dropped off the planet

[ladyinblack]

Ok, so there are some positive and negative side to using a GUI builder. I personally prefer not using a plain text editor, because I fancy the color that the codes have when you are typing it out. That's one thing. I am beginning to take a liking to Netbeans, for many reasons, when compiling it is faster than JCreator. I prefer not going to command prompt everytime to compile and run my program all the time, very time consuming. Yes, the bad side to it is the generated code, but that is if you choose to just type out the GUI yourself, rather than laying it out on a visual Layout, it keeps you in control of your own code.

Overall, GUI builders may suck, but depends on how you use them.

[anirelles]

ladyinblack, on 21 Sep, 2009 - 06:48 AM, said:

Ok, so there are some positive and negative side to using a GUI builder. I personally prefer not using a plain text editor, because I fancy the color that the codes have when you are typing it out.

you are making confusion between IDE and GUI builder. GUI builder are part of IDE.

Roughly, GUI builder (which stands for Graphical User Interface builder) helps to create interfaces by drag and drops of elements following
the principle of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).

NB: I've also used GUI builder which is not WYSIWYG. In building mode the page was represented by a tree of elements.

[ladyinblack]

@anirelles- understood, I know the difference, but I think while I was typing out that, I was thinking along the terms of IDE.

[DaneAU]

@ladyinblack - you can get text editors that do syntax highlighting such as;
for windows,
-notepad++
-crimson editor

linux
-emacs
-gedit
-kate
-etc..
etc.. forever lol


And combined that with a simple bat script or a simple shell script
example - windows bat put in the following and save it as .bat ( in notepad )

Quote

javac Myclass.java

or in linux do the same and save it as .sh and chmod so you can run the shell script.
Then all you have to do is double click it and it will execute your command. You can do the same for running the application, just have 2 bat files - especially if you are troubleshooting some weird program runtime error etc...

This post has been edited by bbq: 22 September 2009 - 07:19 AM

[NeoTifa]

KYA, on 19 Sep, 2009 - 02:10 PM, said:

The reason I ask is because I find the Netbeans visual designer (for java apps in this context) absolutely wonderful. It allows me to focus on the core of the application rather then swing components.

I took one look at the code that thing created and screamed.