[boost] Re: GUI Library Proposal for a Proposal

From: Hajo Kirchhoff (mailinglists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-11-04 03:12:18

Brian Braatz wrote:
> (was RE: [boost] Re: GUI library - something to think about)
> 	
> Both 
> http://www.torjo.com/win32gui/save_dlg.html
> 
> and
> 
> http://www.litwindow.com/Library/Documentation/documentation.html
> 
> are extremely interesting.
> 
> I propose that BOTH authors collaborate (on this list) to achieve the
> following:

Hi Brian, hi all.

I am all for collaboration. The Lit Window Library is a high level 
approach to UI coding. This is not yet apparent since the real stuff is 
still missing. An upcoming article will delve deeper into this. The 
point is, it is not meant to be a GUI framework, but a layer _above_ the 
  (any) framework. The framework itself can be abstracted out, although 
tighter integration with an existing framework would be a good idea.

Simply put, I want the Lit Window Library to do for UI coding what the 
STL and Boost are doing for algorithms. I want to build a library of 
commonly used UI interface patterns such as the "two list box/four 
buttons" implementation for the "select m of n" UI pattern or "listbox 
with two buttons 'up' and 'down'" lets a user change the order of the 
elements in a list box.

Just as noone is coding their doubly linked lists anymore, nobody should 
have to code all the event handling and data transfering/binding to 
implement the "select m of n elements" pattern anymore.

On another note, the wx community is discussing a "wxTNG", a next 
generation widget library. I'd love to see collaboration here. Their new 
approach is going to be a lot cleaner, I think, and the boost library 
has been mentioned.

It would be such a shame if all our efforts went into similar but 
different projects.

I will investigate.

Best regards

Hajo