[boost] Re: GUI Library Proposal for a Proposal

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-11-11 09:29:17

"Mathew Robertson" <mathew.robertson_at_[hidden]> writes:

>> >>(f) Bind types to GUI objects, using results of (a).
>> > 
>> > What does it mean to bind a type to a GUI object?
>>  This is something I somewhat do in parts of the GUI code I have.
>> Basically it's being able to tie a variable (class member, global,
>> etc) to be displayed and manipulated "directly" by a GUI widget. For
>> example attaching an enum to a combo-box, or a string to a
>> text-box. Doing something that maps from the type to the widget
>> automatically given the reflection info of the type is not an easy
>> task as there's more to a variable than just the type which one ends
>> up adding when creating the widget bindings, or at least I did.
>
> The FOX GUI has exactly this capability, you can connect a variable
> directly to the widget, without requiring any glue code at all.  In
> fact, you can connect the same variable to multiple widgets at the
> same time (eg a 'spinner' widget and an 'editeline'), without
> requiring the programmer to write any type of callback mechanism.
>
> This works because all GUI events are bi-directional.  For more
> information, read: http://www.fox-toolkit.org/datatarget.html

And one of our Boost.Python users has implemented an improved version
of FOX: http://www.nedprod.com/TnFOX/

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com