V - GUIDO !!! was Re: Pirate -> RAD

[Phil Hunt]

In article <37D1F135.6F242B93 at megsinet.net>
           davidopp at megsinet.net "David Oppenheimer" writes:
> I have an idea for creating a  WYSIWYG  GUI builder for Python that
> will allow you
> to create slick looking GUI's just by dragging and dropping elements into a
>  visual
> design space that will output code into wxPython.

Why just wxPython? Python has lots of GUI toolkits, e.g. Tkinter,
PyGtk, etc. Why not work with all of them?

> After a user was satisfied
>  with
> the appearance of the GUI, the program would output the code into
> wxPython code
> which would be seamlessly integrated with the code that had already
> been written inside of a design space (make it so that it would
> work flawlessly as either a
> component of the major IDE's including PythonWin, IDLE, Python in
> a DOS box or
> have it callable from a command line).  It will also be able to
> take written
>  code
> and show a preview of what your GUI would look like without having
> to first save the program and run it thru the Python interpreter. 
> This would allow you to
> instantly see the effect of changes made to your code. It would be
> awesome to
> integrate it seamlessly with the PythonWin IDE and also be callable
> from the
> command line in IDLE or Python in a DOS box.
>
> If you would like to join with me in this creative endeavor
> (code name V - GUIDO which stands for Visual Graphical User 
> Interface Development Optimizer), I would be happy to share the
> details with you.

I like the name!
 
> Sincerely,
> 
> David Oppenheimer
> 
> P.S. This is still just in the brainstorming stage right now.  I am doing
> conceptual planning right now; features, how it should look, how it should act,
> etc.  I would ask anyone who is serious about doing such a project to join
>  forces
> with me and see if we can make something happen.

I think there is a lot of potential for V-GUIDO to work with Parrot.

For example, V-GUIDO could use Parrot's XML output format
(i.e. ``Paxo'' format) as its file format.

This would mean that V-GUIDO wouldn't have to include a code generator;
it could use Parrot's. Also, V-GUIDO would be able to produce code
for any of Parrot's backends; these will include Tkinter and wxWindows,
and other Python and non-Python backends.

e.g:

 [V-Guido] --> (Paxo file) --> [Parrot] --> (Python/wxWindow code)
                                        or
                                        --> (Python/Tkinter code)
                                        or 
                                        --> other formats
                                  
Alternately V-GUIDO and Parrot could both use the Glade XML format.


-- 
Phil Hunt - - - - - - - - -  philh at vision25.demon.co.uk
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