WinDev

[Patrice Terrier]

I have answered to this PowerBASIC BID, asking if it could be done with another tool than PB.

Experienced Programmer needed for main screen skeleton coding

Because i was amazed to see how most programmers are limiting themself by using only one single programming tool.

I know that it would take me several weeks to do what has been asked on this BID with PB, while i could do most of it, within one day's work using WinDev.

Even if you would have to buy WinDev first, i think it is worth the price 990 € (*) if it could save you weeks of work.

Duplicating any existing interface with WinDev is a piece of cake, because they provide a utility that allows you to grab the content of any application running on the host computer.  You just have to select "Create a new window" and from the "Import" TAB select the window you want to capture, in less than 30 seconds you are ready to customize the resulting new WinDev window, even using a specific theme (skin), and with built-in multi-language support.

WinDev 17 is full unicode, even the programming environment, and you can produce 32 or 64-bit code!
And to say the truth, the list of WinDev's features is so large, that nothing else could be compared to it.

Go figure...

(*) you can get a 40% discount when ordering WinDev in concurrent mode.

Note: This post is not to denny the merits of PB, because WinDev is unable to produce a DLL, and WinDev + PB could become a very powerful combination once you get accustomed to use them both.

[Francisco Castanedo]

Patrice:

Although I don' know anything about WinDev other than what you have said and what is posted on their website, there are certain reasons that I think are valid enough, at leas for me, to stick to PowerBASIC as my only source for coding. One, and possibly the most relevant is control. I love to have total control over what my programs do and how they do it. I do not like working "environments" that do all the work for you. Many things are hidden under the hood. That, I don't like.

Having said that, this Windev solution reminds me of myself 20 years back, in the good old DOS days. I used to program using Turbo Basic and later PowerBasic 2 and 3. I spent lots and lots and lots of time mastering  the language and building my own "wraps" and "special" routines to make better program interfaces (Windows, menus). When I bought PowerBAISC 3.0 from Spectra Publishing, INC. I also bought a product that allowed PB programmers to build applications "on the fly" using a windows like GUI including mouse and help systems. The product was "PV Vision Professional & PB Workshop for PB 3.0" and it created a window like skeletons in seconds, all I have to do was to write only the code needed to achieve whatever my app was supposed to do. I could not believe that all the work I did for the last 3 years (and that I did not complete) was put together in a US$ 99.00 package. After spending 3 full days learning how to use it, I could develop a full application in 2 weeks, something that would have taken me about 6 to 8 months using PowerBASIC alone.

So, don't get me wrong when I say I will stick to PowerBASIC as my only source for coding under Windows. It is for now, the best alternative for me. I have grown wary of this "packages" because most are just database managers that offer very limited capabilities to be of use to advanced programmers. I will, however, in lieu of your enthusiams, take a closer look at it in the hope that it will be PV Vision all over again.

Kind Regards,
Francisco Castanedo

[Dominic Mitchell]

I know that it would take me several weeks to do what has been asked on this BID with PB,
while i could do most of it, within one day's work using WinDev.

You have got to be joking.  Even if a competent PowerBASIC SDK'er were to code that screen by hand without
the aid of a Visual Designer, it is not going to take more than a day.
Using Phoenix, I can put together that screen in less than an hour. That is not a complex screen.

Added later.
Oops, it has been many years since I last coded a screen by hand, so I guess It could take a week to
type all the code.

[Patrice Terrier]

Francisco

When it comes to programming, i am very pragmatic (that is very different from being enthousiastic).

And to quote you

I do not like working "environments" that do all the work for you. Many things are hidden under the hood

then what would you say of those third party addons using a proprietary syntax.

When i was speaking of weeks work i was refering to plain SDK coding, and of course i would not speak of the time it would take to create a descent Skin engine.

Looks like Dominic could do what you want, within one day's work with his visual designer, then may be you have found another solution.

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[Patrice Terrier]

For those wanting to learn more.

There are plainty of WinDev video tutorials, you can watch here
and if you don't have time to watch them all, just look at the first one on the top left.

Then you will understand what "time saving" means, and how you could improve your productivity and earn more money with the amazing built-in controls that are ready to use (think of the time it would take you to write a scheduler like the one shown in the video).

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[Theo Gottwald]

These are really nice made graphical features.
Just the stuff thats missing in PB.
A panorama Listview ... a really good edit control, easy to use.
But i think they have specialized people programming nothing else.
All this stuff is like an own product, seen from the amount of work.

[Patrice Terrier]

Theo,

But i think they have specialized people programming nothing else.

I do not understand what you mean with this sentence?

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