About Lablgtk2 (was: e: GUI for OCaml)

[David MENTRE <david.mentre@gmail.com>]

Hello Yoann,

2005/8/31, yoann padioleau <padator@wanadoo.fr>:
> > [me:]
> > well documented (with reference manual and tutorial) and with
> >
> You have that for gtk, ok it is not in ocaml but you can make the
> translation quite easily from langage X to ocaml.

Ok, let's me try to reword my criticism: I find the use of Labgtk2
objects not easy at all. I find the use of objects and the class
hierarchy very confusing. Maybe this is just an issue of documenting
the general mapping of Gtk2 signals, objects, ... to OCaml modules and
objects. Maybe ocamldoc should be improved to allow unfolding a method
accessible through the class hierarchy in one class. Or maybe I'm too
stupid to understand the toolkit. Or maybe I'm unable to grasp OCaml
objects. The net result is that using Lablgtk2 is really a pain.

However, I do use Labgtk2 for the graphical interface of my
application so I at least consider that I have written enough code to
make my own point of view. With all the examples, I'm able to write
basic interface (i.e. buttons, menus, etc.) through copy/paste. But
I'm still not able to write code that would match GUI design I would
like to have.

> > necessary tools (GUI design application) would be very very helpful.
> 
> Do you really find useful such RAD tools ?

Yes. Yes and yes. Have you ever programmed a GTk2 application? Have
you ever see the number of options available for each widget?

I'm using Glade to produce the XML interface for Labgtk2 (of course,
callbacks are written in regular OCaml code). It saved me hours of
interface layout design. I'm not speaking of two buttons into a
window. I'm speaking of sliding panes, with several buttons, text
boxes and TreeView in each, playing with options to make relative
positioning suits your needs.

Yours,
d.