http://www.powertothebuilder.com/PBUIDesigner.aspx

In the next few days I will port changes made to the controls to the regular UI libraries. There will be some missing features but the bulk of the functionality is in place.

Let me know what you think.

 

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I was recently asked to add support for font names and font sizes in the tab control. In the past I would have made changes to the tab control, then add any new functions to the sample application and run the application. If I needed to test multiple fonts and font sizes I would have had to stop the sample application, make the change to the function call then run it again. With the designer I was able to do all of this on the fly. It made things so much easier. I'm expecting this type of time savings from future users as well.

With that said...yes, I've been making changes to the controls as I've been developing the new designer. Font support in the tab control is one. There have been other small enhancements to most of the other controls (e.g. reset capabilities). The designer required some big enhancements to the toolbar control. That will be my next task. To be honest, I'm really excited about this.

So, by time I'm done, the community will have a new tool and a new set of features that they can take advantage of in the UI library.

Brad

If you want to see how the PB UI Designer will work, you can try it:

http://www.powertothebuilder.com/downloads/pbguidesigner.zip

It's not complete at all and it's got bugs. Try the designers and let me know what you think. There is still a lot of work to do. The applications menu and toolbar are not complete and there is no save and open functionality.

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Here is a sneak peak at the new UI designer that will be available from PowerToTheBuilder.com sometime in the near future. Let me know what you're first impressions are.

 

I'm starting to make some good progress. I pretty much have the shell done and windows for each of the different controls. Next will be the hard part. I need to develop a very flexible properties window. I have an idea of how to do it. I can't wait to get this tool done. It's going to make our jobs much easier.

Actually, once I get the core stuff working, I'll end up using the application to develop the rest of the application. How cool is that.

Here is the current situation with the UI controls. Lets say you want to add a toolbar to your application. Right now you have to code all the of_AddItem's, figure out which pictures you want to use, are they opened on the left or right, border or no border...all through code. This means you have to figure out which functions to call. Add it to your application, run your application to see the results then go back and make modifications.

With this application you would open a new "ToolbarStrip Painter" window. There will be an empty toolbar presented to you. To the right will be a properties window. You will use this to customize your toolbar. You will also use this properties window to add items and select images. While you're doing this the toolbar will automatically be updated. You can see first hand what it will look like. On the screen you will also see a script editor type window. It will display all the PowerScript code that you will need to plug into your application. This code will be read-only and will only be used for copying.

You will then be able to save your changes so you can work with what you've created another time. 

If you have any idea's that you think would make it more of a useful tool please let me know. I will post some screenshots in the coming days as I make more progress.

Brad

For the longest time I wanted to create an "IDE" for the UI controls. It would be a tool that you could use to design your controls graphically without having to run your application to see what they will look like. The new designer would generate all the code you would need to setup the look you need.

The sample application that comes with the controls try's to do some of this. It lets you check boxes and select styles. One thing it doesn't give you is code, code you can use to plug directly into your application. Also, it doesn't have options for all the properties for all the controls. this new designer will be a complete solution.

I just started it today. I'm not sure when it will be complete. I think it's going to be a lot of work.

Let me know what you think. Is this a tool you would use?

Brad

PowerToTheBuilder.com is the leading provider of UI components to the PowerBuilder community. Hundreds of PB developers come to the site each month to download and learn about the UI controls that are available to them.

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A new version of the PBGUIControls have just been released. There have been a number of improvements and enhancements added to the various controls.

  - ToolbarStrip
      * Added the ability to make a toolbar item invisible.
  - PowerDock
      * The panels were closing too soon in some cases when the mouse left. This has been fixed.
      * Close button will now display in the document tab.
  - TabControl
      * You can now display the close button in the tab instead of the tab strip.
  - XPListBar
      * Some performance improvements were made.
  - ButtonListBar
      * A new style was added. You can display in button or list mode.
  - PB 10.0
      * The controls are now available in PB10.
  - PBNI UNICODE Issues
      * The PBX file used for drawing didn't support PowerBuilder's UNICODE environment. This caused conflicts with other PBNI objects.

Version 2.5.0 is currently being planned out. In this version you should see more improvements made to the toolbar control.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments or idea's please do not hesitate to email me: brad.wery@PowerToTheBuilder.com.

Thanks,

Brad