When developing with Mono for an app to be run on Windows and Mac OSX (and maybe Linux) which would you suggest, WinForms or GtkSharp for the GUI and why?
Specific examples and success/horror stories would be much appreciated.
Cross platform development is a nice idea, but to be completely honest I have never seen an application that looks really good outside of its native environment. That is why I think, that if you really want to offer good user experience you should use native toolkits on all platforms that you want to support.
Of course, if you just want a proof of concept, then WinForms on a Mac (or Linux) are alright but if you want an application that competes against other native solution then you really should consider writing a separate native frontend for each supported platform.
A good example how that was done is MindManager from Mindjet. Their Mac version is a full, from scratch rewrite of the interface. The result is an application that gives Mac users the experience that they learned to expect on their platform.
So, back to Mono. There are Cocoa bindings in Mono. Personally, I have never tried using them, but if you want to target Macs with your application, they are certainly worth a look. It would be really great if they could be regarded as a valid choice for UI development on a Mac.
When deciding whether or not to use a cross-platform architecture, gague your requirements of having a tight UI against agility toward change and development time. Using a platform-specific UI framework is (almost) always going to give you better looking and better performing results than you'll get from a cross-platform one.
GtkSharp requires X11 on Mac OS X. Mac users will find that off-putting. I haven't tried Winforms on OS X, but mono's Linux winforms support was pretty immature (buggy) and slow. I don't think there is a mature .net GUI toolkit for OS X at this point, at least nothing at the level of Swing or SWT.
What platform will most of the users of your app have? If most of the users will be Windows users, use Winforms, but if most of the users will be Linux users, use Gtk#. I wouldn't know which one works best on OSX.
Read this article also: http://www.mono-project.com/Gui_Toolkits
Related
I'm planning web application and considering silverlight as development platform. Will it help to solve browser compatibility issues? The app intended to be used on desktops only (no mobile).
Yes, it will solve browser compatibility issues, and could work on both Mac OS and Windows with the very same code.
The only drawback is that, the first time your user connect to your application, he will need to download the Silverlight plugin.
Awesome you would say? Well, unfortunately some people that probably never try to do something like image processing or advanced line of business application in a browser decide that plugins are not so cool and that you would be able to do the same thing with the magic power of HTML5.
We are still waiting to have the same possibility in HTML5 that we have in Silverlight or Flash, but plugins are already dead. At least as long as no big compay want to push them again.
So, my advice would be: don't start a project in Silverlight. You will have problems, even if you do not target mobile. For example it becomes harder and harder to find compatible good tools (like ReSharper, NCrunch, or even just a decent unit testing library). And in further release of Windows and Mac OS, it will probably not be supported at all (IE for Windows RT already does not support Silverlight).
Sorry man, Silverlight is dead, you arrive after the battle.
If your developing your application for an Intranet, I would say Silverlight is an excellent choice.
If you are developing for the Internet, use an HTML based language
I've had a quick look on the interweb and can't seem to easily find the answer to my question which is, what do I need to do differently to make a desktop application, WPF, function on both PC and MAC environments? I suppose I could buy a mac and try to run an app I've written but seems a bit expensive?
There are comments that WPF on mac is a no-go. I could convert to Silverlight with some effort but my question now is what would you develop a desktop app in for both PC and MAC, my guess is poor old WinForms? If so would the pitfalls simply be directory structure / accessing logged in user from WIN32 API commands, et cetera?
You can't run WPF on a mac.
The best you can get is Silverlight and its suitability depends on your needs.
Do you need OS level access?
As Scartag says, WPF is not compatible with OS X. However you might to consider Mono, which allows you to write cross-platform applications in C#. There are several GUI toolkits to choose from, but none are implementations of WPF. Further info on Mono/WPF can be found here.
I've been tasked with porting an existing Windows GUI app to Linux. Ideally, I'd like to do this so the same code base can be used to build either the Windows version or the Linux version. I'll be doing my work on Ubuntu 9.04. After searching around, it's unclear to me what tools are best suited to help me with this.
A list of loose requirements would be:
The code is in C, not C++, and should compile to build both Windows and Linux versions. Since it's existing code, and fairly large, converting to a managed language like .NET is out of the question for now.
I would prefer if I can use the same dialogs in both systems. In Windows, putting up a dialog is pretty simple. You build the dialog in the Resource Editor in Visual Studio, then call DialogBox() API, and handle the event messages. I would really like to find something that can do the equivalent on the Linux side.
It would also be nice to have a good IDE similar to Visual Studio.
Any helps or hints would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Winelib should let you compile Win32 code under Linux with only a few modifications.
Since your code base is in C, I'd suggest using GTK+. It's a cross platform GUI toolkit. For instance, Pidgin instant messenger GUI is created with GTK+. Glade user interface designer can be used to graphically design UIs.
If you're on a tight budget, and don't mind taking time to work around a fair number of limitations, Winlib is an option. If you're shorter on time, and have a larger budget, you might want to look into Mainsoft instead. It's not exactly perfect, but I believe it supports a considerably larger part of the Win32 API (at a correspondingly higher price).
I want to learn some mobile stuff, and programming interesting things myself
on mobile phones, what is popular and easy-to-use mobile operating system?
This is extremely subjective.
Java developers will be more comfortable on the Blackberry, Android or J2ME platforms, while Windows developers will likely be more comfortable with Windows Mobile.
Personally, I find programming for the iPhone very enjoyable and easy. I found Objective-C easy to learn. The tools are also well made and the frameworks intuitive IMO.
I've also come to personally dislike coding for the Blackberry. Simple applications require too much code and designing interfaces is an enormous pain.
But as I said, this is very subjective. I'd recommend going through the Getting Started examples of the each of the platforms you have in mind and deciding after having some exposure to each.
Windows Mobile has fairly easy development with .NET Compact Framework.
WebOS (Palm Pre, etc.) has an easy to use HTML/Javascript like environment. Check out their 'Hello World!' example to see what I mean.
Android isn't bad if you're familiar with Java. (Same goes for Blackberry)
iPhone might be the most complex in my opinion because of the use of Objective-C (it's also probably the most robust). Check out their Programming Guide Introduction to get an idea about what I mean. You might want to check out MonoTouch which allows iPhone development in .NET.
.Net Compact Framework is pretty easy to work with. And works great on Windows Mobile devices.
Without to know which platform you are used to program on, it is not possible to give a correct answer. If you are used to program on Windows, and you are already using .NET framework, then it would be better for you to learn how to program on Windows Mobile; if you are already a Mac developer, then it is easier for you to learn how to create a program for iPhone OS (which is also used on the iPod); if you are a Java programmer, then you should be more comfortable with Android.
IMO, you start to program on a mobile platform that can be programmed using the same framework for the desktop applications because that would allow you to not learn two different frameworks
I need to develop some programs for mobile devices but haven't decided the platform to build upon. I'm looking for Palm or Pocket PC devices that have Touch screen and Wi-Fi connection and are cheep because I'll need to buy several of them.
I don't really need camera, mp3 players, video players, pdf readers or anything else since the apps are going to be simple data collection to feed via wireless to a server database.
I'm proficient with C and C#. I could learn Java if I had to.
What devices do you recommend? Linux devices maybe?
PS: Changed the title because I don't want a flamewar between platforms. Please, don't answer with Windows Mobile sucks/rules. I'm looking for devices instead.
Thanks
Windows Mobile
It supports C#, and Visual Studio comes with the mobile SDK. So if you know C# you probably already have the tools you need. And in spite of the iPhone/iPodTouch buzz, the Windows Mobile deployment is still 10X greater.
In order of preference
Neo Freerunner
Maemo & the N800 (cheap)
Beagleboard
If you are comfortable with Visual Studio then programming for windows mobile is extremely easy. The SDK for mobile comes with emulators for all the latest and popular versions of windows mobile- and you can even debug on teh device itself using a USB cable.
On windows mobile you have a choice: Develop a .Net application or develop native (likely MFC based). Either one gives you a great development environment.
As far as iPhone development goes- you would need an apple computer to install and use iPhone SDK- and you can't run an iPhone app on your phone. You would have to go through the process of getting it registered with iTunes for you to install your own apps on your own phone!
When I first started playing with mobile development I had a few questions:
Can I develop using my favorite IDE- Visual Studio. Will it be as easy as developing a desktop app: yes.
Will I be able to access the internet from my application without 'unlocking' or in some other way enabling the phone that was not intended by the service provider? yes.
Will I be able to access device specific functionality such as GPS easily? Is there good support for doing so within the API? Yes.
You should probably target the Windows Mobile platform. The Palm platform is rather archaic and no longer widely used. The development environment is also rather spartan, while Microsoft has full IDEs available for Windows Mobile development. You might also consider the iPhone/iPod touch platform - I have a feeling the number of devices will multiply at an exponential rate and I've heard that developing applications is much easier due to the completeness of the system stack.
You should probably at least evaluate the Apple iPod Touch. It certainly meets your basic "touch screen + WiFi" spec, and your users presumably won't object to all the the other nice features that will come along for the ride.
I don't know what your cutoff for "cheap" is, but $299 for the base model seems pretty reasonable for a high-quality touch screen and WiFi in a pocketable device.
Windows Mobile and CE used to suck, really, really badly. These days however it's definitely passable and worth checking out, especially if you code C#.
Just remember that it is the baby brother of the full framework and has nowhere near enough toys and throws a lot of NotImplementedExceptions. :)
Blackberry publishes its SDK on its web site. Its apps run J2ME, so with some Java experience it shouldn't be too difficult to get started. They also give you an emulator. Disclaimer: I have no experience in writing Blackberry apps, but I looked into it once.
I would not recommend a PalmOS based handset. I have written code for PalmOS and it's about as painful as writing raw Win32 code in C. Since Palm has switched its high end handsets to Windows Mobile, PalmOS will just remain stagnant and only run on the slower, less capable hardware.
If I were to write a mobile app, I'd agree that Windows Mobile is worth checking out.
It all depends on the users who you are targeting at, If you are looking for a wide market then you should be fine with J2ME/Blackberry . However most of them lack the touchscreen and wifi features ( The HTC range of phones [WIFI/TouchScreen/Windows Mobile] have a JVM built with it),so it would work on most of the Windows devices also.
If you are making a more niche product, moving with the current buzz 'iphone' will be good . Windows Mobile is also worth checking out
The best option here would be the Neo Freerunner, with that device you can build a dedicated unit were every aspect is made especially for you're needs. The Freerunner is WiFi enabled, and has a touch interface. If you use the Qt SDK, a lot of the work is already done for you. It comes complete with emulator, as a Live linux cd. You can run in a WM, such as wmplayer. Everything is included.
I'm not gonna lie, it will take tweaking. But the final product would be really nice and intuitive.
Looking at Windows Mobile devices, your requirement of touchscreen pretty much sets your pricing at the higher end of the spectrum. You'll get those things you say you don't need just because of that.
Here's expansys's selection of touchscreens.
Mobdeal is a handy one too as that effectively filters all phones by features.
I've developed against the HTC TYTN 2, HTC Touch Diamond and randomly a PSION Teklogix Ikon
There's generally very little difference between these models, some manufacturers have SDKs that can help sometimes.
I think your cheapest option will probably be something like getting HTC TYTN 2s on ebay. They're pretty old now (hence cheap) but have Wifi, camera, touchscreen, qwerty keypad all the things you seem to be after.
you can target iPhone "touch" platform with Apple's iPhone SDK. the development environment requires a Mac, but you can get the entire IDE + tool chain + excellent debugging and profiling tools for free. And the free documentation is top notch.
As a registered iPhone developer, it is free (no cost) to target the simulator, which is sufficient for most learning and development you'll likely need to up front.
To target the actual hardware device (and up to and including release/selling your app on the Apple's AppStore) is only $99/yr. If you got an iPod Touch for your hardware target, most of the SDK applies and you are not tied into a service contract for an iPhone.
iPhone app development environment is in Objective-C, but it is a really productive, object-oriented environment so do not concerned that that may be a language you are unfamiliar with.
If you decide that your mobile app(s) would be better suited as webapps, the iPhone/iPod touch platform again is an industry leader in this space, and you have the additional benefit or being able to target other mobile platforms (and not necessarily be tied to one mobile SDK).