There are many advantages to using Tools Plus when you are writing a Macintosh application:
Easy to learn…
You’ll be creating professional quality applications soon after you open Tools Plus. With other tools, you may well end up spending weeks learning complex class libraries and how to use a development environment that is less than intuitive.
Flexible…
Tools Plus does not demand that you adhere to a rigid framework or to cumbersome design constraints. It fits in with your programming style, whether your code is procedural or object-oriented. Code generators and other application frameworks impose their style and inherent restrictions upon you, forcing you to learn a new way of programming.
Simpler…
Programming with Tools Plus is a simplified experience throughout the development cycle. Application generators are great for quickly creating the “first cut” of your application. After that’s done, they make you resort to low level coding throughout the remainder of your development, testing and maintenance cycle. Tools Plus gets rid of that drudgery.
Reduces code…
A single Tools Plus routine is often equivalent to hundreds of lines of conventional code. Tools Plus lets you eliminate (or never create) thousands of lines of source. Less code results in fewer bugs. Class libraries can easily add 50,000 lines of code to your application.
Expandable…
You can easily add new elements to your user interface after you create your program. Typically, all you need is one line of code to create the item and a case for it in your event loop. Tools Plus takes care of making the new element work correctly and manages its relationship with other user interface elements.
Non-obstructive…
Tools Plus is designed to handle the vast majority of your application’s user interface and event-related work. You can easily add functionality that is beyond the scope of Tools Plus libraries, such as support for QuickTime and other technologies that have not been invented yet.
Compiles quickly…
Tools Plus is made up of a small number of libraries and files and takes just seconds to compile into your application. Compare that with code generators that create dozens of source files that are dependent on dozens (sometimes hundreds) of other files. It takes just a few seconds to compile Tools Plus libraries into your application instead of ten minutes or more with large class libraries or a complex frameworks.
Small and fast running…
Tools Plus libraries require little memory or disk space. This helps you create applications that are small and efficient. You also get lightning performance that you would expect from hand-optimized code. These benefits are passed onto your projects to help you produce commercial quality applications.
System Independent…
Tools Plus routines work seamlessly with System 5 and System 6 (when running under Finder and MultiFinder), System 7.x. They also run on both 680x0 series and PowerPC processors (in emulation and native mode). They sense the presence or absence of Color QuickDraw and automatically account for the differences. They require no special consideration for math co-processors. It’s easy to write applications that are backward compatible with older systems while giving them powerful features that are typically available only in newer ones.
Consistent…
Tools Plus for PowerPC is identical to Tools Plus for 680x0 processors, thereby easing your transition to Power Macintosh. The C/C++ header and Pascal interface are nearly identical helping you make the transition from Pascal to C if you should choose to do so.
Portable and reusable…
You can move code between applications more easily because Tools Plus resolves the toolbox’s complexity within the our libraries instead of your code. A single Tools Plus routine can be equated to the complexity and interdependencies existing in dozens of files in a class library, or thousands of lines of conventional code.
Safe…
Tools Plus routines are safer to use than Macintosh toolbox routines because they shield you from potential pointer and handle dereferencing problems and from numerous logical errors. Your application accesses GUI elements using numbers instead of pointers and handles (i.e., button 5 on window 18). All routines can be used on any model Macintosh running on any system, so you don’t have to make special allowances if the Mac running your application has multiple monitors or doesn’t have Color QuickDraw.
Self-managed interdependencies…
Every element of Tools Plus is aware of all the other elements. They all work together harmoniously so when you add a new user interface element to your application, it works as soon as it is created. This lets you concentrate on writing your application instead of trying to get all the pieces to work, and to work properly with each other.
Event processing that makes sense…
The revolutionary Event Translator in Tools Plus reports usable occurrences in a comprehensive, immediately accessible record. An example of this is telling your application “the Cancel button in the Search dialog was selected.” This is much simpler than decoding event messages and tracking controls, handles and pointers, as required with ordinary C or Pascal. A single call to Tools Plus’ polling routine tells your application everything it needs to know.
Depth versus scope…
Large class libraries often address many aspects of Macintosh’s abilities. By comparison, Tools Plus focuses firmly on the user interface and event processing. We offer a great depth in this area instead of having a broad scope which may not handle any one thing extraordinarily well. Our approach lets us deliver user interface features that are unparalleled by competing products. Our picture buttons are a prime example of power melded with simplicity.
Broadens your horizons…
Tools Plus lets you easily incorporate many aspects of the Macintosh’s impeccable user interface that you may otherwise have excluded due to their complexity. You’ll find the unwieldy becomes possible, typically with a single line of code.
Ever expanding…
Tools Plus libraries are constantly being expanded, enhanced and optimized based largely on our users’ requests, so you benefit from innovations that are happening in a community of developers around the world. And even though Tools Plus is always giving you more features and ease of use, it is always lean and fast running.
Economical…
There are no runtime costs for Tools Plus. That means registered users can distribute an unlimited number of copies of an unlimited number of applications they have written with Tools Plus without having to pay additional fees or royalties. We also offer free updates and significant discounts on major upgrades.
Well supported…
Tools Plus starts with the best support there is: by delivering a product of outstanding quality. Our user manual is frequently praised by our customers, and our technical support staff can quickly assist you wherever you may be located.
