NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/comp/windows/x/15312

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Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!darwin.sura.net!mojo.eng.umd.edu!linco
From: [e-mail] (Sam C. Lin)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x,comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools
Subject: Cross-Platform GUI Builders (SUMMARY)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 17 Aug 92 17:17:49 GMT
Organization: CMD Technology
Lines: 261
Originator: [e-mail]

Here is an edited digest of the responses I got.  I myself have
decided to go with XVT, since it supports the native look and feel,
and supports all of the target platforms I am interested in.  The July
Byte has an interesting (if incomplete) comparison of some of the
packages.

-Sam


From: [e-mail]

> You should get answers like xvt or xvt++ and Open Interface from Neuron Data.  They both employ
> a proprietary API above the GUI's API.  I am sure there is an LCD effect, but I don't know
> to what degree.  If you find out, I'd like to know.
>
> If you like C++ and can settle for only Open Look / Motif portability, the Object Interface
> toolkit (OI or OIT) is probably an excellent ticket, and the one I plan to follow.  OI is a C++
> class library that is runtime-switchable between Open Look & Motif.
>
> Good luck!
>
> -bc
> ----------
> [e-mail]
>
We are getting a demo copy of something called Aspect which sounds promising.
I'll send you our analysis of it in a few weeks if you'd like.

Bye for now, Al
*************************************************
From: larryh <[e-mail]>

PRESS RELEASE:


NEW, SCALABLE, MULTI-PLATFORM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
SYSTEM FOR ISVs UNVEILED at IEEE

UCS - the First No-Compromise Multi-Platform Software
Solution


March 2, 1992, Cupertino, California - Software Transformation, Inc. (STI)
today announced the availability of its Universal Component System, a
software development system that enables software vendors to develop
applications on a single master source code base that can be recompiled to run
on multiple platforms.  The Universal Component System (UCS) is comprised
of 25 software component families, reusable software modules that are both
scalable and extensible.  UCS permits developers to optimize applications by
selecting the appropriate software component families then configuring each
component for just the features needed for the target application - a unique
technology STI calls application driven scalability.  This announcement follows
STI's presentation at last week's IEEE CompCon Conference where Doug
Donzelli, STI Founder, Chairman and V.P. Product Development, chaired the
session on multi-platform software development and described UCS as a "no
compromise" solution for commercial developers that offers both performance
and functionality in the same system.  UCS is shipping now on both Windows and
Macintosh with UNIX versions scheduled for later this year.


TREND: MULTI-PLATFORM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Microsoft Windows is dominant and growing rapidly.  Apple's price-reduction
strategy is successfully increasing the Macintosh installed base and
marketshare.  Lastly, UNIX systems are beginning to penetrate the desktop
market.  This proliferation of systems is compelling Independent Software
Vendors (ISVs) to support multiple platforms in order to maximize revenue
and marketshare.   In 1991, the top 100 ISV's spent an estimated $570+
million on product development.  Over 80% of these companies develop
products for multiple platforms, and the trend is rising.  Reprogramming an
application for multiple graphical user-interfaced systems (GUIs) is
extremely time consuming and expensive.  However, the inadequacies of
traditional multi-platform development approaches have forced most ISVs to
reprogram each application for each new target platform.   UCS is designed to
overcome this problem and permit ISVs to get better products to market faster
on more platforms.


UCS vs. TRADITIONAL ALTERNATIVES

Donzelli said, "I formed STI in 1988, based on my research at U.C. Berkeley, to
develop a no-compromise solution for platform-independent development of
sophisticated, commercial applications."   He further commented, "Traditional
methods simply do not meet the stringent demands of developers in today's
highly competitive software market."  He explained that class libraries were
too inflexible - providing either too much functionality at the expense of
performance, or too little capability while protecting speed.  Most libraries
also only address the user interface aspects of an application, providing no
support for system services (eg: memory and file management, graphics,
printing, etc.).  Emulators typically suffer compatibility problems and are
renown for poor performance.  Further, emulation has never been successful
with users as a commercial offering, though it has often been tried (eg: DOS
emulators running on Macintoshes).  Portable languages, such as Smalltalk,
have had some acceptance as a prototyping environment, but have never been
embraced by ISVs for delivering commercial products, largely due to the
changes in the basic development process and subsequent retraining dictated by
such languages.

Donzelli concluded, "UCS overcomes all these limitations, then goes a few steps
beyond.  Our application-driven scalability and software component modularity
give developers tremendous control.  UCS is also a complete system with
support for all system services - not just a GUI-builder.  For example, the
system supports both run-time and dynamic linking on all platforms, a
capability not presently found in any other system.  We've architected UCS not
only to support existing features of current operating systems across all
platforms, but to provide the additional capabilities that application
developers
really want.  We offer functions not found in any native systems today - all
with full native compatibility and compliance."


CUSTOMERS

STI's customers clearly affirm the importance of finding a no compromise
solution.  Intuit, publisher of Quicken financial software, did a co-development
project with STI.  Intuit's President, Scott Cook, stated, "Software publishers
are driven to get top products out quickly on the hot platforms.   The brute
force approach of reprogramming is simply too slow and expensive.  STI is
addressing a real and important need in the industry."   Kc Branscomb,
President and CEO of IntelliCorp, also an STI customer, indicated that, "We
wanted a Macintosh version.  Our Project Leader knew Windows but had no Mac
experience.  The UCS technology plus STI's energetic support allowed us to get
there much faster than we could have on our own."

STI's Early Adopter Program and co-development projects provided the
continual customer input and feedback necessary to ensure the system design
met the needs of ISVs.  Philip Florence, Chief Architect at Power Up Software,
another STI customer, and formerly Chief Architect at both Microsoft and
Ashton-Tate, observed, "Having evaluated a number of portability solutions and
class libraries, we concluded that STI's Universal Component Systemt is the
most thoughtfully produced system presently available to meet our needs."

Strategic Mapping Inc., a UCS Early Adopter, publishes Atlas GIS (Geographic
Information System), a large, complex graphic database application.  Mike
Gustafson, Strategic Mapping's Executive Vice President, observed, "We have a
successful DOS product, but need to get onto Windows to capture that rapidly
growing opportunity.  We realized the best solution was not just to port to
Windows natively, but to build a platform-independent version of the product
that would cost effectively allow us to enter other markets as well, including
the Mac and UNIX, without sacrificing functionality or performance.  That's
where STI came in."


AVAILABILITY and DISTRIBUTION

The Universal Component Systemt is now available on Microsoft Windows and
Macintosh, with UNIX versions scheduled for later in 1992.  STI markets UCS
to developers directly.  Licensing arrangements vary based on what technology
and services are provided and what structure is most appropriate for the
licensee.

Software Transformation, Inc. is a privately held company dedicated to
empowering Independent Software Vendors to increase revenue and
marketshare by developing better applications on more platforms, faster.
Direct all inquiries to: Larry Hartge, Vice President of Sales, Software
Transformation, Inc., 1601 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, Suite 100, Cupertino,
CA 95014, 408.973.8081 (x329), fax: [phone].


**************************************
From: [e-mail] (Chris Esposito)

Sam-
    there was a recent article in Byte (July, I think) that compared
several GUI tools of the sort you are looking for.
**************************************
Date: Wed Aug 12 09:12:31 1992
From: Svend Skafte Nielsen                E-mail: [e-mail]

I have seen a demo of a product from NEURON DATA called Open Interface. In
the fact sheet they state that Open Interface supports Windows 3.0,
Macintosh, OSF/Motif, OS/2 Presentation Manager and Sun's OpenLook and
it allows a platform to display a non-native look-and-feel e.g. Motif on
a PC running Windows.

Impressive :-) but expensive :-(

The address I have for NEURON DATA is:

    NEURON DATA
    156 University Avenue
    Palo Alto, CA 94301
    Tel.: [phone]
    Fax : [phone]
*****************************************
From: [e-mail]

XVT
Neuron Data's Open Interface.
WNDX from WNDX Inc, Canada.
UCS (Universal Component System).
Software Transformation.
MASAI and AIDA from ILOG
VISIX/GALAXY
Glokenspiel.

**************************************
From: Richard Gerner <[e-mail]>

Open Software Associates in Ringwood, Victoria, are the authors of
OpenUI which won the inaugural Oztech Award for excellence in
Australian software.

OpenUI is not a 4GL, nor a code-generator in the traditional sense,
but a User Interface Management System for the development and
management of UIs.

The application as a whole should be viewed as having 3 components -
the UIMS, a process layer (the application proper), and a DBMS. OpenUI
not only manages the interaction with the various standard GUIs, but
provides for UI-based functionality to be managed within the UIMS.
That is to say, date formatting, alpha-numeric format validation,
error message handling, screen mapping can all be managed in the UIMS without
burdening the application proper (the "business rules" of the app).

In practice - the software developer uses the integrated graphical
Development Environment on platform of choice to create the GUI
screens for the application. These can be viewed in readable form in
OPL code (OpenUI Presentation Language) - a hierarchical
representation of the objects/widgets on the form and the behaviours
associated with them. In fact, the UI form may be constructed using
the WYSIWYG tool or in OPL itself. There are import/export facilities
to/from the OpenUI dictionaries in which the UI definitions are held
in binary form.

The screen events are trapped in the OPL and linked via messaging
to/from the application which may be in C, C++, Cobol and other
languages.

The end-user may be sitting at a PC with Microsoft Windows, or
Presentation Manager, a Macintosh, a Unix terminal with Motif, or at
a dumb terminal connected serially to a Unix box. In every case, the
UI definition created with OpenUI can be read by the OpenUI libraries
provided to these end-users. They will therefore get STANDARD
look/feel/behaviour for their GUI, whichever it happens to be.

In the case of the dumb ASCII terminal, the UI behaves like a GUI -
with scroll bars, buttons etc, driven from the keyboard. Resizing,
opening new windows, moving windows, are all available on the ASCII
terminal version via the OpenUI terminal libraries.

OpenUI also supports Client/Server architecture by providing a network
split within its own API. The OpenUI API contains only 14 intrinsic
calls, so it is very easy to port a slice of it to most server
machines. The beauty of using OpenUI for Client/Server architectures
is that, being a UIMS, much of the work can be done at the client end,
leaving the server to run just the process layer of the application
and DBMS.The messaging system in OpenUI ensures that the network is
impacted only when necessary . Eg, all the screen mapping is handled
within the UIMS. The application does not need to concern itself with
this.

Finally, another strength of OpenUI is the fact that it supports
vector graphics. For example, the output of a package such as Corel
Draw can be converted into OPL and becomes fully portable across the
target GUIs. These are spline-based graphics, so facilities such as
zoom and stretch are  available to the end-user.

For further information, or greater technical depth of response, you
should contact RICHARD GERNER, OPEN SOFTWARE ASSOCIATES, [phone]
or fax [phone] or mail to [e-mail]