Multi Platform Windows Mgr

[HaCo]

Hi,
I want to develop an app that works with edit fields, drop down menu's, dialogs, ... and that could be ported to for example the iPhone. I would also like to acces a Bluetooth GPS device to get position and time. I want to upload some data to an FTP server in runtime...
What is the right environment for me?
Thanks.

 

[skeezix]

"Window Mgr" is entirely the incorrect term for what you're looking for; corss platform tools are what you're looking for, but you really should do some very preliminary research first, which is not too hard. More to point, I don't see the word "Pandora" anywhere in your post, so I worry you're in the wrong place?

Anyway, a decent cross platform kit woudl be Trolltech's QT, or GTK. Or a half dozen others, but those two are pretty popular. Theres also whatever wxWidgets calls itself these days.

But I'll save you some work -- you can usually get reasonable cross platform for common things like opening windows or getting mouse events; when you start getting to stuff like a bluetooth handler, theres getty very device specific, so rarely will you get much slack. When it comes to UIs its not even easy .. iphone requires an entirely different set of code for UI than say Windows, Linux, etc. (And if you want handhelds in generla, than they're _all_ custom UI systems, with various languages from Java to C++ to others.)

So you need to do some basic research of your own, and when you ask questions, be more specific about what you're asking about

jeff

 

[HaCo]

Sorry, I thought it was logic when I ask in the Pandora forum, it's about Pandora. But if you turn it the other way around, you are right as well. So yes, I want to start on the Pandora and then move on eventually to other platforms, if it isn't too hard of course. iPhone looks a very popular platform, that's why I asked in the first place (to port to).

I had a look on the QT and GTK website, both look interesting. Thank you for getting me started. Maybe there is some 'ideal' environment to start with, that can be easily ported to many popular platforms.

 

[dflemstr]

Sorry, I thought it was logic when I ask in the Pandora forum, it's about Pandora. But if you turn it the other way around, you are right as well. So yes, I want to start on the Pandora and then move on eventually to other platforms, if it isn't too hard of course. iPhone looks a very popular platform, that's why I asked in the first place (to port to).

I had a look on the QT and GTK website, both look interesting. Thank you for getting me started. Maybe there is some 'ideal' environment to start with, that can be easily ported to many popular platforms.

Qt is your best shot in that case; it won't work on the iPhone either (the only way to make something work for the iPhone is to use the Apple SDK) but it will work everywhere else (On mobile phones and Maemo devices too, for example!).

Google QtCreator for a very good IDE.

 

[skeezix]

QT and GTK are pretty good (I really like QT , but it depends on your target platforms; if you're just winging it, then QT is a good bet. But if you have a list of platforms you're targetting, you'll be able to review better.

ie:

RIM - java, custom UI API
Android - java (custom JVM but thats not relevent per se), with custom UI API
WebOS - javascript with custom UI API, possibly native C compiler if they wise up
iPhone - Objective C, custum UI API, compatible with C/C++ for non-UI elements
Symbian - nightmare, don't go there

As you can see, the mobiles are pretty much all custom UIs, and java-or-C.

QT won't really help you on any of those, but you can possibly use QT for backend (non-UI stuff, such as string and container classes, etc.)

Desktop wise .. QT/GTK wil get you Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and BSD Unix derivatives, so pretty solid. (Also see wxwidgets, though I'm not a fan of it for some reasons, but it is certainly worth investigation.)

For bluetooth, and specifically GPS over bluetooth, you're getting very platform specific so probably not a lot of easy stuff end to end, but certainly lots of stuff for most platforms in bits and bobs.

jeff

 

[Alec]

Symbian - nightmare, don't go there

As you can see, the mobiles are pretty much all custom UIs, and java-or-C.

QT won't really help you on any of those, but you can possibly use QT for backend (non-UI stuff, such as string and container classes, etc.)

Actually, with Qt now being part of Nokia, they do have a Symbian port:
http://qt.nokia.com/developer/qt-4.6-rc-for-symbian-developers

 

[HaCo]

I looked at samples and some tuts of Qt and looks very nice to work with. It even ports to Win CE 5.0, which I have on a hacked Mio 230. I hope all the DLL's are available, cause it's Win CE 5.0 Core

Thanks for the hints. What would be a proper title for this topic? Widget development for Pandora?

 

[dflemstr]

I looked at samples and some tuts of Qt and looks very nice to work with. It even ports to Win CE 5.0, which I have on a hacked Mio 230. I hope all the DLL's are available, cause it's Win CE 5.0 Core

Thanks for the hints. What would be a proper title for this topic? Widget development for Pandora?

Cross-platform application development?
Cross-platform GUI development?
Call it whatever.

 

[HaCo]

Mmh, could not find the option to change topic title, maybe a mod could do it for me?

 

[valhalla]

For bluetooth, and specifically GPS over bluetooth, you're getting very platform specific so probably not a lot of easy stuff end to end, but certainly lots of stuff for most platforms in bits and bobs.

GPS under linux can use gpsd, so that they don't have to worry about bluetooth, usb or any other interface, but of course it won't be available on any other platform (afaik); I hope that on pandora it will be available, as it is on openmoko, however.