[wxruby-users] wxruby, XRC, DialogBlock

[Mario Steele]

Hello Joshua,

On 3/9/08, Joshua Lefkowitz <lists at ruby-forum.com> wrote:
>
>
> Mario, thanks for the input.  I do need to have a GUI for my final app,
> but it doesn't have to be via DialogBlocks/XRCise.  I guess my question
> is, if I learn about GUI in say Tk, how easily will i be able to apply
> that to any of the other GUI aps--fxruby, wxruby, etc.?


Just a note, but when reffering to other GUI Toolkits, like Tk, FXRuby and
wxRuby, they are technically GUI Libraries.  As to your particular question,
I strongly, very very strongly recommend staying with 1 GUI Toolkit.  The
reason for this, is that each GUI Toolkit library has it's own API
Interface, it's own set of Controls, it's own way of handling Events that
come from the GUI elements.  Also, there's certain advantages and
dis-advantages to using each Toolkit.  Tk, is a very low level GUI Toolkit,
and heavily relies on having the TK/TCL Framework installed along side Ruby
in order to work.  GUI Apps that are created with TK, do not truely have a
native OS feel to it, and can tend to be over-complicated.

FXRuby, has a Single GUI Look and Feel, so it's garunteed to look the same
across all platforms, though that is not always a good thing.  The reason
why it looks the same no matter what platform you run on, is cause Fox does
all of it's own drawing for all the controls that it has associated with
it.  I have found many times over, that with this method of drawing
controls, can lend to be a main cause for bottlenecks in programs developed
in Ruby.  Everything is compiled in with the Extension, so you don't need to
re-distribute a whole bunch of stuff, just a single .so file and a few .rb
files, which makes it a lot easier to port.

wxRuby on the other hand, utilizes Native OS Controls wherever possible,
only substituting for controls that do not exist on the platform in
question.  It's very fast, and has very few bottlenecks, cause it's not
custom drawing every single control, outside of the main Window.  This is
favorable, cause it will retain the user's preferences for Font size,
control colors, layout, etc, etc.  Also, as with FXRuby, wxRuby has a single
SO File, and a few .rb files, making distrobution easier.

Going between these three toolkits, can be very fustrating when your trying
to develop apps.  Do note, that these are my own opinions, and experiences
from using these three Toolkits, and even though I develop soley with
wxRuby, I encourage people to experiment with other libraries, but only pick
1 toolkit in which to do any programming with, otherwise, it will get harder
and more frustrating in which to do stuff, any other way.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask away!
L8ers,

-- 
Mario Steele
http://www.trilake.net
http://www.ruby-im.net
http://rubyforge.org/projects/wxruby/
http://rubyforge.org/projects/wxride/
http://rubyforge.org/projects/vwmc/
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