What is wxCrafter?

[SlimFast]

Reading the SVN log (just for fun) I wonder what "wxCrafter" is?

[eranif]

wxCrafter is a new codelite plugin which I am working on atm. It is not public available

Eran

[SlimFast]

wxCrafter is a new codelite plugin which I am working on atm. It is not public available

Al-right, thanks.

BTW: Having worked with both now: Code::Blocks and CodeLite I wonder why the teams didn't join forces. Both platforms share so many commonalities (like wxWidgets, plugin concepts etc...) but also have clearly its pros and cons in certain areas. Still, sometimes it seems the one or other re-invents the wheel...

Anyways...

[jfouche]

Is it a GUI builder based on a JSON file named wxcp ?

[eranif]

Is it a GUI builder based on a JSON file named wxcp ?

Yes. The JSON is just the project format, nothing more.

I created a new wxGUI designer as a codelite plugin. It is similar to wxFB / DialogBlocks in many ways but differs in others aspects as well.
The first thing that comes to mind is the bitmap handling, which is, IMO, unusable in wxFB...
Added support for missing controls (wxTreebook, wxWizard, wxToolbook, wxWebView and others)
But the thing I needed the most, is the ability to add support / fix whatever needs to be fixed without depending on other people to do it for me (I know some of the wxFB developers, like michalb and I know that they are very busy and I dont want to waste their time)

Eran

[SlimFast]

Is it a GUI builder based on a JSON file named wxcp ?

I created a new wxGUI designer as a codelite plugin. It is similar to wxFB / DialogBlocks in many ways [...]

Here it comes again:

Still, sometimes it seems the one or other re-invents the wheel...

OT: Personally I believe thats what a lot OpenSource projects lack on: instead of focussing/improving whats already there its being re-implemented. You got it in even bigger projects, too (take OpenOffice/Linux forks, or GCC/GDB forks as an example). Nothing against individualism and control over what you want to do, but its a waste of resources to some extend. Sad, sad...

[eranif]

but its a waste of resources to some extend. Sad, sad...

You are assuming that if I would not create it, I would have worked with C::B or wxFB etc, but this is where you are wrong:
It either I do it for me, or non at all. So 0 resources are lost... I believe that this is true for many other open sources developers.

BTW: Having worked with both now: Code::Blocks and CodeLite I wonder why the teams didn't join forces

codelite and code::blocks are not that the same.. don't let the interface fool you... their architecture is different in many ways. code::blocks is plugin centric, while codelite is not (codelite without plugins is still an IDE, many of its C++ functionalities are in the core) I know that this is not the case for code::blocks. code::blocks is more like eclipse

I can give you a long list of changes between the two, but in short: you can also ask why invent C::B in the first place, we could just use eclipse, why not helping there?

IMO, the most important thing you don't understand is that open source is not a software company. What drives people is individualism their need to get credit, getting appreciation from others , providing free alternative or sometimes just to prove themselves that they can do it... so if you take this from them, there will be no open source.

Eran

[SlimFast]

focussing/improving whats already there

BTW: What is interesting IMHO is the fact that for wxWidgets you got tons of GUI builders - the one I know are VisualWX, wxGlade, wxDesigner, wxFormBuilder, wxDev++, wxHatch, wxSmith, Dialogblocks, wxForms and XRCed (to some extend) and maybe a few more I don't know. Now here comes another one.
For the competitors Java or Qt this is different, although these frameworks are used more often. In Qt you have basically one and for Java per UI toolkit 1-2 you can seriously use and that's it. Read the last sentences of this article: http://www.fprimex.com/compare/qt-wx.html -> sadly, its true. At my work, more and more people switch to Qt already and its hard for me to convince people to stick with wxWidgets. In really wonder why are wxWidgets developers so fragmented these days??? So again my question from an outside-looking folk:

I wonder why the teams didn't join forces.

[eranif]

For the competitors Java or Qt

Exactly my point. You are comparing wxWidgets to frameworks (and even to a software language..) but the difference is that both are being controlled by *companies*
not individuals (Qt -> http://www.digia.com, Java -> http://www.oracle.com )

There is no company behind wxWidgets, only individuals.

VisualWX, wxGlade, wxDesigner, wxFormBuilder, wxDev++, wxHatch, wxSmith, Dialogblocks, wxForms and XRCed

From this list, only 3 are worth working with. But (and here is the important part) none of them works with codelite the way I wanted them to work... (or at all)

So you see, I created wxCrafter mainly... for me

Eran

[jfouche]

Just me 2 cents :

Some developpers who want to create GUI app looks for an EDI which contains a RAD. Code::Blocks created wxSmith for this. As I saw on this forum lot's of people asking for such a feature in CodeLite, I must say that even if Eran created wxCrafter for him, I'm pretty sure that lot's of CodeLite user will be happy (And I'm one of them ).