I am currently learning GTK, specifically gtkmm. As i can see GTK has excellent support in different languages through bindings. So one can use c, c++, js, python and more to implement gtk apps. Thats great. But what if i wanted to create one application, say the base window and some api objects/instances in gtkmm and c++ and want to let others create modules in any other language that has gtk binding. I want to share the api objects/instances (say they are singletons) between all modules. But i definitely don't want to spawn multiple processes for this to work. I know boost has support for exposing c++ objects into python modules. I am looking for something like that. But from the documentation so far (i haven't finished it yet, so forgive me if i have missed anything), i couldn't find the proper way to do that.
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I want to create a DeskBand to display some information on my Windows task bar, but I am struggling with implementing the functionality I need in C++. It's been about 10-15 years since I touched C++. I've been working entirely in .NET for the past 7 years.
Before you say it - I know that DeskBands are deprecated. But the suggested replacement UI element - thumbnail toolbars - don't meet my needs. I need a UI element that is constantly visible to the user no matter which application they switch to, and also that provides enough room to display a line of text - I could get by with room for 30 characters or so.
I've been able to get the DeskBand from the Windows SDK sample to compile and run, but now I need to implement some real functionality - specifically...
Locating the AppData\Local folder (SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_LocalAppData...)
Watching an XML file for modifications. I need to parse and repaint whenever the file changes.
Parsing the XML file (I found pugixml)
Displaying some data from the XML file in my DeskBand
Setting a timer to repaint the DeskBand once per minute
... and I am realizing how little I know about C++, and how much I've come to depend on .NET's Base Class Library. This task would be super easy for me if I was writing it in C#. But I've learned elsewhere that you shouldn't write shell extensions in .NET.
What are my options? Is there an easier language to accomplish this in - maybe Python? Or do I have to just bite the bullet and do this in C++? If so, any advice for a .NET developer trying to implement a WinAPI shell extension in C++?
Thank you in advance.
Shell Extensions are COM objects, and C++ is generally the best language to use when developing COM objects because COM was designed primarily for C++, but it is not the only language possible. COM has a standardized architecture, so you can use any language outside of .NET that supports COM object development (Delphi, VB, etc) to develop Shell Extensions (similar to how the Win32 API is primarily designed for C, but any C-compatible language can access it).
Is it a good idea to use gtkmm gui toolkit for some desktop client application ?
Is this toolkit stable and is there enough documentation online ?
I used gtkmm to write professional applications and yes you can use it for real world software development.
But I also used C/GTK+ and C++/Qt and my opinion is that using Gtkmm you have the feeling that the original toolkit was meant to be used in C and the porting to C++ is ok but in many cases you feel that C++ features could have been used better.
For Comparison:
If you have to choose between Gtk and Gtkmm go for Gtkmm even though you might find yourself stuck in some not well documented or supported function. Eventually you always manage to find a solution (you can check the source code) and c++ is way better then c.
If you have to choose between Gtkmm and Qt, go for Qt. There is a HUGE gap between the two. Not only in the toolkit itself but in the documentation and all the other classes that you need when writing an application.
I started two month ago with gtkmm. I actually port a tcl/tk application and it feels very hard for my to get the things run. The only useful documentation I found is the https://developer.gnome.org/gtkmm-tutorial/3.4/
But many things described in the manual are not working! I actually run into trouble while overriding signal handlers which should work but didn't. Maybe you will take a look in gtkmm-list#gnome.org to find out what kind of problems yo will maybe run in :-)
The docs derived from the doxygen input seems useless for me, because the functions are mostly not described and the parameter names or often not very clear to me.
In comparison to tcl/tk the interface looks inconsistent. Sometimes a parameter must be provided by a text, sometimes by a pointer and sometimes by the native value itself. Especially the menus are very "mysterious" with the string based configuration. The need of having parameters as text is very unhandy! You have to convert the parameter with ostrstream into a text and parse the parameters sometimes yourself from text to real values.
I decided to give gtk+ a chance is the existence of the c++ interface. I thought it would be helpful to get the errors in compile time and not while running the app like with tcl/tk. But this is not the always true with gtkmm. With gtkmm you are also able to run into run time errors because all string parameters will be parsed during run time! This makes the things error prone!
Maybe I will start again and give Qt a chance. But a first view on it shows, that this seems not really better :-)
Writing a gui application still is a really annoying job!
gtkmm is a official supported binding of GTK (gtk.org/language-bindings.php).
"inkscape" and "ardour" are notable applications written in gtkmm
The bindings that are official GNOME Bindings follow the GNOME release schedule which guarantees API stability and time-based releases.
If you want to write your Application in C, go with GTK+ (and the GLib).
You can find a link to the documentation at http://www.gtkmm.org/ (https://developer.gnome.org/gtkmm-tutorial/).
With Glade (and ie. PyGTK) you could rapid prototype your application.
Building a GUI with Glade is easy and the resulting UI is a xml file, that is not bound to a programming language.
I'm starting an institute project. I'll try to create a "web-typograph", a tool that's to be used to correct texts (according to typographic rules of a language) before they're sent to the site. My choice is C++ with Qt because I'd like to create "multilingual" library (I mean it could be used from Ruby, Python, PHP and so on).
Honestly, I heard something about QtRuby, QtPython (even PHP Qt...) but I just can't imagine, how I can bind my library with them.
P.S. Yes, I've googled. But some comments of the experienced would be nice :)
PyQt and the other bindings to Qt are bindings to the core Qt library. To add bindings to your own (possibly Qt-based) classes, you'll have to use tools like SWIG or SIP (PyQt's tool which may be more relevant for Qt-related classes) to generate the bindings. Alternatively, you can make a C API to your library which is easier to wrap and bind from scripting languages.
That said, you should first understand what you need Qt for at all. Are you planning a GUI or using any other capabilities Qt provides? Which?
I'm starting a medium (academic) project in C++ for which I need users to be able to write small scripts, which interact directly with the main program. My first thought as an aproach to this was to make something like Gedit does with it's plugins (in fact I thought about it because it is something very similar to what I need to do.)
I do have some experience writting plugins for geddit, but zero experience in writting a plugin framework.
Would it be really difficult to me to write one similar to gedit's? (i mean, the way it exposes its API to python, and then loads the python plugin and calls its methods). Can anyone point me in the right directions or teach me a little if you have experience with it?
Fortunately, gedit's plugin framework can be used. You could use Ethos, which is the same plugin framework gedit uses, only without gedit.
I was reading about the Maya API to C++ and didn't quite understand the idea.
Upon implementing the API, Can I create an environment, or a GUI in 3D world in Visual Studio?
This question is related to my previous one about the Maya API.
Question
If someone could give me a good place to begin, it would be great.
Thanks,
Oded.
You can't create 3D environment outside the Maya,
as well as you can do anything inside Maya with the API.
I recommend that you start with Maya python API instead of c++ it's way easier, and takes less development time.
you may read the "Complete Maya Programming" book, its example written in c++, but if you know some python you can write them in python.
Maya API allows you to extend Maya, and you can choose to use either c++ or python (the python just wraps same API, more or less). Now the extension framework is meant for you to implement your own nodes, importers/exporters and motion capture devices, mostly. The GUI layer is reserved to scripting components and QT neither which are exactly Maya APIS domain, tough it gives you hooks to do with with the script environment or QT.
As for the exact question can you create a GUI yes you can get a handle to the QT framework, but as i previously said its not the realm of the API per see. And as for the environment yes you could do that its just not the sort of thing you'd do as your first project. You do almost anything you like, inside or even a connection outside of Maya however from a practical standpoint you'd still have to quite intimately know Maya before starting to do so. The API doesn't exactly allow you to do anything you like it has certain no bounds limitations and its not a good idea to fight Mayas run time environment.
If on the other hand you want to control things within Maya externally then make a node or a motion capture server, that's what they are meant for.
Personally i find the complete Maya programming book a bit misleading on all levels but yes you could use it as basis. Just not terribly fruitful for any of the tasks you ask for.