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Interface builders

  To support the development of graphical user interfaces, the usage of graphical development tools seems reasonable. The design of a graphical interface is a very important but also a very difficult task. Creating the code that implements the interface by constructing it interactively in a graphical tool can reduce the implementation expense. Great parts of the code implementing the interface can be generated automatically by the interface builder. This allows the developer to pay more attention to the design of the graphical interface. The inexperienced user has the chance to construct an interface by playing around, while the experienced user is supported to access the complete functionality that the graphical environment offers. It can also prevent coding bugs, as the automatically generated code is usually more structured, and better tested.

There exists a wide range of interface builders that are based upon different widget sets and on different implementation languages. Most of the interface builders provide the same basic functionality that can be summarized to the following four features:

But there are also some differences between the various interface builders. The differences occure because the interface builders support different widget sets and different languages. The targeted groups of users and application types vary as well.



next up previous contents index
Next: Existing interface builders Up: The Design of XF Previous: The Design of XF



Harry Beker
Thu Feb 29 18:06:38 MET 1996