rpgoldman at real-time.com wrote: >>>>>>"Dave" == Dave Erickson <linuser at esox.us> writes: >>>>>> >>>>>> > > Dave> Brian Wall wrote: > >> I have some proprietary command line utilities that I need to set up > >> for non geeks. I'm going to be adding them to some sort of live > >> distro (Knoppix most likely). I want to build an X front end so I > >> don't have to teach a zillion switches (starting with what /dev/hda1 > >> is and where drive C: went). Just one problem: I haven't even > >> attempted GUI development on linux, and I don't know where to start. > >> I want a basic frontend that will just pass paramters to the command > >> line utilities. > >> > >> I've thought about using Apache/PHP to build a frontend, which would > >> work, but inevitably I'd need something more robust. Besides, I may > >> publish my code if it turns out to be useful and I'd rather not have > >> server requirements for such a simple task. Anyone got suggestions? > >> > >> -Brian > > Dave> Could you do that in XUL? > > Dave> I'd like to create a XUL front end to iptables myself......... > >[I realize that this is late in the day, to respond to, but I've gotten >behind in my list reading...] > >After having wrestled with a couple of attempts at using XUL/Mozilla, >and having slogged through most of both Creating Applications with >Mozilla and Rapid Application Development with Mozilla, I simply don't >see the appeal. > >AFAICT, to write an application using Mozilla, you have to master not >only XUL (that wouldn't be so bad), but also JavaScript, RDF, and a >very, very complicated process of installing your new code into the >guts of Mozilla. Worse than that, the process seems to be essentially >without debug support. > >I have actually expressed this to the author of the RAD with Mozilla >book, and his answer was essentially `yeah, that's true, but there are >a lot of people who already grok JavaScript, XML and RDF, so it's not >a problem.' > >Unless you are really gung-ho for this, I'd recommend using something >much simpler, like Tcl/Tk. You only have to master ONE language, and >then you are done. There are perl bindings for Tk, too, if you really >know perl, but my impression is that those are only useful if you've >already done some Tcl/Tk. > >Many people also swear by python + wxWidgets or GTk > >Two provisos: > >1. I'd be DELIGHTED if someone out there could say "you ignorant > knucklehead, you just do X (for some simple value of X) and you > can whip together a Mozilla/XUL application in no time!" I'm far > from being a Mozilla detractor --- if I was, I would never have > ponied up for the two books and tried to work through them. > >2. My feeling is that for rapid UI development, any solution without > an interpreter you can type expressions at and watch the resulting > UI is a non-starter. More power to you if you are willing to sit > through a compile cycle (or stop a running Mozilla, install new > software, and restart), but it ain't me, babe! > >Best, >Robert > You make a good point about the complexity of it all. You'd think that maybe mozilla composer could function as a WYSIWYG editor but alas no..... It would be ideal though if it were more practical, a cross platform over the network interface. Oh well........ ;-) _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list