Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

Yes, there's been quite a bit of DECwindows prototyping work
going on with HyperCard, ever since HyperCard came out.  The
first DECwindows Trade Fair, which happened over a year ago,
had many HyperCard-based prototypes.  It's still being used
quite a bit.

Charlie Frean (CLT::FREAN) has put together a prototyping
course, including using HyperCard.  He could also put you
in touch with other people doing HyperCard prototyping for
DECwindows systems.

re .0

What does using Hypercard buy you that you
don't get with interactive DWIGEN/DWICS, UIGEN or the declarative
UIL?????

Regards,

Brian.
(Just curious)

    re .2 <Why use Hypercard at all?>
    
    HyperCard was used during the development of DECwindows because it
    filled a need for rapid prototyping that we did not have on our own
    equipment. The need for a user interface design tool that supports
    rapid prototyping in a flexible, graphical, object-oriented environment
    is still there, and we do not have any DEC tools that offer the
    capabilities of HyperCard or the Smether Barnes Prototyper or the NeXT
    Interface Builder (see below).
    
    DWIGEN is designed as a programmer's tool, offering an interactive
    graphical interface to UIL. The experience of DECwindows developers
    with HyperCard shows that there is a need for a ui design tool to
    support the rapid creation and iterative development of prototypes of
    the user interface and flow of control of applications.
    
    I believe such a design tool fits in earlier in the development process
    than DWIGEN and UIL and is targeted at the "developer as designer"
    rather than "developer as programmer".
    
    It is perfectly feasible to embody the requirements of "designer" and
    "programmer" in a single tool, as has been done successfully with the
    NeXT Interface Builder, and the Macintosh Prototyper (from Smethers
    Barnes) -  both of which are 'policy' user interface design and 
    prototyping tools that include code generation.
    
    HyperCard is a 'policy free' graphical environment that supports the
    construction of prototypes of, as well as product-level, applications.
    Being policy free, it lends itself to the construction of models of
    DECwindows or Open Look or New Wave or any other style of interface.
    It is for this reason that it has filled a need in the design of
    DECwindows applications, despite the fact that it does not generate any
    usable DECwindows code.
    
    One way to position DWIGEN is that it is the tool of choice for a
    DECwindows programmer to construct or generate a committed user
    interface design. It offers a more usable interface than the
    traditional text interface of the UIL it generates. While it will
    support direct manipulation of DECwindows objects on screen, the
    emphasis in the tool is on offering a complete one-to-one mapping with
    UIL for DECwindows programmers, and not on providing a rapid
    prototyping environment in which to experiment with and try out working
    prototypes of designs.
         
    Charlie Frean                        
                          

re .3

    >While it will
    >support direct manipulation of DECwindows objects on screen, the
    >emphasis in the tool is on offering a complete one-to-one mapping with
    >UIL for DECwindows programmers, and not on providing a rapid
    >prototyping environment in which to experiment with and try out working
    >prototypes of designs.

Is there any plan to develop a rapid prototyping tool?

Lisa

    re .4: < Is there any plan to develop a rapid prototyping tool? >
    
    There is an uncommitted (not for V1) feature in the DWIGEN spec to
    allow simulation capabilities. That is the only plan I am aware of.
  
    I am interested in hearing from any readers of this note about their
    opinions regarding prototyping ... 
    
    Do you want to be able to prototype DECwindows applications?
    Why would you want to? 
    Is UIL sufficient for your prototyping needs?
    Will DWICS as you know it meet your needs? 
    What elements are important to you in a prototyping tool? 
       (Drawing capability, layout grid, built-in Style Guide help/advice,
        UI Look-only support - as opposed to full widget specification,
        code generation ...)
    Should prototyping your application be a requirement in the development
       process? (in support of product design, product specification,
       product testing ...)
    
    Charlie

There are two areas that I am experienced with where a prototyping tool
is useful.  First, as a pre-Sales tool, one needs to be able to put
together a set of windows that one can move between and that can be easily
modified (like doing it in front of the customer).  Second,  as a user
interface design tool, it would help us to get better feedback from a customer
when doing Functional Specifications or software design.

Kevin

What's the ULTRIX equivalent of the VMS:

$ set display/create/node=foo/transport=decnet/server=9

Thanks,

           == ken miller ==

A guess:

% setenv DISPLAY foo::9

I had tried "display" and not "DISPLAY".  Caps work great. 

Sorry about butting into this topic...I guess "Create Reply"
and "Create Topic" are just a little too close together on the DECwindows
Notes MB2 pop-up.

Thanks again,

             == ken miller ==