posted 03-16-2005 08:32 PM         

It is not so much a visual design enviornment as an encapsualation of much of the windows API.

You will have to learn the EZ_GUI shorthand for working with your dialogs.
You won't have to research why you can't make the api call work. Chris has done all the research and hard work and testing for you.

posted 03-16-2005 09:48 PM         

Email me and I will send you a Demo.

I don't make the demo available on my web site, but will send one if a potential customer is serious about examining EZGUI 3.0.

send email to: chrisboss@naxs.net

posted 03-16-2005 11:56 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Paul Breen:
The lack of a demo for ezgui is a problem for me.

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I don't think that Chris has a specific demo which you can run to describe all the features of EZGUI. There are
screen shots of actual applications on this web site. There are also freeware versions of EZGUI which you can download and experiment with. If you have a textbook on VB, take some examples from there and see if you can duplicate them with EZGUI.

quote:

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I bought pbforms 1.5 on trust and was disappointed. I have stuck with pbcc and console tools/graphics.

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I know some people who have successfully used EZGUI 3.0 with PBCC with no problems. The reason is that EZGUI 3.0 doesn't generate DDT code. You should be aware that some of the freeware designers generate DDT code which must be compiled with PBWIN. You will probably find that Console Tools will not be needed.

quote:

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I haved narrowed my search to products with active development and online forums. The list is Fire Fly, PowerDev and Ezgui. ... I want the best program for the least effort, not an intellectual exercise.

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I have licenses for those "other" products as well. Every time I sit down and say "I am going to learn this thng," I soon throw up my hands and say "EZGUI is EZier! I don't intend to malign those products, they are all excellent and well supported. If you already have experience with SDK or DDT, you will probably want to stick with those designers because the generated code will be familiar.

quote:

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That is why I program in basic.

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Yes. We all love Basic or we wouldn't be here. I find it analogous to programming in COBOL. You don't need to know what goes on "under the hood" to write good programs.

quote:

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I need more than enthusiasm. How about a short discussion of what needs to be done after the visual part is done? Even pbforms does visual design easy enough.

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The generated code contains many SUBs. You pick the ones that you wish to respond. Then you enter basic code to service these various and sundry events. The advantage here is that all programs will have similar structure. An example of a design and generated code is found here. Currently, the generated code is all in one program. Then conceivably, you will need a fairly sophisticated editor to deal with it. I believe that Chris has indicated that EZGUI 3.5 will have the capability of storing your added code within the designer itself. Then, adding code would be on an event-by-event basis, similar to Visual Basic. (Chris, please correct me on this).

quote:

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I'm thinking that no demo and no guarentee at computer workshop is going to compel me to buy a plane ticket in cyberspace to Holland.

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There are many code snippets (and complete programs) in these forums which you can compile and run, provided that you have the EZGUI dlls. You will have to ask Chris if he has a timed trial period or money-back guarantee,

See Getting started.
Also EZGUI 3.0 - The advantages

------------------
Regards,
Bob

posted 03-17-2005 04:38 AM         

I'm a old "DOS Guy" that made the plunge into windows programming
not that long ago, with a background in BASIC going back to "BASICA".
I purchased both PBCC and PBWIN not really knowing, at the time,
what the differences were. I just knew I needed to be able to create
(hopefully half-decent) "Windows" programs. Needless to say, I
quickly found out what the differences were once I tried to do
something productive with each!

My initial "stabs" at using PBWIN were usually little more than
extremely frustrating exercises in futility - even WITH the superb
help and examples, from REALLY knowledgeable people, at the PB forums.
The learning curve, for me to be able to create a "real" Windows
program (of any substance), just seemed to be insurmountable. So,
I settled on PBCC later adding Console Tools/Graphics Tools.

Even though PBCC served me well (it STILL does), I knew I had to
move forward. So, it was back to PBWIN and many frustrating times
trying to figure things out ... UNTIL ... I stumbled on EZGUI.

Paul, for me, EZGUI was a GIFT FROM HEAVEN! Finally, I didn't have
to worry about how to CONSTRUCT the framework, what to put where or
HOW to implement (the most used) API calls - Chris did all that for
me. Now, I could concentrate on what I already knew ... programming
in BASIC. Along the way, I HAVE learned a LOT about the API's and
how to use them for that RARE occassion when EZGUI doesn't have a
comparable function. But THAT's something that just seemed to come
on it's own as I used EZGUI more and more.

Is there a learning curve associated with EZ-GUI? Sure there is! But,
for me anyway, its a learning curve that's been productive from the
very first run of EZGUI and one that I still ENJOY today. Can you
produce top-notch software with EZGUI and PBWIN? You bet you can!
I've got quite a few Registered Users who I think will agree:
http://www.dobe.com/ezatp/

And, the BEST part? It REALLY IS EZ thanks to Chris' extraordinary
talent and efforts and the superb support you'll find here. Bottom
line? Take that "Pig-in-a-Poke" leap and go with EZGUI - Once you do,
you'll never look back.

Best Regards,

posted 03-17-2005 12:03 PM         

My background was DOS, starting with BASICA, then Pascal, and then ZBasic. For some reason, I was a late-adopter on PB/DOS. But when the time came to move to Windows I tried VB and then PB. It was not until EZGUI that I was able to "connect the dots" between the DOS-style of programming and PB/Win.

EZGUI bridges the gap between the DOS linear-style of programming and Windows' event-based approach. Looking back, it's difficult to see what was so confusing to me. But at the time, I found PB/Win perplexing. Thanks to Chris' EZGUI, I was able to better understand how Windows works.

Like any tool, EZGUI requires a dedicated effort to master. The learning curve is not too steep and things come together quickly. The help file could stand improvement, but this forum is ready to help you over the rough spots in that regard. Just about anything you want to do in Windows can be accomplished with EZGUI, and the API is readily available for those items that EZGUI doesn't directly support. It's odd to read in the PB forums where someone is struggling with listview or treeview problems, or MDI, or menu issues, and EZGUI lets me handle them with one or two lines of code. The development time from conception to working program is significantly reduced thanks to EZGUI.

EZGUI isn't perfect (Chris will always be working on the "next" version), but it certainly does the job I need it to do.

posted 03-17-2005 12:59 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Frank Kelley:
(Note: I have not used PB Forms or any of the other third-party designers, and I do not speak against them.)

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I have tried PBFORMS, but just couldn't grasp the concept of CALLBACKS. I always thought callbacks was what you got when the customers TV didn't work

I think it comes down to what you are comfortable with. Myself, along with many others here came from a DOS background and had a hard time making the switch to Windows. EZGUI eased the pain and made that transition much easier. I bought every Windows compiler put out and never done one thing productive with them until I found EZGUI. If this sounds like a sells pitch....well, I am a very happy customer!

Gary Stout

posted 03-18-2005 01:21 AM           

I too, was disappointed in the various designers that supported PowerBasic. That is - until I found EZGUI!

It's not the designer that got me. It was the source-code it produced and the the Engine inside EZGUI that was perfectly, flawlessly designed!

As a programmer for over 20 years - it's rare to see a program that was written from the heart, to achieve such a high level of excellence - far above and beyond what I could expect from any component.

It is IMHO - EZGUI is the undisputable, best PowerBasic AddOn that money can buy!
No one before or after - can match it!

My second choice - it would indeed be FireFly! It is still a very well thought out achievement! And it's only in it's infancy. Who knows how powerful it will be in another year or two.

Furthermore - with EZGUI's developer working on a new version - the future is very bright of us programmers who love to use PowerBasic!

Regards
Mike

posted 04-25-2005 01:00 AM         

For example a program that I wrote in VB took around 12 hours to write, and in Real Basic half that time. Rewritten in EZ_GUI it only took 4 hours! Code wise the needed DLL's add very little to the program size, and unless you need all the DLL's you only have to ship the ones that are actually needed. The same program in VB was 8.64 MB in size, in Real Basic 3.96 MB in size. The finished package written with EZ_GUI and compiled with PB was only 348K including the necessary run times.

posted 04-25-2005 10:35 AM         

I'm sure most people here will agree with you, I know I do! EZGUI made it possible for me to move from years and years of DOS programming to Windows. Nothing prior to EZGUI even came close for me.

If you get a change, I'd like to see you repost this on the PB forum. There are a lot of people who, like yourself, have not really taken a serious look at EZGUI and might be persuaded to do so if they read your review. Like PB itself, I love it when it gets new converts! It helps all of us.

posted 04-25-2005 12:02 PM         

Just wait until you see the EZGUI 4.0 Designer ! Even the 3.5 prerelease users haven't seen the new version yet.

posted 04-26-2005 01:41 AM         

It was a really good program but laying out the forms was a major pain and took much of the development time to create. VBDos was the first step in the right direction, and it improved as it transitioned to the early windows based operating systems. After Windows 3.1 how ever the bloat began to rear it's ugly head. I started programming with C about that time, and about the time I understood it along came C+. A new learning curve once again!

But C much like VB ended up with more and more bloat, although not as bad as VB. Being an old school programmer I guess I am use to seeing all the code instead of segments. I always tried to program in a top to bottom style which made debugging a program much easier. What impresses me the most is Chris follows this same style, which is very easy to follow, and understand. Now that Microsoft has announced that they will no longer support VB6, I think many VB programmers will find PB a good alternative.

Hooked up with EZ_GUI they will find it an extremely easy transition in my humble opinion. I have VB.Net and personally hate it. Unless the systems your writing for have the virtual machines loaded, your program is not going to run on it. Speaking of that, I wrote a program in VB6 on XP with all the latest updates on it. Tried to run it on a machine that didn't, and the program wouldn't run either.