Application Builder

Application Builder (App Builder) is a tool that enables you to easily create your first graphical user interfaces (GUI) for Common Desktop Environment applications, without having to write code to call the desktop application program interfaces (APIs). It abstracts the Motif toolkit into simple object palettes and object property sheets. You can use App Builder to construct a wide range of applications, from simple GUI-based programs to complex, integrated systems. It supports User Interface Language (UIL) file import and export to enable you to migrate your application among other Motif-based tools and products.

App Builder is ideally suited for use if you:

• Are not an expert Motif programmer

• Are not familiar with the Common Desktop Environment Motif widgets

• Are not familiar with the desktop services (for example, drag and drop, ToolTalk messaging, sessioning, help, and internationalization)

• Want to build your application user interface quickly and be able to change it easily

• Are working collaboratively with other people to build a single application

In fact, even if you do not fit into any of the preceding categories, you will likely find App Builder to be appropriate and helpful for your application development.

Using App Builder, you can:

• Lay out the user interface for an application, constructing it piece-by-piece from a collection of objects from the Common Desktop Environment Motif toolkit

• Define connections between objects to provide application GUI behavior, then use the test mode that enables connections to be tested

• Add some of the desktop services functionality to your application

• Edit applications that were previously created using App Builder

• Merge automatically generated code with hand-generated code

• Generate C-language source code and associated project files (for example, message catalogs) for the application

You can compile and invoke your application from within App Builder. You can execute the build, run, and debug cycles all from a common environment without having to exit and restart App Builder.

App Builder is a good learning tool. A full-featured Motif GUI builder called XDesigner is available for purchase from the Sun Microsystems Advanced Developer Tools organization.

Demo Programs

You can find the App Builder example programs in /usr/dt/examples/dtbuilder. Read the README file for detailed information on these programs.

Related Documentation

For more information on Application Builder, see the appropriate man pages, the App Builder help volume, and the Common Desktop Environment: Application Builder User's Guide.