[Mono-osx] .exe using Winforms and Monobjc/Cocoa (success)

Wed Dec 17 10:13:01 EST 2008

Just my two cents.  Cross platform is a nice concept.  Mono and monobjc are
a great step in the right direction.  You can run WinForms apps on Linux and
Macs today, with certain limitations.  But those applications look terrible
on non-Windows platforms.  Of course anything is possible, but no one has
truly solved the cross platform GUI issue, write once deploy many  Qt, Java,
Mono all attempt and all fall short.
If you want a Windows application use WinForms/WPF.  If you want an OSX
application use Interface Builder.  Thanks to the work of mono and monobjc
we cross platform developers can reuse the majority of our C# code across
Windows and Macs.  I believe it is a small price to pay to write twice the
GUI specific code so that I can truly have a native looking application on
both platforms.  On Macs, generally speaking they are very unforgiving for
non-standard Mac UIs.

On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Andrew Brehm <ajbrehm at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hiya,
>
> I'll try the different calls. Thanks.
>
> I know this would be a ridiculously huge project, but do you think there is
> a possibility of creating an auto-converter that would look at Windows
> Forms
> GUI code and create a NIB file containing the equivalent controls, so that
> the porting programmer would only have to write some glue code and set
> connections? Is this even possible/feasible (I assume it is possible) or
> worth the effort?
>
> I assume you have more important things to do. I'll see what I can figure
> out.
>
> I do believe that portability from Windows to Mac OS would be one of the
> most important factors for most people once it has been established that
> Mono and Monobjc can be used to port Windows Forms applications to Cocoa.
>
> I'll go and read the Cocoa documentation as you suggest.
>
>
>
> Laurent Etiemble wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > First, thank you for supporting Monobjc.
> >
> > For your NIB loading issue, know that there is two ways to load a NIB
> file
> > and each has a different behavior:
> > - The "loadNibNamed:owner:" message use a name to locate the file
> (neither
> > path nor extension required). The owner will tell how to lookup the NIB
> > file
> > (if you pass the shared NSApplication object, then the Resources folder
> of
> > the bundle will be searched).
> > - The "loadNibFile:externalNameTable:withZone:" message uses a relative
> or
> > an absolute path to locate the NIB file. As a bonus, you retrieve an
> array
> > containing the top level objects that were created.
> >
> > I suggest you to read the NSBundle class reference (along with the AppKit
> > additions). Let me know if you have some success.
> >
> > Regards, Laurent Etiemble.
> >
> >
> > 2008/12/16 Andrew Brehm <ajbrehm at gmail.com>
> >
> >>
> >> Hi, thanks for the reply.
> >>
> >> I know the way to handle NIBs is the official way. But I wish there were
> >> an
> >> alternative way to handle them for debugging. It's not so important. I
> >> can
> >> live with it. :-)
> >>
> >> What about NIB 3.x?
> >>
> >> I will help by using Monobjc. Couldn't see the paypal button at first as
> >> I
> >> use OmniWeb and it shields me from seeing expensive things.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Andrew
> >>
> >>
> >> Laurent Etiemble wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Hello,
> >> >
> >> > My comments inline.
> >> >
> >> > Regards, Laurent Etiemble.
> >> >
> >> > 2008/12/15 Andrew Brehm <ajbrehm at gmail.com>
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> My second test of Monobjc is a program (StupidWordCounter, the same
> >> >> example
> >> >> I
> >> >> used for Cocoa#) that uses a NIB file or a Windows.Forms GUI
> depending
> >> on
> >> >> which platform it runs on. (It checks for a directory
> >> >> "/System/Library/Frameworks/Cocoa.framework" to determine if it is
> >> >> running
> >> >> on Mac OS.)
> >> >>
> >> >> I made a few screenshots of the development process in Visual Studio
> >> 2008
> >> >> and Xcode 3. I'll upload them in tutorial form in the next few days
> >> and
> >> >> give
> >> >> the URL here.
> >> >>
> >> >> Remaining issues:
> >> >>
> >> >> 1. The path to the NIB file as used by Monobjc confuses. Apparently
> >> this
> >> >> past must be relative to the .app bundle containing the assembly.
> This
> >> is
> >> >> useful for the finished program but makes testing/debugging
> difficult.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > This is the official way to locate the NIB and Monobjc conforms to.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> 2. I still have an awful lot of platform-specific code in two classes
> >> for
> >> >> each GUI. I wonder if there is an elegant practice for dealing with
> >> this
> >> >> (and whether using native GUIs rather than a crossplatform GUI
> toolkit
> >> is
> >> >> really the way to go).
> >> >>
> >> >> 3. Can Monobjc use XIB files? If yes, how? Interacting with NIB files
> >> is
> >> >> a
> >> >> hassle with Xcode 3, which by default wants XIB files and doesn't
> even
> >> >> let
> >> >> you create IB 2.x NIB files easily.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > XIB is only a development format, not a deployment one. Quoted from
> >> >
> >>
> http://developer.apple.com/documentation/developertools/conceptual/IB_UserGuide/BuildingaNibFile/chapter_3_section_2.html
> >> > :
> >> >
> >> > "The xib file format was also introduced in Interface Builder 3.0 as a
> >> > development-time format and was conceived as a way to provide tighter
> >> > integration with your Xcode projects, particularly in the areas of SCM
> >> > support, diff support, and refactoring. Xcode automatically converts
> >> files
> >> > in the xib format to the nib format at build time."
> >> >
> >> > If you look at the build process in XCode, you will see that the XIB
> >> file
> >> > is
> >> > compiled into a NIB one. Monobjc build tasks allow you to do the same.
> >> > Check http://www.monobjc.net/index.php?page=building-tools for more
> >> > details
> >> > on the <ibtool/> task.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> But all-in-all I remain very convinced that Monobjc is the greatest
> >> thing
> >> >> since sliced .NET.
> >> >>
> >> >> Any chance that it become part of the default Mono distribution?
> >> Novell?
> >> >> Buy
> >> >> Monobjc?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> And if anyone from the Monobjc team reads this: is there a way I can
> >> >> help?
> >> >> I
> >> >> am a bad programmer but excellent user. Can I at least donate or
> >> >> something?
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > You can help by simply using Monobjc. We need the users' feedback to
> >> > refine
> >> > the API and find bugs.
> >> > You can also make a donation via PayPal (the button is on the download
> >> > page).
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Happy Holidays.
> >> >>
> >> >> Andrew
> >> >> --
> >> >> View this message in context:
> >> >>
> >>
> http://www.nabble.com/.exe-using-Winforms-and-Monobjc-Cocoa-%28success%29-tp21011520p21011520.html
> >> >> Sent from the Mono - OSX mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >> >>
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> >> >>
> >> >
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> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >> --
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> >>
> http://www.nabble.com/.exe-using-Winforms-and-Monobjc-Cocoa-%28success%29-tp21011520p21031349.html
> >> Sent from the Mono - OSX mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >>
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> >
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>
> --
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> Sent from the Mono - OSX mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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