[Mono-osx] Stetic GUI designer for Mac OS?

[Joanna Carter]

Hi Ralph

> So this looks to me as the first hint to learn Objective-C, right?

Not necessarily.

> This is the Xcode environment, right?

Yes, the developer tools consists of Xcode, Interface Builder and several other very useful tools.

> So this is the second advise to learn Objective-C:-)

Or simply to get acquainted with the cocoa libraries, which are every bit as massive as the .NET ones :-)

> At the moment I don't know, how all these things (C# developement in Mono,
> Monoobj bridge, Cocoa framework) come together at least to build a running
> application. Does that require building some parts of the app in Mono and
> other parts in Xcode?

Sort of. The only reason to use Xcode would be to create a Core Data model for your business classes, because it also provides an ORM (Object Relational Mechanism) so that you don't need to bother with databases at all.

> And if there is deffenitly no visual designer in Mono for building the UI
> there is no need for me using mono. Especially if the result doesn't look
> like native Mac apps.

If you are only aiming at developing Mac-only apps then, IMO, there is no need at all to use Mono. It is really best suited to an app where you are planning on using existing .NET libraries but want an OS X UI.

> To resume your post I think it would be the best to get startet learning
> Objective-C, right?

It is certainly not that difficult to learn, just different.

> Will my C# knowledge help me there? What is the best way to learn this new
> language? Do you've got a link to get startet?

If you don't want to develop iPhone apps, which do not support garbage collection, then developing OS X apps can leverage GC to hide all that "retain-release" reference-counted stuff that you will see in so many examples.

I have written a tutorial, aimed at introducing Windows programmers to Mac development. It is available for download from the UK Developers Group website http://www.richplum.co.uk/magazine/dg201001.pdf. Let me know what you think - and if you find any mistakes or shortcomings :-)

> One thing at the end:
> Can you confirm that there is no visual designer in Mono for building UI's
> for Mac OS? I only want to know that because I searched a long time and
> couldn't find a answer.

I have not found one that does "native" Cocoa UIs, just WinForms or Gtk.

Joanna

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Joanna Carter
Carter Consulting