need a good gui framework

[colin]

Hi,
Im making a model editor and got most of it working
but I need to make the user interface with many of the features found on
the c# IDE itself such as multiple dockable configurable toolbars,
tabbed colections of documents/menus/controls etc,
not to mention keyboard mapping althought this il probably treat seperatly,

is there any good starting point such as an example or tutorial or
ready made framework or template?

ive had a quick look and found "A Simple C# Toolbar Docking Framework"
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/menus/ToolBarDock.aspx
but I probably need a bit more than this,
any know of any other better starting points?

thanks
Colin =^.^=

 

[Peter Morris]

www.devexpress.com

 

[Steve Gerrard]

www.devexpress.com

Yup.

 

[William R. Cousert]

Yup.

Is there anything like this with the hobbyist programmer in mind? I'd love
to use something like this in my FREEWARE programs, but I can't justify the
expense.

Maybe open source?

 

[Jesse Houwing]

Hello William R. Cousert" admin at mousepoop dot DELETETHIS com,

Is there anything like this with the hobbyist programmer in mind? I'd
love to use something like this in my FREEWARE programs, but I can't
justify the expense.

Maybe open source?

Mostly no. Many of these component companies have licensed their controls
'for the community' in the past. Many freeware/open source tools I've used
in the past used some kind of free version of the specific controls used
in retrun for a mention in the docs, the website and the about screen. You
might be able to persuade the sales department of DevExpress, but I'd say
the chances are usually slim.

There are some older controls that spring to midn that once were free, and
therefore still have a freeware version going round at least somewhere. These
aren't usually the most beautifull controls available, but they do the trick
mostly. ComponentOne has given away a 2 year old version of their controls
on a number of occasions. I might even have such a license somewhere in my
mailbox. But you might wat to try and ask them for such an arrangement.

DotNetMagic has once been freeware. You can still download that version from
this location http://www.dotnetmagic.com/downloads/MagicLibrary174.msi This
version was built against the 1.1 version of the framework and is no longer
supported by the developers. They now have a commercial version available.

 

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Colin,

Well, you could always use the Visual Studio Shell itself:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vsx2008/products/bb933751.aspx

It sounds like you want "Isolated Mode".

From the page referenced above:

Q: How much will the Visual Studio Shell cost?

The Visual Studio Shell will be freely available as part of the Visual
Studio SDK starting with the release of the Visual Studio 2008 SDK. Building
and deploying applications based on the Visual Studio Shell will be
royalty-free.

The Visual Studio 2008 SDK is free as well and can be obtained from this
page:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...23-93ca-479a-867c-04dc45164f5b&displaylang=en

The Visual Studio Extensibility page is a good place to start as well:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700819.aspx

The only caveat is that you need Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition or
above installed to do the development. However, if you have that (and not
the express version), then you are good to go.

 

[colin]

ooo cool thanks very much
that looks real neat, but shame its not supported under express,
cant realy justify shelling out for the full version.
although what you get with the express version does seem quite remarkable
given that its free.

looks like I might just throw some toolbars and stuff together, cant be so
hard,
wont expect it to be anywhere near as good as the c#ide but its not like
its gona be a big widley used commercial application that can justify any
expense.

surprised there isnt something inbetween, maybe il come accross an open
source
project with a good ide type interface I can learn from.

trouble is with c# being relativly new hasnt the massive amount of open
source code like c++;

Colin =^.^=

Colin,

Well, you could always use the Visual Studio Shell itself:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vsx2008/products/bb933751.aspx

It sounds like you want "Isolated Mode".

From the page referenced above:

Q: How much will the Visual Studio Shell cost?

The Visual Studio Shell will be freely available as part of the Visual
Studio SDK starting with the release of the Visual Studio 2008 SDK.
Building and deploying applications based on the Visual Studio Shell will
be royalty-free.

The Visual Studio 2008 SDK is free as well and can be obtained from
this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...23-93ca-479a-867c-04dc45164f5b&displaylang=en

The Visual Studio Extensibility page is a good place to start as well:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700819.aspx

The only caveat is that you need Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition or
above installed to do the development. However, if you have that (and not
the express version), then you are good to go.

--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- (e-mail address removed)

Hi,
Im making a model editor and got most of it working
but I need to make the user interface with many of the features found on
the c# IDE itself such as multiple dockable configurable toolbars,
tabbed colections of documents/menus/controls etc,
not to mention keyboard mapping althought this il probably treat
seperatly,

is there any good starting point such as an example or tutorial or
ready made framework or template?

ive had a quick look and found "A Simple C# Toolbar Docking Framework"
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/menus/ToolBarDock.aspx
but I probably need a bit more than this,
any know of any other better starting points?

thanks
Colin =^.^=

 

[colin]

Ive just come accross this ...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dockpanelsuite
looks quite good, although havnt done more than run the sample yet.

Colin =^.^=