Should I try FireFly Gui, or stay do everything in PB/forms?

[Paul J Newcum]

Hi, I have PB/Forms, but some descriptions about FireFly Gui designer seem to me as if possibly I should be looking at getting that.

Is there any comparison information about PB/Forms and FireFly Gui designer anywhere?

I am more of a VB 6.0 person, and it seems daunting to me at this early stage to think about diving into Windows API calls, via PB/Forms when I have never done that, so that is why I am thinking about FireFly Gui designer.

Any advice out there?

Thanks.

Paul N.

[Paul Squires]

If I were in your shoes then I would use FireFly, no questions asked!

[Bud Durland]

I have both. If your budget allows, get both -- there are subtle (and not so subtle) differences that can make one a better choice thant the other for a given project. If you only have the $$ for one, FireFly is the winner. I originally came from DOS, and the code generated by PBForms is closer to that, though it is obviously not top-down like a DOS program.

FireFly is closer (in appearance anyway) to VB. It took me a few days to get used to working in it, but once I got going, productivity accelerated. FireFly includes lots of built-in functions for mundane things, like reading/writing .ini files, file open/save dialogs, etc. It also has tools for ADO data access, though I've not tried them out yet. The tipping point for me was how easy FF made it to use the tab control.

PBForms does give you complete control over your source code. FireFly saves "projects", then generates source code on the fly when you compile the project. PBForms creates the source, with clearly marked blocks that you should not touch. You then add your code and use PowerBasic to compile it. Before I got FireFly, I was using Paul's freeware Jellyfish editor (get more information here) as a replacement IDE for PB. It has a tabbed interface, and learn CodeTips, etc. Certainly worth the download.

Hope this helps.

[Cliff Nichols]

Hi Paul,

FireFly is a definite route you may want to go, as with some other excellent gui designers built around PB

but as you said

I am more of a VB 6.0 person, and it seems daunting to me at this early stage to think about diving into Windows API calls, via PB/Forms when I have never done that, so that is why I am thinking about FireFly Gui designer.

You don't have to get into Windows API just yet, if DDT is as close to VB as you can get, but find things daunting recreating your VB GUI using PB Forms. (If you are looking for the "On-Click" and etc....then maybe one of the others will be better suited) but if just wanting a quick way to get the layout of a GUI you already designed.....
you may want to look into the PB downloads for PB WinSpy (sorry I forgot who wrote it)

Its one of those "Hidden Gems" that you can drag your cursor to the GUI you already built, and it will recreate the code in DDT for you (so all you have to do is go back and rename the variables it creates)

That way you have your GUI back, and can just work on how it functions

[Brian Chirgwin]

Is there any comparison information about PB/Forms and FireFly Gui designer anywhere?

I am also one who came from programming VB6. I did use the WinAPI a lot.

I've used both PBForms and FireFly.

FireFly is very close to using VB 6.
The functions are named different, and there are some things you can't do that VB 6 can. On the other hand there are many things PB can do that VB can't. It is probably the closest IDE to VB 6 developer.

In summary, I'd recommend FireFly.