Free GUI libraries for Blitzmax?

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/Free GUI libraries for Blitzmax?

Mongoose(Posted 2013) [#1]
I'm curious if there's any sort of analogy to XLNT II in Blitzmax that's still available. I'm considering migrating some projects but sadly, it seems all of the 3rd party GUI libs have dried up for Max.

Anyone know if any are still kicking?


GaryV(Posted 2013) [#2]
This is something I have run into with the death of ifsoGUI. There do not seem to be any GUIs still alive.


Brucey(Posted 2013) [#3]
Yep. It seems BlitzMax is simply not supported by anyone any more...


Derron(Posted 2013) [#4]
You mean we are like these weird archaeologist paying more attention to a mummy than a mommy?

Some years in the future I am able to answer the question "Do you speak a dead language" with:
While I have to say no to latin, I said yes to BlitzMax.


@Moongose
If you do not need that complex GUI framework - just do it yourself (a simple gui with inputboxes and buttons should be done easily). Maybe that's an option for you.


bye
Ron


jsp(Posted 2013) [#5]
It seems BlitzMax is simply not supported by anyone any more...

I still have some open projects and thus lurking here regularly the forums, but have to agree that it got very quiet here.
I find it amazing how fast people give up and looking for something new, while BlitzMax is still perfect usable for most programs, stable and fast.


Brucey(Posted 2013) [#6]
I find it amazing how fast people give up and looking for something new

Yes, human nature is a funny old thing.

My BlitzMax still works as well as the last time I used it (which was earlier today).

Since most ("most" as in the meaning of most, rather than the for those people who think "most" means everyone) people never actually finish anything, it probably doesn't really matter what language they are using - unless a particular language doesn't actually do what they want.

I'm sure I have one or two projects on the go too that people are welcome to use if they want.


degac(Posted 2013) [#7]
Blitzmax is still used by me in my daily work... (not games and nothing for the rest of the universe unfortunately, just data/accounting analysis)

Monkey (or Monkey-X) is a new toy, but not so interesting (= the idea to create the Nth clone of arkanoid/missile commands/tic-tac-toe/angry birds on a mobile device is not very funny).

And with Monkey-X I coundn't do quite anything that I can with Bmax+MaxGUI.

ps: I still hope in a MaxGUI2.0 or at least MaxGUI (I must find the time to create a proxygadget for a grid-property of some sort...)


GaryV(Posted 2013) [#8]
Blitzmax is still used by me in my daily work...
Same here and I will continue to use it until it is completely incompatible.

(not games and nothing for the rest of the universe unfortunately, just data/accounting analysis)
Take that and throw in some server apps and a new database related project and you have my daily uses for Max and can perhaps understand my concern about 64-bit support as that is an issue I have run up against. I also use Blitz Plus for some things.


Cruis.In(Posted 2013) [#9]
I just published void of darkness with it. voidofdarkness.com

Which I credited the community here for all the help! :)

(in the game credits)

Also ifsoGUI might not be being worked on anymore, it might not even be 'free', but I used it for VOD and it's a fine GUI. Not only easy and well documented, but the source is there for it too.

Has a lot of customization to make a very smooth interface, I just am no good at aesthetics that is why mine looks so drab.


Calibrator(Posted 2013) [#10]
> Also ifsoGUI might not be being worked on anymore, it might not even be 'free'

It appears to be free since about three days now - and even if one doesn't use it one could still learn from it (which alone is great, IMHO).


Scaremonger(Posted 2014) [#11]
I too use BlitzMax daily and have been surprised just how quickly the community has dried up. As it is my language of choice; I am sad to see it dying.

Now that Tablets/Phones are being used more than Laptops, does a programming language like this have a future? I believe so but it will be a niche market.

With all the different languages available I would like to see BlitzMAX be the one to survive but without some minor improvements (IDE, Website and MaxGUI) and continued support from both the developers and the community I think it will disappear along with most of the others.

On that note: Have BlitzSupport officially announced the product as Unsupported?


degac(Posted 2014) [#12]

On that note: Have BlitzSupport officially announced the product as Unsupported?



I cant' speak for BRL of course, but I never see any BRL's product defined 'unsupported'.
BlitzMax (or Blitz3d) is still sold and 'maintained': this means that BRL *could* release fix (if needed) to keep it working (ie: Windows 9 *probably* could force an update for Blitmax).


Now that Tablets/Phones are being used more than Laptops, does a programming language like this have a future? I believe so but it will be a niche market.



Well Monkey (or Monkey-X) is very similar to BlitzMax in syntax (it has some upgrade in OOP like Interfaces and function overloading). So it's not a problem of language.
If you want to write a program running in a single windows/screen you can do it even in BlitzMax (without MaxGUI): the modern devices/GUI force to consider applications a 'closed' world.
This is the problem (for me).

And Monkey has less features than BlitzMax (from my point of view): just consider the modules you can find...


Calibrator(Posted 2014) [#13]
> Now that Tablets/Phones are being used more than Laptops, does a programming language like this have a future? I believe so but it will be a niche market.

Even though tablet and smartphones(which is what you want to compare) sell in higher numbers we still have a market of hundreds of millions of desktop PCs and laptops (Windows or otherwise) - still being sold.

I hardly call that a niche market.

What you may want to do is assessing the market in regards to what you want to sell - and thus develop. Personally, I'd never choose the programming language first and then the program I want to develop it with, but not the other way round...

Do you want to program games for a more casual type gamer or consumer then iOS or Android tablets may be indeed good and capable platforms.
Other people already thought of this, though, which is why most of them earn next to nothing in the online stores for the respective operating systems.

On PCs the (more "dedicated") gamers have accepted the existance of Steam - if you (or me) like it or not.
If you want to sell a game without Steam you must have very good arguments.
"Humble Bundle" is one of those arguments but try to get into one first...
I'd like to point you to the indiegames.com blog which occasionally has posts (called "post mortems") about how successful a certain indie game was or wasn't. As a reality check this is probably highly recommended.

If you want to sell non-games software then you may still be able to do that (well) for the desktop/laptop systems. If you, for example, want to develop a graphics utility you may want to check your competition first, though, as some programs are already that highly evolved that it is very difficult to enter the market.


John G(Posted 2014) [#14]
If you want to be paid for your programming time, the blossoming Mobile market (Tablets/Phones) might be a tough climb for most. I think the mobile czars view all software as Free, or close to it. Huge volumes possible of course...