On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:32:24 -0500, David Abrahams wrote:
Sure, though I would never call the function "add". I'd be looking for declarative DSELs like: window("Warning: now entering twilight zone") [ text_field("my favorite color is:"), button("OK") | button("cancel") ]
I like this approach. I can see how the expression in the "[...]" can be an abstract structure that is only converted into concrete widgets when passed to a "real" window factory, and that opens up all sorts of possibilities for reuse of GUI design patterns. widget_ast common_buttons(button("OK") | button("Cancel")); window("Window 1")[ text_field("Hello"), common_buttons ] window("Window 2")[ text_field("Goodbye"), common_buttons ] It also gives a really rather neat way of supporting multiple concrete widget sets: widget_ast demo_widgets(/*...*/); gtk_window("gtk window")[demo_widgets]; // specifically GTK+ widgets qt_window("qt window")[demo_widgets]; // specifically QT widgets It isn't immediately obvious how to bind actions to the various widgets - it doesn't seem sensible for it to be done at the AST level since you wouldn't generally want all OK buttons to perform the same action... Anyway, I was just adding my support for a less procedural approach to constructing GUIs. phil -- change name before "@" to "phil" for email