Grantham, NH – December 2, 1998 – Bowers Development announced that it is
now shipping AppMaker CD #11. It is in the mail to all current subscribers,
domestic and international.
“Thanks to user feedback, we think this is an exciting release,” said Spec
Bowers, President of Bowers Development. “Working with real-world
applications we found ways to make it easier for you to add your functional
code and ways for AppMaker to do more of the programming job for you.”
About AppMaker –
AppMaker is a programming tool that makes it faster and easier to make a
Macintosh application – not just the user interface, but also the
functional code. With AppMaker you create the menus, windows, dialogs and
their contents by clicking and dragging to arrange what you want on-screen.
You also point and click to declare data structures and to connect UI items
to data items. AppMaker creates resources to describe your design, and
generates “human, professional quality code” in your choice of either
procedural or object-oriented programming languages.
More than a GUI Builder –
The theme in AppMaker #11 is to write more of the application logic for
you. Code that you would have had to write by hand, AppMaker now generates
for you. You design your user interface and design the data items, then
connect them. AppMaker generates the skeleton, the sinews, and much of the
muscle of the application logic in addition to generating resources and
source code for the user interface.
Among many other enhancements to the code generator, AppMaker now generates
file I/O to read/write any data Members that are specified as “persistent.”
Commands that invoke modal dialogs can include code fragments to be
generated before and/or after invoking the dialog. AppMaker now generates
code to enable or disable UI items depending on the state of connected
boolean data items.
AppMaker #11 adds a custom list box, the “Panel” flavor, that uses a Panel
to specify the format of each row of the list. A Panel is a collection of
window items, usually static text items. This makes it very easy to create
multi-column lists. You can connect the list to an array of data items
which provide the content for each column of the list. The
AppMaker-generated and library code automatically reacts to changes in the
data by redrawing the list.
New documentation describes how to add functional code, how to define data
and connect to the UI, and the design theory and structure of the generated
code.
An updated AMReminder example shows how easy it is to create a very
functional application with just a few code fragments entered into
AppMaker. A new LayerGroups example shows several kinds of LayerGroups,
controlled by Tab Panels, List Boxes, Popups, and Edit Fields. (A
LayerGroup is a very useful and very flexible widget. Download the Demo to
see examples.)
AppMaker #11 was tested with Metrowerks CW Pro 3 and Pro 4.
Pricing and Availability –
AppMaker CD #11 is available now from DevDepot,
http://www.devdepot.com/, or from Bowers Development,
http://members.aol.com/bowersdev/. The $199 price includes a one-year
subscription.
About Bowers Development –
Bowers Development was formed in 1989 to develop programmer productivity
tools.
Press contact:
Spec Bowers
Bowers Development
603-863-0945, fax 863-3857
bowersdev@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/bowersdev/