[fpc-pascal] which GUI (noob)

[Schindler Karl-Michael]

Hi

my two cents as a long term user of Macs, fpc and lazarus.

> Am 04.08.2015 um 20:01 schrieb fpc-pascal-request at lists.freepascal.org:
> 
> Though I often read that Mac people never will accept something which is not
> made and sold by Apple so a toolkit like MSEgui on Mac is useless and Apple
> tries to lock out „alien" solutions.

This is quite a twisted view, which cries for correction. Apple has put up guide lines for developers, for example the Human Interface Guidelines

(https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20000957)

But there are more, for example about the application bundles and where to put preference files and similar things.

Contrary to the claim above there are plenty freeware and shareware programs, which are well received by mac users. Whether they are sold by apple or not, is not the point. iTunes from Apple, for example, has received quite some critics, because it does not really follow the guide lines and therefore feels „strange“.

Mac users have a low barrier to install and try something, but their barrier to ditch something to the trashcan is also very low. For a real Mac application without any fishy smell, i guess one needs to take the full dive and develop the interface with Xcode and use ObjectivePascal for the code. It is probably the only way to get the application into the AppStore, but i think that this is not your option.

Whether Apple locks out alien solutions is not the point, because this has been the case even before the App Store. However, you can still install and run applications, like Lazarus, alien or not ;-)

The carbon-lcl is probably the best compromise at the moment regarding features and mac-like appearance, at least until the cocoa-lcl does everything you need. Qt4-lcl is another option, but also needs quite some tweaking. For the majority of Apple users all X11-derived solutions are very alien and they are only accepted by techie nerds like me. Therefore, the question about your potential customers/users is quite important. If you have never used a Mac, it might be difficult to understand the critics of Maccies about the strange feeling and only sound arrogant. Things like the top priority of mouse activities and the corresponding user guidance and the much lower importance of application specific short keys. On the other hand a number of default short keys are expected to work. Ctrl-W for closing the active window is often missing in ported programs. But in many cases, the number of little things is so large, that the answer to the question „What is wrong?“ is „Oh my god, where should i start!“ I am surely exaggerating, but actually hoping to prepare you of what might come. There is a good chance that it is not so bad. Since you seem to have little experience with a Mac, it might be good to team up with a Maccie. Maybe try the mac-pascal mailing list.

I have put together a small utility for the conversion of the voltage from a thermocouple to temperature in lazarus. It runs on Mac OS X, Linux and windows. Besides Lazarus, i also use a Makefile for some of the tweaks. Link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/heatwizard/

MiSchi.


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