Android Question Abstract designer

[rleiman]

Hi Everyone,

This is more of a product enhancement request.

Do you know if Erel is designing a GUI for B4A that shows a more realistic representation of what the Android screen looks like when views are placed in the designer?

I love B4A and have recommended it to other people who purchased it, but I think this would be a killer development environment if the user could see a representation of what the Android screen looks when views are added to it (not like the Abstract Designer). Something like the designer in Microsoft Visual Studio would be wild! With that product you just drag the object onto the designer surface and like the Abstract Designer where you can resize and alter the properties of a view. The object shown is what you see when the program is running.

Please please.

 

[ronell]

lets talk this about in the chit chat forum or in the wishlist forum?

 

[Erel]

You know that you can connect a real device or the emulator to the designer and see the layout, right?

 

[rleiman]

You know that you can connect a real device or the emulator to the designer and see the layout, right?

Hi Erel,

Yes, I knew about that but it's a bit clumsy at least for me to move views around on the phone screen instead of doing it in the GUI like you can do in Visual Studio even though I love the way the WYSIWYG Designer shows the views live.

 

[Cableguy]

Hi Erel,

Yes, I knew about that but it's a bit clumsy at least for me to move views around on the phone screen instead of doing it in the GUI like you can do in Visual Studio even though I love the way the WYSIWYG Designer shows the views live.

I don't get it...
If, while using the abstract designer, you connect a real device and press F2 so that they "connect" you will see the real views, and still be able to reposition them or change any prop in the abstract Designer...
You can even use the cloud service to get a visual of how your layout will look like in a few major brand different Res and sizes.
The only major lack I see, is the abstract support for custom views.

 

[fixit30]

I think what they are saying is that you do not get a true wysiwyg. For example, a spinner does not look like a spinner, and a checkbox does not look like a checkbox in the designer.

 

[Cableguy]

I think what they are saying is that you do not get a true wysiwyg. For example, a spinner does not look like a spinner, and a checkbox does not look like a checkbox in the designer.

Thats why its called an Abstract Designer, but if during its utilization, you connect a real device, on the device screen you'll see the real controls, WYSIWYG!

 

[fixit30]

but if during its utilization, you connect a real device, on the device screen you'll see the real controls, WYSIWYG!

Yes, but if I remember correctly, you still have the large square resize handles.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just trying to clarify the comments of the OP.

 

[Cableguy]

not if you "run" the script, even if its empty!
or just selecting the activity!

 

[Dave O]

Even on the device, it's not true WYSIWYG. That's always been my biggest wish for B4A - that I had a reasonably WYSIWYG editor on the desktop. For now, I use the Abstract Designer, Ctrl-S, and F11 to restart the app in the rapid debugger.

Also, being able to drill down into a container (like a scrollview) to lay out items inside it, without having to open a separate layout file.

But it's still my fave dev tool, so Erel must be doing something right.