Re: Fortran77 & GUI

From: Kevin G. Rhoads (kgrhoads_at_alum.mit.edu)
Date: 05/17/04 

Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 14:46:14 +0000

>But, assuming the user makes a mistake in the input file,
>he has to run the code first, check the error message that pops up on
>the screen (or in the log file), understand it well enough to know how
>to correct his mistake.
>
>But this is not all that simple for everyone, including people who are
>very familiar with developing similar codes.

This depends upon the degree of input-checking in the Fortran and
the personalities and experiences of the users. As I said in
my post, this works for me, but may not be suited to your case.

I am not trying to convince you to do it some way that you think is
unsuited to the task. I was just offerring an alternative that may
or may not be suitable.

>A GUI, on the other hand, is incremental, that is, it will analyze the
>options selected so far and prevent all the following irrelevant ones
>from being selected (by e.g. dimming them)

1) this can be done with a CUI or a GUI
2) it is often done "wrong": things that should be dimmed aren't, and
things that shouldn't be dimmed are -- just like CUI interfaces can be
done wrong -- it takes a LOT of thought and effort to get input checking
right, and that is not any easier if the input format is GUI or CUI or
voice activated or whatever

>Besides, there is nothing that prevents a GUI front end from saving all
>this information selected by the user to a valid, error-free input file,

This is a very good point, and one that may be better suited to your
specific case here.

In any case, good luck with your project whatever you choose to do.

Sincerely
Kevin