🚀 go-pugleaf

koppi@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu (Jeffrey Alan Koppi) writes:



>There are several tools available to create View resources for use with MacApp.
>I am using Apple's ViewEdit program and have been successful,
>however I have heard that it has bugs.

>Is the AdLib product any better? Does it offer any features not found 
>in ViewEdit?

>AdLib is available from MADA, and I've read the ad, but I was wondering if 
>anyone is actually using it...

	I have been using AdLib for a few weeks, and View Edit for a
few months.  View Edit has many problems, not the least of which is
occasional crashing.  Its implementation of grids is awful.
Manipulation of objects in the view is difficult.
	Ad Lib is much more refined and has great potential.  However,
the current version is nowhere near the panacea that people claimed it
would be.  All object attributes are set within modal dialogs.  So if
you want to make an Edit Text, you place the Edit Text object, then you
bring up the modal dialog for Edit Text attribs.  Then you close that
and bring up the dialog for Static Text attribs.  Then you close that and
bring up the dialog for TControl.  Then you close that and etc...
	Ad Lib has three convenient windoids- Objects, Attributes, and
Information.  These windoids make it easy to place objects and edit a
few of their essential attributes.  However, Ad Lib does not remember
which ones of these you had open when you quit the program, so the
first thing you have to do when you launch the program is select the
three windoids from the Windows menu.  Annoying.
	Ad Lib allows you to align items very conveniently- something
ViewEdit can't do.  However, there is a bug in the program that
prevents you from aligning some objects.  I have selected two objects
and found that the Align menu item was still disabled.  So I tried
selecting a third object and suddenly the item was enabled.
	I would strongly advise against using AdLib and ViewEdit
together.  Because AdLib controls the creation and numbering of STR#
resources, you'll find that merely opening a rsrc file with Views in
Ad Lib can severely mess up your STR# resources, if you created them
in View Edit.

	My bottom line- Ad Lib 1.1 or 2.0 will be a fantastic product
and worth the $200.  Ad Lib 1.0 simply has too many problems.  It
solves some of the problems that View Edit has, but it creates other
problems for itself.  Is Ad Lib a good program?  Yes.  Is it $200
worth of good program?  Not for me.


My Disclaimer:  My opinions are solely my own and not those of Apple
Computer.  Comments in this post should not be construed as an
endorsement or criticism on the part of Apple.


Jamie Osborne                                            jwo@apple.com
Enterprise Systems Division               "Just take me as far as the
Apple Computer, Inc.                         Basingstoke roundabout."

Klingon: "Better to live on our feet than to die at our knees!"
--Klingon, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", Stardate 9523.8