why is this so hard?

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5 total messages Started by Mig Mon, 12 Aug 2002 03:52

#29

Author: Mig
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 03:52

20 lines
1793 bytes

I am a newbie palm programmer and I can't believe this is so hard!  It
just took me four hours to figure how to save some simple information
to a "database".  Databases, records, memory locks, memory handles,
memory pointers, it goes on and on.  I know this is going to make my
app full of weird bugs.

Have these people never heard of layers of abstraction?  I thought the
SDK would have libraries that would help but apparently not.

What's wrong with making some functions like these:
if (dbptr = DBopen ("dbname", w))
   DBprintf(dbptr, "some text");
DBclose;

Now I'm trying to figure out the scrollbars.  Looks like it's going to
take me another four hours.  A text field should work automatically
with a scrollbar without any code.

Couldn't they make this easier?  Why do I have to figure out all the
minute details.  They can't do anything for me?

Re: why is this so hard?

#30

Author: Ben Combee
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 15:59

18 lines
1828 bytes

In article <cf3d85d4.0208111952.639b2ff3@posting.google.com>, 
miguel@vargas.com says...
> Couldn't they make this easier?  Why do I have to figure out all the
> minute details.  They can't do anything for me?

I recommend you look at the Object Library for Palm OS, a really good 
C++ class framework that wraps a lot of the Palm OS API into something 
more manageable.

www.aqpoint.com/pol/

We will be including this as a standard part of the next version of 
CodeWarrior for Palm OS, due sometime this fall.

-- 
Ben Combee <bcombee@metrowerks.com>
CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Get help at http://palmoswerks.com/

Re: why is this so hard?

#31

Author: Timothy Trimble
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 17:39

43 lines
2839 bytes

This is why we created "da Vinci".  It takes hours and sometimes days to
create a database for Palm OS.  Don't feel bad - even experienced PalmOS
developers spend a huge amount of time on database code.

With da Vinci, you design your database under Windows, generate the C source
code, and then put the code into CodeWarrior.  da Vinci can generate all the
code for creating the database, adding records, deleting records, sorting,
searching, packing, unpacking, and much more.  Plus, the code is heavily
commented to help you understand what is going on.

You can find it here: http://www.exts.com

Feel free to let us know if you have any questions.

Tim
--
================================
Timothy Trimble
ETS, Inc.  "Extending technology via handheld computing."
http://www.exts.com

"Mig" <miguel@vargas.com> wrote in message
news:cf3d85d4.0208111952.639b2ff3@posting.google.com...
> I am a newbie palm programmer and I can't believe this is so hard!  It
> just took me four hours to figure how to save some simple information
> to a "database".  Databases, records, memory locks, memory handles,
> memory pointers, it goes on and on.  I know this is going to make my
> app full of weird bugs.
>
> Have these people never heard of layers of abstraction?  I thought the
> SDK would have libraries that would help but apparently not.
>
> What's wrong with making some functions like these:
> if (dbptr = DBopen ("dbname", w))
>    DBprintf(dbptr, "some text");
> DBclose;
>
> Now I'm trying to figure out the scrollbars.  Looks like it's going to
> take me another four hours.  A text field should work automatically
> with a scrollbar without any code.
>
> Couldn't they make this easier?  Why do I have to figure out all the
> minute details.  They can't do anything for me?

Re: why is this so hard?

#27

Author: Neil Kurzman
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 05:29

31 lines
2500 bytes

The answer is it is a low level API.  It is flexible ad light weight
(small)
You can wrap it up anyway you want.  But small was more importantant a
Palms beginning than it is now.
This also explains why the string functions are funny.

Anyone have an explanation about why the Conduits API is so hard, Or is it
just the Generic Conduit?

Mig wrote:

> I am a newbie palm programmer and I can't believe this is so hard!  It
> just took me four hours to figure how to save some simple information
> to a "database".  Databases, records, memory locks, memory handles,
> memory pointers, it goes on and on.  I know this is going to make my
> app full of weird bugs.
>
> Have these people never heard of layers of abstraction?  I thought the
> SDK would have libraries that would help but apparently not.
>
> What's wrong with making some functions like these:
> if (dbptr = DBopen ("dbname", w))
>    DBprintf(dbptr, "some text");
> DBclose;
>
> Now I'm trying to figure out the scrollbars.  Looks like it's going to
> take me another four hours.  A text field should work automatically
> with a scrollbar without any code.
>
> Couldn't they make this easier?  Why do I have to figure out all the
> minute details.  They can't do anything for me?

Re: why is this so hard?

#28

Author: Ben Combee
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:24

13 lines
1812 bytes

In article <3D5B3B6E.CFB39FEA@mail.asb.com>, nsk@mail.asb.com says...
> Anyone have an explanation about why the Conduits API is so hard, Or is it
> just the Generic Conduit?

The SyncManager API that is used by the Generic Conduit is actually 
pretty easy, and if you're only doing one-way synchronization, you're 
probably better using it than deriving from the C++ classes.  It has 
direct functions for opening a DB on the device and reading and writing 
records.
-- 
Ben Combee <bcombee@metrowerks.com>
CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Get help at http://palmoswerks.com/

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