Graphical Driver Programs and GUI Utilities

Overview

During the development process, it is not uncommon to spend more time testing the functionality of a particular implementation than actually implementing it. We often refer to these test programs as driver programs or simply, drivers. A driver, then, is a program that we construct to verify some other code. (Old-timers might refer to these driver programs as scaffolds, like those platforms that you find surrounding new buildings during construction.)

During my classes, I've demonstrated several "graphical driver programs" that tested my implementations of various assignments (e.g. the Shape class, Eight Queens, Knight's Tour, WarBoats, Hashtables, etc.) I've also used these programs to demonstrate various algorithms and data structures. (e.g. Object Allocator, Hash Tables, etc.) These driver programs are different from the ones I distribute in that they have a GUI (Graphical User Interface) instead of the simple text-based console interface. The GUI drivers are much more flexible and easier to use than console applications and significantly easier to build and modify than any MFC-based program. This flexibility promotes further testing, since once the “framework” is in place, you can easily test unlimited cases. The most intriguing quality of the GUI driver is that it is relatively simple and quick to implement. Also, both the console driver and the GUI driver use the same interface and implementation files, so no modifications are required to the any of the files of the homework assignments.

The Plan

Several students have inquired about learning how to develop GUI driver programs so that they, too, can enjoy the benefits of a more flexible testing platform. In response to this, I am giving a sort of presentation/seminar/discussion on how you can create GUI driver programs for your own implementations. Since the presentation will be held outside of our normal meeting hours, I need to schedule a time and place for the event(s).

The tool that we will use is called Borland C++ Builder, (BCB) and it allows you to create GUI applications with very little effort. C++ Builder is a modern, powerful, C++ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Borland Software Corp. and is similar to Microsoft's Visual C++. C++ Builder is newer and much more visual than Visual C++ and requires less training and knowledge of Windows. Experienced GUI developers can readily distinguish the differences. Borland's C++ Builder is somewhat of a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool, at least as far as C++ development can be called “rapid”. The current version of C++ Builder is 6.0, and is more than adequate for our needs.

You won't need to have BCB installed to benefit from the presentation, as it is primarily meant as a way to introduce you to the tool. Once you've seen the tool, you can decide for yourself if it is something that you would like to investigate further. To evaluate BCB, you can download a 60-day free trial of the full-blown Enterprise version from Borland's website. There are also trial CDs floating around DigiPen that can be used to install the software. (See me if you need one.) You can check out the feature matrix which explains the differences between the three editions, Enterprise, Professional, and Personal. (I recommend the Professional Edition.)

Note that Borland also distributes a free C++ Builder Compiler. This is just the C++ compiler that is part of the C++ Builder IDE. (It's like the command-line version of Microsoft's C++ compiler, cl.exe). Many DigiPen students have been using this compiler for a while. The compiler alone is not adequate for GUI work. You must use the full-blown IDE (which is essentially what a RAD tool is.)

Visit their websites to get more information about Borland's developer tools and C++ Builder in particular.

Update
My primary goal for introducing BCB to students was simply to make them aware of it. After the introduction, students quickly discovered that building sophisticated, professional-looking Windows GUI applications doesn't require a major portion of their development time. Now, I'm seeing students building tile editors, map editors, and network test harnesses, among other peripheral components necessary to support their game projects. And make no mistake about it: supporting tools and utilities are an essential part of any project (game-related or not).

Once the supporting tools are in place, students are then able to spend more time working on the logic of their game projects, which is what the end-user sees. They can do this because they spend less time worrying about the irrelevant minutiae that underlies the Windows operating system. Borland has always been the leader in abstracting the complexities into an intuitive object-oriented interface while at the same time providing access to the lowest level procedural API interface (e.g. WinProcs, PeekMessage, etc.). In time, as you learn more about interacting with the OS and become comfortable with its APIs and low-level interfaces, you will be able explore those as well with BCB. In the mean time, while you're mastering those concepts, you can still develop real-world applications and tools in a fraction of the time it would take with MFC or a similar framework (ala Petzold).

Independent Study

The online manuals are from the previous version (5), but they are a good place to start. These guides explain the fundamentals of using BCB and how the IDE works. The IDE in version 5 is very similar to the one in version 6 so you shouldn't have too much trouble. Also, you should read this excerpt about the VCL (Visual Component Library) to help you to understand it better.

Also, probably one of the best things to do to get started (which tends to go unused by people new to BCB) is to look at the example projects that come with BCB. The \Examples directory (where you installed BCB 6) has about 75 MB of source code that include all kinds of different programs (GUI controls, Internet components, MFC, OpenGL, DirectDraw, etc.) I don't mind helping you, but please look here first to see if your "question" can be answered. You'll save yourself a lot of time and get your questions answered sooner.

Finally, (well, not really), almost all of your questions have been asked many, many times by others and answered on Borland's newsgroups. You can access and search this plethora of information in several ways:

Web interface to all Borland newsgroups.
Web interface to Borland BCB newsgroup.
Search Borland and Microsoft newsgroups to find answers to most of your questions. (Tamaracka)
Search groups.google.com, a massive archive of newsgroup conversations.

For the best use of Borland's newsgroups (or any newsgroup for that matter), you should really use a real newsreader, not a web browser or plug-in to some other application. (Remember: Best Tool/Language for the Job) The best newsreader is Microplanet's Gravity and it's now FREE! It used to cost money, but they decided to start giving it away. (It was also voted "Cool Software of the Month" in July, 2002.)