[Pythoncard-users] Possible Project Idea

[Patrick K. O'B. <po...@or...>]

Here is an idea that might help us focus and determine the direction for
further PythonCard development. The key to the idea is to start with the end
in mind. By that I mean, let's start with a description of what we want to
end up with and work backwards to see what we have to accomplish to achieve
that end.

As I see it, the end that most people seem to want is a tool that lets them
easily create simple GUI applications that manage information without having
to know much about GUIs or databases or even programming. What does this
imply?

* Some kind of visual screen builder.

* Some kind of persistent data storage.

This also implies that some things are less important. For example, support
for multiple GUI toolkits would be nice, but users would be happy with just
wxPython as long as it was made easy. Storing widget definitions in a
resource file is nice, but users would rather not even see that, let alone
care about how the resource file is formatted or whether it is XML or not.

With this in mind, I think we need to keep ourselves focused on the goal,
and not get too sidetracked by things like the format of the resource file.
Especially since we have no easy persistent data storage mechanisms that
allow an app to have multiple windows/screens/records, and we have only the
beginning of a visual screen builder.

So if the goal is simple visual construction of screens that access
transparently persistent data, I'd like to suggest that we embark on a joint
effort to create such an application from scratch, using the tools that we
have so far in PythonCard, as a way to flesh out further requirements. The
development of this sample application could even be documented as a
tutorial for others.

If there is interest in this idea, here is what I think needs to happen:

1. Decide on a sample application that reflects the kind of app people would
have done in HyperCard.

2. Decide how we are going to store the data - CSV, ZODB, XML, MySQL, etc.

3. Develop the app in a collaborative fashion to get feedback from more than
one person.

4. Document as much as possible so that this serves as a tutorial of sorts.

5. Repeat for the next app until PythonCard is perfect.

How does this idea grab everyone else? Good, bad, indifferent?

---
Patrick K. O'Brien
Orbtech
"I am, therefore I think."