Graphical user interface builder
A graphical user interface builder (or GUI builder), also known as GUI designer or sometimes RAD IDE, is a software development tool that simplifies the creation of GUIs by allowing the designer to arrange graphical control elements (often called widgets) using a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor. Without a GUI builder, a GUI must be built by manually specifying each widget's parameters in source-code, with no visual feedback until the program is run. Such tools usually called the term RAD IDE.
User interfaces are commonly programmed using an event-driven architecture, so GUI builders also simplify creating event-driven code. This supporting code connects software widgets with the outgoing and incoming events that trigger the functions providing the application logic.
Some graphical user interface builders automatically generate all the source code for a graphical control element. Others, like Interface Builder or Glade Interface Designer, generate serialized object instances that are then loaded by the application.
List of GUI builders
C Language Based
C# Based
- UWP / Windows Presentation Foundation / WinForms
- Microsoft Visual Studio XAML Editor, XAML based GUI layout
- Microsoft Expression Blend
- SharpDevelop
- Xamarin.Forms / .NET Core
C++ Based
- UWP / Windows Presentation Foundation / WinForms
- Microsoft Visual Studio XAML Editor, XAML based GUI layout
- Microsoft Blend
- Qt (toolkit)
- FLTK
- JUCE
- Projucer
- U++
- theIDE
- wxWidgets
- wxGlade
- wxFormBuilder
- wxCrafter (plugin for CodeLite)
Objective-C / Swift Based
Java-Based
- Android Studio, XML based GUI layout
- NetBeans GUI design tool
- SceneBuilder[1]
HTML/Javascript Based
- DreamWeaver from Adobe (Web Application User Interface Builders) — Obsolete as of 2022
- Apache Cordova / PhoneGap
Object Pascal Based
- Delphi / VCL (Visual Component Library)
- Lazarus / LCL (Lazarus Component Library)
Flutter Framework Based
- Flutter (software)
- FlutterFlow,[2]
- FlutterStudio,[3]
- Nowa App builder,[4]
- Blup - Visual Flutter app builder
Tk Framework Based
- Tk (framework)
- ActiveState Komodo (No longer has a GUI builder)
Visual Basic Based
- UWP / Windows Presentation Foundation / WinForms
- Microsoft Visual Studio XAML Editor, XAML based GUI layout
- Microsoft Expression Blend
Other tools
List of development environments
IDEs with GUI builders (RAD IDEs)
- 4D
- ActiveState Komodo (No longer has a GUI builder)
- Android Studio
- Anjuta
- AutoIt3
- B4X
- C++Builder
- Crank AMETEK Storyboard
- Clarion
- Code::Blocks
- CodeLite
- dBase
- Delphi
- Embedded Wizard
- Eclipse
- Gambas
- IntelliJ IDEA
- JDeveloper
- KDevelop
- LabWindows/CVI
- LANSA
- Lazarus
- Liberty BASIC
- Microsoft Visual Studio
- MonoDevelop
- MSEide+MSEgui
- MyEclipse
- NetBeans
- OutSystems
- PascalABC.NET
- Purebasic
- Qt Creator
- SharpDevelop
- Softwell Maker
- VisualFBEditor[5]
- WinFBE
- VB6 There is the VB6 IDE itself, perhaps the grandfather of all the RAD IDEs listed here. Still operational and functional on Windows 10+ despite the 20 year neglect from Microsoft. It is still available from Microsoft by subscription. It installs with some small effort (using online guides) and produces surprisingly decent results. Being unsupported can actually be a positive as VB6 is unchanging and at the very least, stable. VB6 as a tool is limited by being 32bit in all respects but the IDE, object and code editor is still competent and extremely quick to start, compile and interpret on modern systems. The Graphic compositor is the definitive RAD builder of its time. Despite being limited to VB6 controls alone, some extremely advanced GUI designs can be still built. TwinBasic and RADBasic set themselves as true successors and aim to offer future proofing and 64bit capability whilst being fully compatible with the language. Both are building a replacement IDE replicating the GUI builder. Note: VBA is 64bit, fully supported by Microsoft and is based upon VB6.
- Xcode
- Xojo
See also
References
- "Scene Builder".
- "FlutterFlow - Build Native Apps Visually". Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- "FlutterStudio". Retrieved 5 June 2022.
- "FALL IN LOVE WITH BUILDING APPS". Nowa. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- Speed, Richard (2022-05-06). "RAD Basic – the Visual Basic 7 that never was – releases third alpha". The Register. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
RAD Basic is not the only game in town. Alternatives in varying stages of development include twinBASIC, which also aims to be backwards compatible with VB6 and VBA; and FreeBASIC, which implements much of what lurked in Microsoft QuickBASIC (and has a nifty IDE in the form of VisualFBEditor).