EZGUI, Netbooks, Tablet PC’s and Wine

EZGUI 4.0 Professional is a powerful development system (combined with the PowerBasic compiler) which has some interesting advantages over the more common Windows development tools used by most programmers today (aka. MS Studio, dot.net stuff, etc.).

It has to do with a core design concept used right from its origin in version 1.0.

What is that ?

EZGUI was designed so it could run even on legacy operating systems, such as Windows 95/98. This meant using core API’s in Windows which have been around a long time (but trying to avoid ones which would become obsolete), while avoiding the “bleeding edge” as much as possible. When later API’s needed to be used, they are loaded dynamically, so the runtime can still run on Windows 95, but you have access to later API’s on systems like Windows XP to 7.

EZGUI is also very modular in its design (ie. reuses as much code in its runtime as possible for as many features as possible) which makes its runtime “lean and mean”, requiring a very small footprint (memory and disk size).  There is more packed into EZGUI’s main runtime DLL, than many other GUI libraries (ie. EZGUI has more UI functionality than the VB runtime with a number of added OCX’s combined).

EZGUI also uses its own software based solutions, rather than depend upon hardware based solutions. One example is its Sprite engine. It is a powerful 2D animation engine, which supports frame animation, alphablending and anti-aliasing all via software without the need for DirectX or OpenGL (I should note that EZGUI 5.0, which is still in development will be using OpenGL for 3D animation). The Sprite engine is fast for a software based engine, so it runs well even on limited hardware.

EZGUI’s design gives it an advantage for designing software which will run on low cost Windows NetBooks and Tablet PC’s.  Such PC’s may not run DirectX based graphics well, but EZGUI’s proprietary software based Sprite engine should run quite well on them.  Disk space may be limited on such computers, so EZGUI’s extremely small footprint is perfect for such PC’s. You can build apps which are huge in features, but which can still fit on a floppy disk. Now compare that to the dot.net generation of development tools !

EZGUI also runs quite well on Linux based PC’s which have Wine (Windows emulator) installed. One reason is because it stays away from the bleeding edge API’s, while still providing some amazing functionality. Also rather than create apps which depend upon third party ActiveX controls (which may not run well on Wine), EZGUI provides one of the richest user interface engines available so you can build it all with just EZGUI (and your Powerbasic compiler). EZGUI’s OwnerDraw and CustomDraw engines allow you to customize existing controls to create new ones. EZGUI’s subclassing engine allows you to expand upon existing controls with low level access to controls internal window procedures. EZGUI’s Graphic engine provides high level (Sprites) drawing as well as low level drawing (DIBSection Canvas buffers where you access pixels directly). EZGUI provides a number of custom controls such as a Canvas control (with sprite engine), MCI control, Masked Edit control, Shape/Hot Spot control, Turtle Graphics control (vector based graphics), Drag Handle control, Files Listbox control and Properties Listbox control. EZGUI has a built in Visual Design engine so you can build WYSIWYG style applications, even things like a Visual Designer. EZGUI provides extensive support for many of the Common Controls (ie. Listview, Treeview, Toolbar, tab, etc.) and the RichEdit control without any external OCX’s required. Try that with VB !

Compared to the latest development tools used by most programmers, EZGUI (with PowerBasic) is better suited to development of large scale applications which you want to run well on low cost, limited PC’s like Netbooks and Tablet PC’s (and even ones with Linux with Wine) than other development tools. If you want to target such computers with your software, then seriously consider what EZGUI 4.0 Professional has to offer.

IMO, I doubt there is any other development system that comes close to the extensive feature EZGUI has, which can be used to create “tiny” sized applications with “minimal hardware” requirements which will run well on the next generation of low cost, small size, PC’s. If you want an edge for this new market, EZGUI may have just what you need.

When you combine the power of EZGUI, with the PowerBasic compiler (you can even use their low cost Classic version with EZGUI) which also generates EXE’s and DLL’s with a very small footprint, you have a powerhouse combination.

EZGUI is in its 4th generation and has been used by programmers for the last 10 years. (Yes, EZGUI 5.0 is in development and it will just amaze you, but thats another story for another day!)