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MapBasic features: why MBBuilder was developed?
MapBasic application development environment contains text editor, compiler and linker. Unfortunately, creating dialogs, menus and toolbars requires much time and routine work when describing them in specific MapBasic commands. Even greater efforts demand changing, adding and removing individual components of the interface during development.
MBBuilder is the RAD tool for MapBasic
The Windows oriented development support systems (Borland Delphi, Microsoft Visual Basic and other Rapid Application Development tools) for a long time use visual methods of creating program interface with automatically generated program code. Using of RAD Tools in development process radically simplifies the development, deployment and management of applications.
microOLAP MBBuilder is the first RAD environment for MapBasic that fully supports all its features. With MBBuilder, corporate or individual developers can create MapInfo MapBasic applications quickly and easily.
MBBuilder project development environment
The control center of the application development process is the main menu (see Figure 1). It controls the files, included into the application, and does all work at project maintenance, its compilation and run.
We'll name here the main window components only (please see MBBuilder Quick Start Tutorial for details):
Main menu:
allows to have access to all activities for development environment and locates directly under the window heading line;
Toolbar:
provides rapid access to the most commands of the main menu. Locates in the left part of the window, below/under the main menu;
Components palette:
this is just an amazing resource for rapid application development! It gives access to the repository of such components as edits and labels, buttons and lists etc., which may be put on different forms, and thereby the application interface will be created.
Figure 1 [Application Window]
Component Editor:
You can use the existing components, and also add your own ones by using the Component Editor.
Figure 2 [Component Editor]
Project Manager:
MBBuilder allows to control all the project files with ease.
Figure 3 [Project Manager]
Dialog Editor:
Dialog Editor is one of the main design tools, which is mostly used for application creating. You can display some dialogs during the development, but only one of them may be active. Working in collaboration with the Object Inspector, the Dialog Editor performs the following activities:
| · | add components to the dialog;
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| · | modify the dialog and its components;
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| · | link the component event handlers with the MapBasic procedures, which the File Editor contains.
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Figure 4 [New Dialog]
Object Inspector:
Object Inspector is used for setting the published properties of the dialog components. MBBuilder uses these initial parameters in order to generate the new values code of the application objects automatically.
Figure 5 [Object Inspector]
File Editor:
File Editor is a programming tool, which allows bringing all the interface elements together and sets the application work paradigm.
Programming of logical and calculating procedures, as well as the initialization and setting of the application and any other procedures, is executed the same way as in the MapBasic text editor.
Figure 6 [File Editor]
Menu Editor:
MBBuilder allows to create and edit the menu tree visually by Menu Editor.
Menu Editor inserts the necessary program code into the application automatically.
Figure 7 [Menu Editor]
Toolbar Editor:
Toolbar Editor has the same functions as Menu Editor, but is used for creating toolbars.
Figure 8 [Toolbar Editor]
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