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According to Hoyle...

Cross-Platform Software Development from a Macintosh Perspective:
Converting Legacy Frameworks

by Jonathan Hoyle

jonhoyle@mac.com

macCompanion

July 2006

For these past 10 months, we have spent this column examining a wide number of cross-platform frameworks and development environments available from a Macintosh perspective. For those just catching up with us now, here is what we have covered so far:

These columns have discussed the various options of starting a new project. However, a large number of you already have projects in place but need to update their codebases. This month, we shall tour some of the most widely used frameworks and development environments and look at cross-platform tool choices which best fit them.

 

Metrowerks PowerPlant

Until relatively recently, the dominant C++ framework used by Macintosh developers was Metrowerks' PowerPlant, an object oriented framework which came free with their C++ development environment CodeWarrior. PowerPlant served the needs of both Classic and Carbon developers alike for nearly a decade. Unfortunately, its parent company, Motorola, spun Metrowerks off to Freescale, where it was mismanaged and starved for resources. In a short two-year span, Freescale turned a dominant marketshare into insolvency. Left high and dry are the thousand upon thousands of Macintosh software projects which were heavily invested into the PowerPlant framework.

One solution which has recently became more popular is the C++ framework CPLAT. CPLAT is an object oriented framework with an API very similar to PowerPlant's. Although not as fully featured as other solutions (such as Qt), CPLAT does the majority of what most applications need. It is not free, but its $50 price tag is very reasonable, especially when you consider that you will be able to compile for both Windows and Macintosh. For more details, consult my detailed review of CPLAT.

 

Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC)

Just as PowerPlant was the dominant framework for Carbon C++ developers, so too is MFC for Windows C++ developers. There is a huge base of MFC applications, virtually all of which are Windows specific. Porting these projects to a cross-platform framework is best done with wxWidgets. wxWidgets' API is modeled to be very similar to MFC. Best of all, wxWidgets is open source, so there is no charge to you the developer. Using wxWidgets, your project can be compiled for Mac OS X, Classic, Linux and many other operating systems. A full review of wxWidgets is available as well.

 

Cocoa and Interface Builder

For those using Cocoa to create Mac OS X applications, Interface Builder is an integral part of creating the GUI. Unfortunately, Interface Builder is Macintosh-specific, and is thus unsuitable for cross-platform development. However, Interface Builder need not be dropped if your project is architected properly. In particular, using a design pattern called MVC (Model-View-Controller), you separate out your business logic (the Model) from Interface Builder .nibs (the View) and its associated interaction (the Controller). Following this pattern, you would keep all of your Objective C code inside the Controller files, as they would be Mac-specific. Your model files should remain in C or C++. At this point you can then use a different rapid application development package to create a GUI for another operating system, eg: Visual C# for Windows.

Another solution that will become available is with REALbasic. REAL Software has announced that Cocoa bindings will become available in a future release. When this happens, you will be able to replace Interface Builder with REALbasic's cross-platform GUI generator. Although the Cocoa bindings themselves will remain Mac-specific, it will allow you an easy access to drop in Windows-specific code where needed.

 

Microsoft Visual Basic

Visual Basic is the dominant Basic compiler available today, regardless of platform. The power and elegance of its environment is very attractive, and so most VB users are not inclined to leave it just to include Macintosh and Linux customers. Fortunately, there is a cross-platform product which is very much like it: REALbasic from REAL Software. The look and feel of RB 2006 is very much like VB, so users will not have much of a problem making the transition. REALbasic's programming API is similar to classic Visual Basic, so those transitioning from VB 6 and earlier will find it fairly straightforward. Those using VB.NET will find that they will need to convert their .NET system calls. REAL Software has documentation on Porting VB Applications to Linux and Mac OS X, and it is definitely worth beginning the process with this document. For more information, check out my column on REALbasic.

Another choice available to classic VB users is KBasic. KBasic is a low cost downloaded Basic compiler designed to closely mirror the VB 6 API. Although not as full featured as REALbasic, KBasic is still powerful, and less expensive. Note however that its Macintosh target is relatively new and available (at this time) only in the Professional version of KBasic.

 

Visual C# and .NET

Visual C# was introduced by Microsoft when it delivered its first .NET programming environment. Despite the occasional rumors that Microsoft will port C# to the Macintosh, it is highly unlikely that this will ever transpire. So what would be the best path forward for C# projects? The solution involving the least amount of work would be to simply port the C# project to Java. C# is essentially Java with extras, and so the conversion process is a lot easier than to, say, C++. The biggest work will be in replacing .NET calls with native Java calls, such as the Swing API.

Another solution is to use one of the many C# to VB converters and then translate into REALbasic. This would be ideal for those who find Basic to be a more suitable language than Java. The Java Swing API is very different from .NET, so again most of the work will be in translating API calls.

 

MacApp and other Macintosh frameworks

Older Macintosh frameworks such as MacApp and Think Class Libraries do not have easy transition options. These frameworks are similar enough to PowerPlant that you may wish to follow the recommendations for it. However, serious consideration ought to be given for rewriting the app from scratch. If money is no object, the expensive Qt is probably the best framework choice from a feature perspective. For those on a budget, the fastest way to develop cross-platform software today is by using REALbasic as the GUI front end, while the back end can be kept in C/C++ housed within a DLL (as described here). Another approach is to port the entire application to Java. Regardless of which direction you choose to go, rewriting the application completely is likely to be your penalty for having waited so long.

 

Next Month: A Year in Review! See you in 30!

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