We all know we need to offer a GUI face for our text-based software. You are justifiably proud of your application. But right now, the wealth of advanced technology you have developed over the years is hidden behind screens that look dated to some. You need to put a fresh face on that technology so that people can see past the surface to the solid feature set underneath. It’s got to have “The Look.”
Rewriting it all in a Windows programming language is an incomprehensibly enormous, expensive, and risky undertaking. You might lose important functionality in the process, and you are certain to experience problems with the new, unproven code. You would lose the foundation of your legacy operating system. A rewrite into native Windows is not the answer. However, most legacy programming languages have no native way to create or drive Windows screens.
Welcome to TrueGUI. Your code that you've spent years perfecting is staying where it is. You are going to learn to write simple input/output statements that will bring new life into your application. These statements now interface with the .NET world and your application now has a GUI interface. All the data stays right where it is. We will give you the tools to keep your application fresh.
Because TrueGUI is a .NET interface your programs are now able to integrate with the .NET world thru Telnet. As you start writing your code, you can move into and out of your existing Telnet client in passthru mode. Basically, the flow of the telnet session will be monitored by TrueGUI. When the string is sent thru the pipe TrueGUI activates and starts interpreting the input/output. Then when your finished with the window you can simply send another string and telnet client comes back to life. Look at the tutorial on Passthru to see this in detail.
As you get started, you may want to take a look at the included BASIC source file. Many languages can use the TrueGUI interface but since input and output statements vary from language to language we will show you how this is done with INPUT and PRINT as the input/output commands. The Server Side tutorial will walk you thru step by step on a hello world program from your application's perspective.
Welcome to .NET although you could write your whole program by learning to code in .NET, that is not our intent. We will show you in the walkthru section several screen or form building examples and then binding them to your server code. Even veteran programmers will find these walkthrus' worth looking over. If you are already familiar to .NET don't feel that you are locked into the basic set of tools of form design. Many of custom components have been tested and interoperate in the same way the basic tools do.
We have included a custom component called TrueGuiListView. Alpha Microsystems has purchased the source code to a third-party ListView control and has modified it to create an advanced ListView control that is capable of in-place item editing amongst other features. It has a separate documentation file associated with it. It is quite similar to the standard .NET ListView control and with the aid of the TrueGuiListView help file, you should be able to use some of its expanded features. It has been made available as a hi performance ListView tool. See the walkthru on expanding using custom controls.
So now that you have the tools at your disposal to transform your application to the next level its time to take it there. Read thru the Tutorials and learn the exciting features of TrueGui. The next step is to launch the TrueGui.exe and familiarize yourself with the interface. Your application is getting fresh face.
If you would prefer to download this documentation Click here.