Introduction to Software Engineering/Tools/GUI Builder

A graphical user interface builder (or GUI builder), also known as GUI designer, is a software development tool that simplifies the creation of GUIs by allowing the designer to arrange 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 code, with no visual feedback until the program is run. User interfaces are commonly programmed using an event-driven architecture, so GUI builders also simplify creating event-driven code. This supporting code connects widgets with the outgoing and incoming events that trigger the functions providing the application logic. List of GUI builders Programs AutoIt Axure RP Cocoa/OpenStep Interface Builder Embedded Wizard a commercial development tool focussed on user interface applications for embedded systems. Fast, Light Toolkit (FLTK) FLUID GNUstep Gorm GEM Resource construction set Interface by Shift Computer ORCS (Otto's RCS) K-Resource Resource Master Annabel Junior WERCS by HiSoft GTK+ Glade Interface Designer Gazpacho Gideon Designer GUI Builder Intrinsics Justinmind Prototyper Motif Builder Xcessory Easymotif ixbuild UIMX X-Designer LucidChart Object Pascal fpGUI UI Designer (included with fpGUI Toolkit) OpenWindows guide (GUI builder) Pencil Project Qt Qt Designer Scaleform Tk (framework) GUI Builder ActiveState Komodo Visual Tcl (dead project) PureTkGUI Wavemaker open source, browser-based development platform for Ajax development based on Dojo, Spring, Hibernate Windows Presentation Foundation Microsoft Expression Blend wxWidgets wxGlade wxFormBuilder wxDesigner XForms (toolkit) fdesign Crank Storyboard Suite Storyboard Designer IDE Plugins NetBeans GUI design tool, formerly known as Matisse. Visual Editor - A free (Eclipse Public License) plugin for Eclipse on MS Windows and Linux (GTK and Motif). Jigloo - A free for non-commercial use plugin for Eclipse on MS Windows, Linux (gtk) and Mac OSX. WxSmith - A Code::Blocks plug-in for RAD editing of wxWidgets applications. Himalia Guilder (Only for Visual Studio 2005; no release since December '06.) List of development environments IDEs with GUI builders ActiveState Komodo Adobe Flash Builder Anjuta Ares CodeGear RAD Studio (former Borland Development Studio) Clarion Code::Blocks Gambas Just BASIC/Liberty BASIC KDevelop Lazarus Microsoft Visual Studio MonoDevelop MSEide+MSEgui NetBeans Qt Creator REALbasic SharpDevelop Softwell Maker WinDev wxDev-C++ Oracle Application Express