GUI Construction in REBOL

Hi Programming with REBOL is really delicious. In a way or another it feels like programming Smalltalk. In Smalltalk everything was an object. Here nothing is a keyword. But I have some problems with the View dialect: - How can I build I18N user interfaces. Absolute positioning makes it difficult to have I18N applications. - Can I read in/write out UTF-8 texts in REBOL? One thing else. Is REBOL suitable for constructing an enterprise app? We have built an accounting, decision making, customer support and ... tool (client/server) for an advertisement company with Java. Is REBOL suitable for building such applications? Thanks in advance, Behrang.

Hi Behrang, BS> - How can I build I18N user interfaces. Absolute BS> positioning makes it difficult to have I18N BS> applications. One of the great things about VID is that you don't need to use absolute positioning. Using facets like ACROSS, BELOW, and GUIDE will allow you to create nice layouts that use relative positioning. If you specify the width of a face, but not the height, it will auto-size vertically, which is another handy feature. I recently did an Open Source install toolkit project for Maarten's company (SURFnet) which I need to get doc'd and posted. It's localizable, using a concept similar to "resource bundles" as in some other languages. BS> - Can I read in/write out UTF-8 texts in REBOL? I've seen a couple things done to support it, from the user community. There's a module by Jan skibinski in the library that might be useful to you: http://www.rebol.org/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/rebol/view-script.r?script=utf-8.r BS> One thing else. Is REBOL suitable for constructing an BS> enterprise app? We have built an accounting, decision BS> making, customer support and ... tool (client/server) BS> for an advertisement company with Java. Is REBOL BS> suitable for building such applications? It doesn't support things you might expect for large scale development of "standard" enterprise apps. It doesn't mean you can't do it, just that it will require some different thinking or extra effort in certain areas. For example, you may want to look at it and decide what special tools you need to build up around it (e.g. MAKE, debugging tools, data access layers, GUI enhancements). Those have to be weighed against how much REBOL reduces your work in other areas. Another thing you should do, IMHO, is forget what a normal enterprise app looks like; do *not* try to emulate what you would build with Java or VB. REBOL isn't about building complex GUIs or creating monolithic systems, it's about effective communication. To leverage it, we need to think differently. IOS is a great example. If you decide to try it, see if you can find a REBOL expert to consult with you and give you some guidance (there are a number on this list, and RT can probably give you some names as well). REBOL's flexibility allows you to create beautiful, elegant, solutions; it can also let you make a complete mess of things. :) Since you're relatively new to REBOL, start with some small pieces; think about how you *want* your system to work; and do some experiments. Best of luck! -- Gregg