I'm not looking for a mock up tool, I'm looking for a reasonable GUI design tool for the final product in the style of Apple's Interface Builder. Droid Draw is buggy, out of date and inaccurate in my experience. Using the Eclipse plug in to do a complex layout makes going to the dentist seem fun. I'd even settle for hand-coding CSS pixel coordinates over the current model. Is the solution found here: http://andrdev.blogspot.com/2010/01/gui-designer.html the best, or have one of you ninjas found something else? If there is an actively developed project that isn't ready for show yet, I'd like to know that as well.
+2
A:
I don't see why you'd want something like this (especially the tool you posted a link to). That would mean learning a whole new language just to use that tool. Why not learn the XML definitions directly? Yes, it's a relatively steep learning curve but once you're up to speed you'll see it's great. Also, doing XML by hand will allow you to optimize your layouts a lot (there are a few articles out there on how to do that).
As to the Eclipse plugin, I find it quite awesome, although I never use it directly. I don't add/remove/edit elements with it. I write my XML code and then test it with the plugin so I don't have to recompile the app > upload it on the emulator > run the app > go through all the activities to get to the one I'm editing right now, just to see that I need to add a little more padding.
Also, in general, it's best to use the tools you are given. Third party tools are very likely to become outdated, discontinued, deprecated, ...
In conclusion: do it the right way. Write your XML by hand. Use the Eclipse plugin as a convenience tool.
Felix
2010-04-26 15:17:19
I often agree with the "use the tools give" sentiment, which is why I learned Java and Objective C rather than do some half-cooked JavaScript solution for my mobile apps. I started out by coding the XML by hand but just doing some simple varying column layouts felt unbelievably slow. This isn't just about me not grasping something since I think we can agree that if I can handle Java, Obj-C, PHP, Ruby, etc. than this XML *should* be a breeze if it were written well. Do you know of a great write-up on effectively writing the Android XML?
Cirrostratus
2010-04-27 06:58:19
I too can handle Java, PHP, Python, etc., but, the XML *is not* a breeze. I often find astounding similarities between Android layout XMLs and HTML/CSS. And just like HTML/CSS, there are **a lot** of tricks and quirks that you'll learn only with time and by banging your head against them. Sure, HTML/CSS is better documented, but that's a different problem. As I said, when you'll get up to speed (learn all the tricks and quirks), you'll love these XMLs.
Felix
2010-04-27 09:13:40
There are other GUI design processes that are better so I hope Android's improves but your answer is intelligent and without competition so I'm accepting it. I can see how parallels can be drawn to HTML/CSS.
Cirrostratus
2010-05-01 00:12:47