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572

answers:

2

I am working on Android since last 7 months....Also knowing brief about I-phone application.

In Android, There is a bad layout editor in Eclipse, but it's neither good nor User Friendly as I-phone Interface Builder is.

Is there any visual designer that would be on par with the iPhone "Interface Builder" ?

Ya, DroidDraw is there but not that much user friendly as Interface Builder of I-Phone...

+2  A: 

I think you may be a little spoilt by Apple! The Android layout editor has its quirks, but once you've settled in it's actually very fast to iterate with and get the results you want. Remember Android and iOS are quite different beasts, and by nature of Android being designed to work on a large range of different devices and screens, it's layout editor is also very different.

Just dive into it, get comfortable using the layout editor and you'll be settled in no time.

Dave
but however for adding and setting attributes for controls...we have to see the xml code layout...which is very combursome..
PM - Paresh Mayani
what layout editor? there is none? This 'thing' in Eclipse can hardly be called layout editor, it doesn't work. Try to create a tab activity, etc... good luck ;) Simple answer: there is no layout editor at the moment, you're better off writing the layout in xml by yourself - unfortunately.
Mathias Lin
It *does* work, I've used it for several Android applications and not had a problem besides the initial learning phase. I don't understand how you can say it doesn't work as from my experience, it's as good as it needs to be (that's not to say it couldn't be better)
Dave
ya you are absolutely right...because we have to design the layout by managing code mostly. @Mathias Lin
PM - Paresh Mayani
@Dave....ya but there should be some kind of "User friendliness" ...everyone are not master from intial...@Dave
PM - Paresh Mayani
Mathias Lin
"and by nature of Android being designed to work on a large range of different devices and screens" ... why would that matter to the layout editor? as in the emulator, you could just set the resolution and density. Still, xml layout is not affected by resolution or density - the widgets and API are all still the same.
Mathias Lin
The iOS SDK has the benefit/hindrance of targetting only a handful of devices. The Android SDK doesn't, so so the layout editor is going to work differently as it needs to be more flexible, even if it requires more massaging and design time to get the result you want.I don't deny it could be improved, but it's good enough for my purposes, and the only issues I can recall having with it have been my own mistakes.
Dave
However...the thing is thing.Whenever we wants to design complex layout,at that time it takes lot more time to adjust the size, color and other attributes of layout.It must be improved.
PM - Paresh Mayani
Stop Fighting :)
sugar
Ok boss...and its not fighting...its the hard discussion @Sugar
PM - Paresh Mayani
+4  A: 

Googlelabs has launched App Inventor .

I havent tried it but it may be help to design interface and code easily.

What is Google App Inventor? 

As i have found one article,in which they have given one line definition as below:

App Inventor is a new tool in Google Labs that makes it easy for anyone—programmers and non-programmers, professionals and students—to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices.

PM - Paresh Mayani
+1 That might let you design an interface, but then you would have to separate that from the code that the App Inventor generates (shouldn't be too difficult, but you can't really use it like an IDE, laying out controls then clicking to access the code behind them)
LeonixSolutions
@LeonixSolutions.. i didnt get what you are talking.andAs i have read some articles written for App Inventor....i found that app inventor provides code by doing visually programming
PM - Paresh Mayani
LeonixSolutions
and not intended to be editted. So, what I mean is that, yes, you can can use such a tool to draw a pretty GUI, but don't expect the flexibility of the Eclipse layour editor. Did I manage to explain that clearly?
LeonixSolutions
ok ok...@LeonixSolutions
PM - Paresh Mayani