suggestions for designing a UI to Generate, for loop, if condition and switch case.

Question

I'm building a UI for my college, where I want people who are new to programming with C, to use my UI. In there I want to provide a feature where if they wish to insert an IF-Elseif-Else condition, or a FOR loop or a Switch Case, they may use the UI, where in they just have to fill in the values (the conditions) and the UI generates the code. So I wanted to know if any of you have come across any program which shows the proper design layout required for such requirements. i.e. which control to use, what to put where, how to make it intutive, etc.

Answer 1

You mention C# 2.0 - do you mean .NET 2.0? If .NET 3.0 is an option, you could perhaps re-host the Workflow (WF) designer. This has many of the usual branch (etc) constructs built in, but is more of a flow diagram.

Answer 2

Not exactly the answer maybe but a good start on how to design an application like this to be really simple is too look at lego mindstorm. They have made a great job at creating simple symbols for programming functionality. It's amazing what kids can do with the application.

It won't suggest what controls to use. And I don't think the tree view is the right tool. It needs to more free in nature. But a set of fine design images and a way to draw lines between them would be whats needed.

Answer 3

You might find the style of Nassi-Shneiderman (wikipedia link) diagrams useful for putting your UI together - lots of boxes, suitable for easy crafting with standard WinForms controls.