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So I'm working at a company and they've been using VCL for GUI development since forever. I'm rather newbie at creating GUI for Windows, but I dislike the options and limitations of the VCL. So I started looking around for other alternatives, are there something better out there?

I've read a lot about WCF but it's Visual Studio only. I also found about QT, but I'm not sure how would I pair C++Builder and the QT Designer software. Is there a package available?

Or if there is a better solution for Windows GUI development with C++Builder - we're using CodeGear's C++Builder 2007 - could you recommend it?

Thanks!

diogocarmo
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  • You can look into QtQuick 1 and 2, which only require javascript for GUI. But you also usually need to do some coding. – user1095108 Feb 20 '13 at 11:53
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    You say you are a newbie at creating GUI for Windows and you already want to swap VCL for something else? Have you explored it? Are you complaining about visual or functional limitation? If it's visual, then have you tried to skin VCL? Have you tried 3rd party components to visually change the look of your app? What about FireMonkey? – avra Feb 20 '13 at 14:45
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    I'm with @avra. VCL is very powerful for GUI development. What do you not like about it exactly? – Remy Lebeau Feb 20 '13 at 18:19
  • @avra yes, I might be prematurely thinking about changing GUI tools. Thing is each and every web site I sumbled upon looking for studying material has showed me that it is not a good choice. You said it, basically my problem is with the visual. Do you have any good resource for me to start reading and learn more about it? Thanks for the input! – diogocarmo Feb 21 '13 at 10:57
  • @avra Do you know if there is any free skinning tool available? – diogocarmo Feb 21 '13 at 11:29
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    Try TMS Component Pack. Almost 400 components of all sorts and skins. They work mostly on visual components and have all sorts of graphic themes (standard, Windows 7, Smooth etc..). There is also LMD Tools etc. – Tracer Feb 27 '13 at 19:55

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You can use Qt with Builder in conjunction with qmake or cmake(both tools are for project files generation). Well, you can use it with Builder without those generators but then you will have to write all MOC rules yourself and it is a tiresome job.

So my suggestion is to use Qt instead of VCL, especially relatively new Qt feature - Qt Quick which allows you to write UI in declarative fashion

ixSci
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wxWidgets (http://www.wxwidgets.org/) works with C++ Builder, but i am interested to know why you are stuck with C++ Builder? time to move on buddy, I would suggest to move toward QT and use its own QT Creator, Or go for .Net if you prefer.

Saqlain
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  • Unfortunately it's not up to me. And since I'm new to the company, I have to go with the flow and try to get the best out of it. Thank you very much for your suggestion, I'll look into it. – diogocarmo Feb 20 '13 at 11:03