[buug] GUI wrapper for CLI programs?

[Claude Rubinson]

On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 09:05:33AM -0700, Ian Zimmerman wrote:
> On Fri, 20 May 2011 10:52:43 -0500
> Claude Rubinson <cjr at grundrisse.org> wrote:
> 
> Claude> What I'd like to do is develop a GUI wrapper around this suite
> Claude> for non-commandline use.  This application would basically be a
> Claude> commandline prompt plus menu bar and tool bar.  From the menu
> Claude> bar, the user could click "Analyze -> $FOO_TEST" and a dialog
> Claude> box would pop up for the user to enter the parameters for
> Claude> $FOO_TEST.  When the user clicked "Ok", the application would
> Claude> build the commandline string, echo it to the main window, and
> Claude> execute it.  The idea would be to gently introduce the user to
> Claude> using the commandline but hold the user's hand through it.
> 
> Claude> This seems like a fairly obvious idea, so I'm wondering if such
> Claude> a solution might already exist?  It does need to be
> Claude> cross-platform (Win, OSX, and Unix).
> 
> Python/Tk ?
> 
> Without the x-platform requirement, I'd say Emacs :-P

Ian -- You're a genius.  Emacs might actually be the perfect solution.
I can implement the program as a minor mode that executes against
Eshell and get Emacs' portability for free.  I need to investigate how
this will work with MS Windows, but that should just be details.

The potential downside to this approach is that Emacs' complexity is
waiting to ensnare the unsuspecting user.  The whole reason for
writing this point and click interface is to accommodate the non-Unix
userbase.  But I can invoke cua-mode by default which should help with
this somewhat.

Claude