Is there any tools that help in designing application UI, application flow?

mismail

Hi all,

Is there any tools that help in designing UI, application flow, classes relationship?

Thank you

Robbin

Qt Creator is good enough with the built-in Qt Designer.
You just need to create new class and tell Qt Creator that this is a Qt Designer Form Class.

mismail

I mean before the implementation phase.

in the analysis and design phase.

Franzk

I don't think that there is a tool that can really take you by the hand and help you come up with an architecture. Don't fall into the trap of thinking just about classes. Think objects (actual instances of classes) and their relationships. Also don't try to nail everything down before you start coding. You learn while you do it. The best guide is common sense combined with a good view of what your system is.

andre

UML is used a lot in the design phase of software enginering, and not just its class diagrams. There are plenty of tools for that. That, as Franzk remarks, is only part of the picture though. I find that it is easy to get lost in all of those diagrams.

For UI's, pen and paper works best to sketch out my ideas, I find. Trying to create those too early on in a drawing program or even in something like designer can get me get lost in details and suggest a precision and definity that I don't want to suggest at that point yet. Making more precise mockups is something I do later on, once the outlines are a bit more fixed.

Robbin

maybe you are looking for something like "VYM":http://sourceforge.net/projects/vym/ ?
It's not Qt specific, but it does help "visualize" your thoughts about a project steps.

mismail

Thank you very much, I think that I will go with Andre opinion.

1- I will put sketch for the UI using Pen and Paper.
2- Then I will put a class diagram for the application.
3- I will start the implementation.

all my problem is that when i start implementation and after completing some features I discover that those features are conflicting others so I restart implementing from the beginning.

I want to put a clear plan to not re-implement things twice.

tobias.hunger

I tried doing UI mock-ups made in designer for a while showing them to customers so that they could form an opinion on the UI very early on in a project, but that had two annoying side effects:

First the customer assumed it would be a lot of work to change the UI, so he did not suggest any changes till he noticed that the issues were unbearable when testing the whole application near the end of the project. That was really annoying...

Second we got lots of "Why are you taking so long? You were almost done after the first two weeks." UI == application to most non-technical customers:-(

Using some unfinished-looking style for designer did help with both issues, but pen and paper worked best.

kidproquo

Tobias, which "unfinished" theme did you use for designer. I was looking at making one myself before I got distracted by Qt Quick shininess...

goetz

We use "balsamiq mockups":http://balsamiq.com/ for the mockups of the user interface. It's generates UI sketches with a "hand drawn" look'n'feel.

andre

That looks like a very interesting tool! I'll be sure to check it out. I am currently sketching out interfaces at the office, and this looks like it could be a great help.