(Below are some excerpts from recent reviews of the zApp Developer's Suite.)
We worked in the zApp Factory module, which provides a GUI for designing GUIs (we just love recursion). A few mouse clicks got us to QuickApp, a bundled skeleton application that gave us a main program window, a menu bar, a toolbar, and a status bar. The menu bar sported File, Edit, and Help pull-down menus with functional menu choices. For example, File/Open and File/Print brought up the expected Windows file finder and print dialog, respectively. Menu items that were specific to our application, such as File/New, were not attached to any action.
We also had the option of starting from scratch and creating all of the interface elements ourselves, and importing GUI units -- windows, dialogs, controls, and so forth -- that we created previously for other applications.
Once we had our skeleton, we generated its source code in one easy step. We found the code clean, readable, nicely formatted, and appropriately commented. We like the fact that zApp generates the longest, most descriptive variable names it can based on the name we give the object.
Inmark Development Corp.'s zApp Developer's Suite, the winner in our December 12, 1994, comparison, remains in first place. The other three products couldn't match its WYSIWYG methodology or one-button quick-start procedure for Windows development. In addition, zApp provides a large palette of drag-and-drop interface elements.
The class design is the most important and most subjective aspect of a class library, and I think zApp's is superb. zApp ecapsulates the entire underlying native API. In other words, if you want a Windows dialog, you get a Windows dialog, not something that looks like one. However, zApp is not a set of wrapper classes. It includes additional functionality such as memory management, printing support, input validation, and a degree of object persistence.
As opposed to other application frameworks, zApp doesn't use a monolithic class structure. Instead it has a collection of class trees for the various aspects of programming such as events, windows, data exchange, graphics, etc.
zApp comes with a healthy array of features, which exceeds the scope of this review; Multiple Document Interface, object persistence, fonts, pens and brushes, just to name a few. It comes with organized and well-written documentation, a suite of tutorial programs, and technical support. Best of all, the source code is well-documented and included in the purchase price.
Simply by the programmer's reference, once sees that zApp goes far beyond the core of functionality offered by other application frameworks. In addition to buttons, scroll bars, formatted edit lines, combo boxes, and other standard controls, zApp adds a rich array of graphical classes for pens, brushes, geometric shapes, and bitmaps. The real suprise is the noninterface classes, such as for background processing and memory management.
There is also an add-on library called Interface Pack, which provides three dimensional controls, a table object, and a few other trinkets. (For convenience's sake, zApp refers to both the stand-alone library and the add-on Interface Pack unless otherwise noted).
Marketing people say things like "zApp is great. It contains over 200 classes." That looks great in a slick and glossy brochure, but it leaves the fundamental question unanswered: Are they good classes?
They are.
zApp's classes are well-implemented and easy to use. The library covers the full breadth of contemporary functionality and offers portability across most major operating systems. I hope the preceding example not only demonstrates a few of zApp's nifty bells and whistles but also gives a glimpse into the elegance of its design. This is the most important, but also the most subjective, aspect of an application framework. zApp is intuitive; therefore, it's a pleasure to use. This third party product is worth looking at, even if you do't like staying out late.
Inmark hasn't missed any beats with zApp Factory. Using it is a straightforward linear process. You create a new project, choose some defaults about its look. Will it be MDI, SDI, or dialog-based? Will it use CTL3D or not? Then, pick the various elements from the generated hierarchy. Double-clicking on a screen element brings up a dialog box for controlling the element's various visual properties and assigning logical events to typical actions (link to a dialog box, or link to some user-defined code).
For more serious applications, the zApp framework is a superior application framework. I would use it even if I were just programming for Windows, but the fact that it compiles for Windows, Win/NT, OS/2, and X/Motif is a nice little bonus.
Home Brewer 2000 is now complete. Because we wrote it using a multiplatform library, we can easily port it from Windows to Win32, NT, OS/2, and several versions of OSF Motif.
To move from one platform to another, we need only to compile and link to a different set of zApp libraries. A resource translator processes the resource files to give our menus and dialogs a consistent appearance on all platforms. Unlike some multiplatform tools, zApp makes calls directly to the native API. This means that Windows controls become Motif Widgets, not hand-painted objects that resemble the original.
For the second year in a row, Inmark has won the prestigious Productivity Award from Software Development magazine. The award was presented to Inmark during a ceremony at the Software Development Show in San Francisco, CA, on Feb. 14, 1995.
"It's a great Valentine's Day present to be honored in this way," said Mark Box, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Inmark. "It is a great compliment to a software company to be recognized as a tool that allows people to do more with less effort. To win two years in a row, once for zApp and once for the zApp Developer's Suite, is a testament to the usefulness and popularity of the zApp Developer's Suite."
The readers of Windows Tech Journal spoke loud and clear -- their favorite application framework is zApp. Inmark Development followed up their Start Tech award from Windows Tech Journal last year with the Reader's Choice award this year from the same magazine.
"It is the greatest compliment for a development tool to be selected as the best product by developers. We feel that more and more Windows developers are looking to support other operating systems as well, making zApp a great choice for them. Other Windows developers have just discovered that zApp is the best application framework out there. Period," said Howard Love, President of Inmark.
As a service to our customers, Inmark maintains a list of consultants who can help users do anything from get up and running under zApp to developing complete applications. If you are a consultant or VAR who does extensive work with zApp, we would like to hear from you to discuss adding you to our list. Please call Monica Yarnot at 415-691-9000.
If you have developed an application using zApp that is in use today, we would like to honor you. Please send us a brief letter describing your application and what it does, as well as how you used zApp to develop it. In turn, we will send you a handsome plaque commemorating your achievement with zApp. We will also enter you in our "Best zApp App of the Year" contest.
InfoWorld, long noted for its strenuous testing lab, took it upon itself to evaluate portable application frameworks. They looked at 13 different products and settled on four to run through the wringer.
Several months and 15,000 words later, the verdict was issued: the zApp Developer's Suite from Inmark Development was the clear winner. Inmark's score, an amazing 7.2 on a 10 point scale, was nearlly a full point higher than the number two product.
Howard Love, President of Inmark, explains how he took the news that Inmark won the roundup: "I would be kidding you if I said I wasn't a little nervous the night before the review hit. But I told myself that we had the best product on the market, the best support, and the best documentation. Our customers have always told us that. But it really meant a lot to me when InfoWorld agreed with that assessment, because they really spent a great deal of time and effort looking at the products available."
The first half of the review ran on 12/12/94, and was concluded on 2/6/95. Copies of the review are available from Inamrk in both soft and hard copy by request.
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