Imperial Software Technology today announced that it is now shipping X-Designer 7: Enterprise Edition, a major new version of its graphical user interface (GUI) builder for Motif, Windows and Java. Leading the list of new features is full integral support for Motif 2, the latest version of the standard GUI toolkit for UNIX and Linux workstations. Now designers of application interfaces for UNIX can take full advantage of the features and power of Motif 2, confident in the knowledge that they can transition these interfaces to Windows and Java for full cross-platform capable applications. X-Designer 7 meets the requirements of Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act by being fully keyboard accessible, the only product in its class to do so. Also new to X-Designer 7 is the ability to save GUI designs in XML, which makes the saved design available for processing by further tools, such as design documentation utilities or for translation to other types of interface.
X-Designer 7 has a legacy application migration feature which enables existing Motif applications to be 'captured' by the tool, optionally pre-structuring the interface for generation as a Java GUI. Automated testing of interfaces is available using the built-in XD/Replay technology.
"We've introduced X-Designer 7 because of the unprecedented demand for a Motif 2 builder from the customer base, and the huge interest shown in downloads from our web site of the Motif 2 books and the toolkit itself," said Derek Lambert, president and CEO of Imperial Software Technology. Commenting on the name 'Enterprise Edition', Lambert said "We use a tagline to underscore the theme of the release, and X-Designer 7 will be used in major enterprises throughout the U.S. and world wide."
Antony Fountain, principal software engineer at IST and lead author of the O'Reilly standard books on Motif 2, said, "X-Designer 7 is a comprehensive, robust tool which we firmly believe is the best in its class. We've invested significant effort in moving X-Designer forward and building in full Motif 2 functionality". Fountain is also the editor of the popular Motif community web site, www.motifdeveloper.com, where he regularly publishes answers to technical queries raised by the site's readership.
Major New Features of X-Designer 7
Motif 2 Capability - GUIs may be designed using all the features and new components of version 2 of the Motif toolkit, including ComboBox, Container, GrabShell, IconGadget, Notebook, PrintShell, SessionShell, SimpleSpinBox, SpinBox and TabManager.
S.508 Accessibility - X-Designer 7 is 100% keyboard accessible with enhanced visual cues to comply with Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act.
ToolTip Help - X-Designer 7 now includes ToolTip help for the items in the toolbar, the widgets on the widget palette and the tools and toolbar items in the Pixmap Editor. Brief descriptions are displayed as the mouse pointer passes over these items. Using a portable library provided with X-Designer 7, ToolTip help on widgets can be implemented in user GUIs with full portability to Windows and Java. Tab Widget - a pre-configured Tab widget is another X-Designer 7 bonus, also fully portable from Motif 2 to Windows and Java.
Cross Platform to Windows and Java - now Motif 2 designs can be fully mapped by X-Designer 7 to Microsoft Windows (including Windows XP) and Java Swing.
Java 1.4 Ready - X-Designer 7 is enabled for generating code for Java 1.4 as well as Java 1.2 and 1.3. XML Design Files - a GUI design may be saved in XML for further processing - for example, to help document the GUI Design or for export to other tools and toolkits. X-Designer 7 retains and enhances all the unique features and facilities from earlier award-winning X-Designer versions, including Web enabling and the powerful integrated GUI testing tool, XD/Replay. Pricing and Availability
X-Designer 7 costs $4,500 for the first license, including all features listed and a year of support and all upgrades. X-Designer 7 is shipping now and is available for Sun Solaris (SPARC and Intel), HP-UX, SGI Irix, IBM AIX, Linux and FreeBSD. For more information about X-Designer 7 or Visaj, the visual application builder for Java, follow those links or contact IST. The price above in US dollars applies only in the United States and Canada.