[Note: I hope I am not breaking etiquette, but I originally posted a variant on this question here, but am re-asking here because I am making this now solely a question about programming.]
I would like to program of the following simple form:
- The user can produce X number of resizable frames (analogous to HTML frames).
- Each frame serves as a simple text editor, which you can type into and save the whole configuration including resized windows and text.
- The user should be able alternately “freeze” and present the information, and “unfreeze” and edit frames.
Thus it will be a cross between a calendar and a text editor. I don’t particularly care if it is a web application or not. What languages are ideal for such a setup? I know some C and Python and Html, and am willing to learn others if need be. It seems to me this should be a relatively easy program to make, but I need a little direction before starting.
EDIT: My OS is Windows 7.
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You could potentially use any language out there. If you’re looking for a free option, WPF would be a great choice, and you get the bonus of incredibly beautiful interfaces (provided you put enough effort and time into it).
If you’re willing to sink some cash into it, Embarcadero offer C++ Builder and Delphi, both of which can take advantage of/ship with the Firemonkey framework which is similar to WPF, except it’s exceptionally easy to create “custom components” via styling. If your example, you could simply composite the text box/memo inside a TSelection which would allow them to resize and move the frames around, save it inside a TStylebook, and then reference that style when you create the object (presumably at runtime, unless you want to have a specific, and small, amount of frames).
Actually saving the positions is exceptionally easy in just about any language, and the use of a TIniFile, or a TMemIniFile (due to it not being limited to 64KB file size), or even better by using JSON, would make this part very easy. “Locking and unlocking” of frames would also be done similarly across languages by simply toggling the enabled property of the frame.
You’d be able to run this application created in Firemonkey on any Windows OS from XP right up to and including 8, as well as various versions of Mac OS X. As said, you would need to sink some cash into it, but they do offer a free trial for it. I’ve personally used the above advice in my own applications, so i can vouch for it being possible (and very easy), but there’s numerous options out there and your task is a relatively easy one.
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