Graphical user interface builder

A graphical user interface builder (or GUI builder), also known as GUI designer, is a software development tool that simplifies the creation of GUIs by allowing the designer to arrange graphical control elements (often called widgets) using a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor. Without a GUI builder, a GUI must be built by manually specifying each widget's parameters in source-code, with no visual feedback until the program is run.

User interfaces are commonly programmed using an event-driven architecture, so GUI builders also simplify creating event-driven code. This supporting code connects widgets with the outgoing and incoming events that trigger the functions providing the application logic.

Graphical user interface builders, such as e.g. Glade Interface Designer, automatically generate all the source code for a graphical control element.

List of GUI builders

Programs

• App Inventor for Android
• AutoIt
• Axure RP
• Cocoa/OpenStep
  • Interface Builder
• dBase
• Ebase Xi RAD platform for web application, workflow and integration.
• Embedded Wizard a commercial development tool focused on user interface applications for embedded systems.
• FLTK
  • FLUID
• GNUstep
  • Gorm
• GEM
  • Resource construction set
• GTK+
  • Glade Interface Designer
  • Stetic
• GUI Builder
• Intrinsics
  • Motif
    • Easymotif
    • ixbuild
    • X-Designer
• LucidChart
• Object Pascal
  • Lazarus
  • fpGUI UI Designer (included with fpGUI Toolkit)
• OpenWindows
  • guide (GUI builder)
• Pencil Project
• Qt
  • Qt Creator comprises Qt Designer
• Scaleform
• Tk (framework)
  • ActiveState Komodo (No longer has a GUI Builder)
  • SpecTcl (part of Komodo prior to Komodo 4.0 )
• Ultimate++
• Wavemaker open source, browser-based development platform for Ajax development based on Dojo, Spring, Hibernate
• Windows Presentation Foundation
  • Microsoft Expression Blend
• wxWidgets
  • wxGlade
  • wxFormBuilder
• XForms (toolkit)
  • fdesign
• Crank Storyboard Suite

IDE Plugins

• NetBeans GUI design tool, formerly known as Matisse.

List of development environments

IDEs with GUI builders

• ActiveState Komodo no longer has a GUI Builder
• Adobe Flash Builder
• Anjuta
• Ares
• AutoIt3
• BBj
• Clarion
• Code::Blocks
• dBase
• Delphi
• Ebase Xi RAD platform for web application, workflow and integration.
• Eclipse
• Gambas
• JDeveloper
• Just BASIC/Liberty BASIC
• KDevelop
• Lazarus
• LabWindows/CVI with drag-and-drop GUI builder for creating test and measurement applications
• Liberty BASIC Workshop
• Microsoft Visual Studio
• MonoDevelop
• MSEide+MSEgui
• MyEclipse
• NetBeans
• Philasmicos Entwickler Studio
• Purebasic
• Qt Creator
• SharpDevelop
• Softwell Maker
• WinDev
• wxDev-C++
• Xcode (Contains Interface Builder, formerly a separate application)
• Xojo

See also

• List of graphical user interface builders and rapid application development tools
• Human interface guidelines
• Human interface device
• User interface markup language
• User Interface Modeling
• Design-Oriented Programming
• Linux on the desktop