Migration to Builder Xcessory 6

How do I keep existing widget libraries (ET, CO, XRT, Xbae & Homegrown) integrated with BX 6.1.x during an upgrade to BX 6.1.3?

  1. 1. When you run install script ./setup make sure you select the same directory that has previous version of BX 6.1.x. For example, if you have BX 6.1.x installed in /opt/bxpro-6.1/ then select the same directory for installing BX 6.1.3.
  2. 2. Once BX 6.1.3 is installed successfully, go to /opt/bxpro-6.1/xcessory/packages/ directory. You should still find .cat files for the extra widget libraries.
  3. 3. Open the file, default.cat in an editor. Introduce new lines of Include cat files for all .cat files identified in step 2. Save and close the editor.

I built a user interface using BX <insert version # here>. What is involved with upgrading to BX 6?

BX 3.x is upwards compatible with BX 4, which is upwards compatible with BX 5, etc. This means that files save by BX 3.x can be read into BX 4 and BX 5 can read BX 4 save files. You cannot "jump" a level (i.e. have BX 6 directly read in BX 4 based saved files. If you are migrating from an older release, contact your ICS representative and we can arrange for temporary access to the releases you need.

If I build a user interface on Solaris can I port it to <insert OS name here> on <insert CPU architecture here>?

Generally the answer is yes. However, there are two exceptions. 1) If you used ViewKit and/or EnhancementPak in your user interface, you must also have these libraries available on your new platform. 2) There can be slight differences in Motif from vendor to vendor. Please allow time for you to debug any subtle differences.

I want to build an user interface once and deploy it to Unix/Linux and Windows. How should I do this with the BX product family?

ICS offers BX/WIN SDK as the preferred solution to a Windows deployment. BX/WIN SDK includes a complete UNIX development environment that runs on Windows. It also includes copies of Motif and ported versions of ICS’ ViewKit and EnhancementPak libraries. BX/WIN SDK provides a proven solution for the migration of large applications to Windows.

My user interfaces were written using Sun’s DevGuide GUI builder. Can BX convert the user interface?

Yes. Builder Xcessory on UNIX workstations (Sun, HP, etc.) has an "import GIL" option under the File menu. The Linux version of BX doesn’t provide this capability. However, we would be happy to issue you a short term license for BX on Sun, etc. so that you can make the conversion and then import the converted UIL into Builder Xcessory on Linux.

My user interfaces were written long ago with the Xview toolkit. Do I have any choice other than rewrite?

Prior to Motif, Sun developed and distributed the Xview toolkit. Today, few developers use Xview and Motif is the dominant commercial user interface toolkit on Linux and UNIX systems. If your XView-based user interface was built with Sun's DevGuide GUI Builder, ICS offers a direct migration path. (See question that follows). If your GUI was not build with DevGuide, or the DevGuide save files (GIL) are no longer available, there is still an alternative. ICS has a tool that can recreate GIL files from applications built with Xview.

I have some user interfaces that were written using UIM/X (probably from Bluestone or Black and White). Can Builder Xcessory read these user interfaces in?

Engineering work is underway to allow the conversion of the UIM/X save file formats (.uil and .i) to a format that can be imported by Builder Xcessory. Ask your ICS representatives for details or email info@ics.com.

I have a user interface that was originally created with SGI’s RapidApp. Can I migrate it to Builder Xcessory?

SGI’s RapidApp was originally based on Builder Xcessory Version 3 source code. Consequently, RapidApp and Builder Xcessory share many of the same approaches to GUI development. And when SGI took RapidApp to End of Life, Builder Xcessory was given the nod as the official SGI recommended upgrade path for RapidApp users.

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