so far I have been working through using DirectGUI for gui type stuff. One thing i have noticed so far is that there doesnt seem to be a way to make gui elements non-modal aka non-static so they can be moved around. Is there a way to acomplish this or should I scrap DirectGUI and integrate CEGUI into my project?
Yes, I do think CEGUI looks much better, but for now Im just learning python + panda in general. But for practical purposes, I am wandering If I should start down the CEGUI path before I get to involved in DirectGui.
I don’t know what you mean exactly. DirectGUI elements are nodes, like anything else in Panda, and can be moved around the screen via setPos() or intervals or anything else that moves things around in Panda.
Not sure what this has to do with being modal. In the context of GUI systems, the word “modal” usually refers to a dialog that must be completed before anything else can be used. In DirectGui, only the DirectDialog has this property.
As to the look, DirectGui looks as good or as lame as you make it. Out of the box, it’s actually intentionally designed to look lame, to help discourage people from mistaking an unfinished project for a finished one, but you can make a fully polished interface using DirectGui (consider piratesonline.com, for instance).
But making a slick interface with DirectGui does require a lot of custom artwork. In terms of the ratio of visual quality to effort, a third-party package like CEGUI might indeed be a better choice.
Im no stranger to custom artwork so that wouldnt be an issue, and im guessing what I need to be able to grab a chat window and move it around onscreen would be an event handling system for mouse events and what not.
That being the case , I think ill give it a go as I dont want to clutter up my prject with a ton of external dependancies.