Old school VFX C++/Python programmer... Need to write a web app UI... Help?! 8P

[rhradec]

I'm a old school C++/Python/Asm programer (started coding back in 86), and I want to write a custom web ui frontend for a python command line backend which handles a renderfarm VM management system.

 

For all the web programmers out there, I have 2 questions:

 

1. what would you recommend as "best" to write responsive web UIs with dinamic stuff, like Trello/Weekan style drag-and-drop and popups, for example? 

 

For "best", I mean the "best visuals" VS "simple and fast to do"!

The learning curve and visuals, I think, is the most important for me since right now since I need something that would give me a professional look, and doesn't take days to learn! (I have a lot of stuff to do already... lol...)

I'm very used to the way PyQT works for UI's, so if there's a similar framework out there, or even simpler, that would be the best! 

 

2. do you guys known of a simple and fast to write API/Framework for user authenticated (OAUTH) database setup?

 

Basically, I would love to have something that could be easily tied to the UI so it would store the UI Data created by the user automatically.  8P

I really hate to deal with SQL/Database queries, so ideally something that would show an OAUTH authentication dialog, and then would store whatever is done in the UI, so the next time  the user logins in, the UI is retrieved on the same state, with the same data.

 

Then for the backend, I just need to be able to use Python to easily retrieve the user list and the UI data from each user! 

 

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That's it! 

Since I'm an old school guy (aka "old man" as my boy calls me! LOL), I'm not very used to the new generation frameworks and languages, so some context from you "kids" out there would be amazing!!! 8P

 

I can reciprocate the help with any C++/Python/Asm/Qt/RSL/OSL/Maya C++ API/Linux/FUSE API/OpenGL-OpenGL ES API/Arnold,Vray,Renderman and other VFX API's/etc; questions you guys have!! LOL!!

 

cheers...

-H

 

PS: I work with R&D for rendering in Visual Effects, by the way... 

[Guest]

1. 

A lot of front end is written in HTML or XHTML (extended Hyper Text Markup Language)

That will probably give you the best control for ease of use. 

 

Otherwise, if you want to write a standalone desktop app (Which you said you were aiming towards web but you mentioned QT) I'd say you could use C# and windows forms to literally drag and drop UI where you want them. 

 

2. 

For back-end frameworks, a lot of people here like Node.JS which is a framework that lets you write JavaScript and run it as an independent application (As if you were writing in C++) that way you script for web pages & program your server in the same language. 

Some will say you can write a back-end in just about any language you want which I'm sure you already know. (I am just learning about writing servers now in C#)

 

I'm not an expert, only really regurgitating things I've seen more experienced people comment in past threads. 

 

As for that Open GL, I might come back to you once I learn more SDL or SFML. 

[bowrilla]

On 26.9.2018 at 7:31 PM, rhradec said:

1. what would you recommend as "best" to write responsive web UIs with dinamic stuff, like Trello/Weekan style drag-and-drop and popups, for example?

Well, you're looking at a variety of JS frameworks/libraries. The most popular ones are Ract (made by Facebook), AngularJS (made by Google) and Vue.js (independent). React is probably the most popular one right now. You have to differentiate between the logic of a dynamic UI and the components. There are countless component libraries for all of those frameworks/libraries. If you know your modern (!!!) Javascript, you should jst look into them and their different concepts. Personally I like Ract the most and don't get that well along with AngularJS. It's a matter of taste. Here is a random list of 11 component libraries for React (no affiliation with that website): https://blog.bitsrc.io/11-react-component-libraries-you-should-know-178eb1dd6aa4

 

Codecademy has a nice introduction into React.

 

Basically: if you want dynamic web frontends you have to go the Javascript way. Responsiveness on the other hand is very much possible with pure CSS3 and HTML5.

 

On 26.9.2018 at 7:31 PM, rhradec said:

2. do you guys known of a simple and fast to write API/Framework for user authenticated (OAUTH) database setup?

All depends on the frameworks you choose. Remember that you have to handle your routes in the backend as well. Your command line tool on its own won't cut the deal. You need a web framework that handles the routes and if neccessary interacts with the webserver and the queries. For Python there are Flask and Django (next to a few quite small frameworks). You could also level up your Javascript game and go the node.js route and let your node.js interface interact with your comannd line tool written in python. 

[Lichig0]

So; well development is kinda crazy and stupid.

 

Angular and React seen the most popular at the moment, and I'd personally lean towards React (even though I haven't gotten to use it).

 

Angular is/was just a huge framework that bloats your webpage. I see it like using C++ and using namespace std for just a "hello world" when C would get the job done (and size matters when you have to push it over the network!) So if this is a small not complicated site, please skip Angular (unless it's gotten better over the last 6? versions since I got stuck with it)

 

React, is apparently only part it a MVC framework/model, which you'll read about when researching and reading about React. So you still might need other libraries to support it, such as Bootstrap(made by Twitter?) And Redux(funnily enough as fat as Angular is, I've seen this pulled in for Angular as well, even though it was mainly built for React)

 

Bootstrap, from what I've been told, basically makes dealing with CSS a much less painful ordeal. I don't know if it relates to QT, but it might help.

 

As for auth, I don't have much experience in that. I can only suggest to not, I repeat, do not use JWT*. Especially for the use case you mentioned.

 

*http://cryto.net/~joepie91/blog/2016/06/19/stop-using-jwt-for-sessions-part-2-why-your-solution-doesnt-work/

 

I'm sorry I couldn't be much more help. I'm just really sour about how terrible JS is and it's ridiculous number of new frameworks and shiny balls that come out on like a daily basis; all to fix JS, HTML, and CSS shortcomings. Web components and web assembly look promising though ?

[vorticalbox]

5 hours ago, Lichig0 said:

Angular is/was just a huge framework that bloats your webpage.

At work we have a massive (2k odd packages) frontend for debt collecting, with that comes a component library and all for a total of 7.6 MB.

 

AngularJS old version is a massive 16.7 MB.

 

 

14 hours ago, fpo said:

For back-end frameworks, a lot of people here like Node.JS which is a framework that lets you write JavaScript and run it as an independent application (As if you were writing in C++) that way you script for web pages & program your server in the same language. 

This gets my votes, mostly because it use it every day.

 

Look into express for your routing, there is an oauth package that you can use.