Felix wrote:

> I am looking for a RAD/IDE to develop front ends (particularly input
> and display forms) for Firebird (and probably mySQL) databases.
>
> Key considerations:
>
> Easy to get started with (think Filemaker) but highly
> extensible/powerful once I get the hang of it (think Delphi/Visual
> Studio)

So, what's wrong with Delphi?

> My target platform is Win32 (i.e. 2000/XP/ and maybe 98). Multi-
> platform capability would be a STRONG plus, however. [Does this
> automatically mean Java? or .NET+Mono?]

No it doesn't mean anything automatically. You have many, many
alternatives (C++, Python, PHP...)

> The development platform should hopefully be able to generate
> ROYALTEE FREE binary executables, although runtime interpreted
> programs would be OK (especially to deal with multiple OS platforms,
> see above) if run against common interpreters such as .NET and/or
> Python.

> Cost of the development platform should be under $1500, although FREE
> would be best!

Sure. Well, I believe Delphi proffesional + IBObjects licence withs in.

> Finally, I'm probably not interested in Delphi. This is sort of a
> gut feeling, so feel free to make an impassioned argument if you have
> time or interest. [Is Delphi/Pascal "easy" to learn? Can I get a
> basic masterdetail form built in my first two hours? To target Linux
> would I then also have to buy Kylix? Is Kylix at a dead-end?]

Is anything related to application development easy to learn? The easier
something is to learn, the harder is to build large applications with it.

> I would greatly appreciate anyone's comments and advice (especially
> within the parameters I have listed) on the above listed environments
> and/or any others I have not yet discovered.

I suggest you to also try:

IBForms (from IBExpert) freeware, but no free support, integrated IBO
and FastReports. This is probably the easiest to learn solution, since
for simple projects you don't need to program at all (something like M$
Access).

wxWidgets with wxODBC driver and some good tool to develop gui like
wxDesigner, and some good ODBC driver for Firebird (there are free ones
and commercial ones, so price may vary).

The same, but with native IBPP access library.

wxPython with kinderbasdb (I hope I got that name right), which is
completely free. There are many RAD IDEs for wxPython. I haven't tried
any (since I don't program in Python), so you'll have to try which suits
you best.

Well, if I were you and cross-platform is not much of an issue (like you
wrote), I'd still go with Delphi, or if you don't want to learn Pascal,
use Borland C++ Builder, which is basically the same thing, but with
C++. As for Kylix, in this case I suggest you forget about it.

HTH

--
Milan Babuskov
http://www.flamerobin.org