On 9/7/20 1:43 PM, Christoph K. wrote:
I'd like to "automate" a couple of tasks that I (until now) do on the command line manually. Examples include splitting of video files using ffmpeg, run backups with specific parameters, display checksums(md5), etc.
My idea is that I'd start up the gui and select a task (e. g. split a video file). A command line will be loaded (maybe from a config file) with placeholders for input, output and other parameters. I will then drag some file on the gui and the filename will be used as a parameter, in this case as the input file. Then I will click some run button, which executes the command. Ideally the output and exit code will be displayed.
There are a great many ways to implement graphical user interface applications. Drag-and-drop support implies good integration with the window manager or desktop environment. One option is to use a programming language and a GUI library to build a script or executable (e.g. Tcl/Tk, C/GTK). Another option is to use a stack to deliver an application with a web browser interface (e.g. LAMP/HTML/CSS/JavaScript). Another option is to use a RAD/IDE environment that expedites one or both of the former and/or provides a platform-agnostic platform whose apps can be cross-compiled to many platforms (e.g. Delphi, Java, .NET, Unity, LiveCode). And there are more options to choose from, especially if you are wiling to consider commercial tools (many of which offer free-as-in-beer editions).
You should define some criteria to narrow the choices. This is a Debian mailing list, so I assume you want to build and run apps on Debian using tools packaged on Debian (?). Do you want to develop and/or deploy on other platforms? Will the apps be single-user or multi-user (including yourself on multiple devices)? Will the app include accessibility features? Privacy? Security? What license(s) will apply to the app? Will you use any external development infrastructure (e.g SourceForge, GitHub). Tell us about your programming knowledge and skills. How much time and money do you want to put into developing the first app? What about apps after that (and how many)? Are the apps a hobby, or do you want to leverage this into a programmer job and/or commercial venture? And, whatever else comes to mind.
David