apps-gorm

What Is Gorm?

Gorm is the GNUstep graphical interface builder.

• The name stands for Graphic Object Relationship Modeler (also commonly expanded as GNUstep Object Relationship Modeler).
• It is the GNUstep counterpart to the classic NeXTSTEP/OpenStep/Cocoa Interface Builder.
• It lets you design interface objects visually, wire outlets/actions, and save interface archives that GNUstep applications can load at runtime.

Key Capabilities

• Visual editing of windows, panels, menus, controls, and custom views
• Property editing through inspectors
• Action/outlet connection modeling between objects
• Class management for custom classes, outlets, and actions
• Resource editing and management (for example images and sounds)
• Plugin/palette architecture for extensibility
• Import/export support through the headless gormtool utility (strings, XLIFF, class metadata, archive conversion workflows)

Repository Layout

Top-level modules are split so core functionality can be reused by other tools and apps:

• GormCore/: core framework and editor/inspector implementation
• InterfaceBuilder/: protocol and compatibility layer abstractions
• GormObjCHeaderParser/: Objective-C header parsing support used by class tooling
• Applications/: application targets, including the Gorm app
• Plugins/: plugin bundles for archive/loading support
• Tools/: command-line tooling, including gormtool
• Documentation/: texinfo manual sources, man page source, and documentation status notes

The aggregate build in GNUmakefile builds these as subprojects in this order:

1. InterfaceBuilder
2. GormObjCHeaderParser
3. GormCore
4. Plugins
5. Applications
6. Tools

Requirements

To build and run Gorm, you need GNUstep core components installed:

• gnustep-make
• gnustep-base
• gnustep-gui
• gnustep-back

The build expects GNUSTEP_MAKEFILES to be available (normally provided by gnustep-config).

Build And Install

From the repository root:

make
make install

Notes:

• GormCore (the framework/library) must be installed for Gorm.app to run correctly.
• The root post-build step copies plugins into GormCore framework resources.

Running Gorm

Typical launch methods:

openapp Gorm

gopen -a Gorm

Gorm

Open an existing document directly:

Gorm path/to/MyInterface.gorm

Interface Archive Formats

Gorm primarily works with interface archive documents and associated resources.

• .gorm: native Gorm document format
• .nib: legacy Interface Builder archive format support
• .xib: XML-based Interface Builder archive support

gormtool (Headless CLI)

gormtool is a command-line front end for selected Gorm document operations. It loads a document, performs operations, optionally writes output, then exits.

Basic forms:

gormtool [options] inputfile
gormtool --read inputfile [options]

Important behavior:

• If --read is omitted, the last argument is treated as input.
• Operations that modify the in-memory document do not auto-save unless --write is also provided.

Common options:

• --read FILE: open input document
• --write FILE: write resulting document
• --import-strings-file FILE: import .strings translations
• --export-strings-file FILE: export localizable strings
• --export-xliff FILE: export XLIFF 1.2
• --import-xliff FILE: import XLIFF 1.2
• --source-language LANG: source language for XLIFF export
• --target-language LANG: optional target language for XLIFF export
• --import-class HEADER: import Objective-C class metadata from header
• --export-class CLASSNAME: export class interface/implementation files
• --output-path DIR: output directory for exported class files
• --objects, --connections, --classes: print document internals
• --test: keep process running in interactive test mode

Examples:

gormtool --export-strings-file Localizable.strings MyDocument.gorm

gormtool --read MyDocument.gorm --import-xliff MyDocument-fr.xliff --write MyDocument-fr.gorm

gormtool --read MyDocument.gorm --write MyDocument.xib

Typical Workflow In Gorm

1. Create or open a .gorm document.
2. Add windows/views/controllers from palettes.
3. Configure properties using inspectors.
4. Define custom classes/actions/outlets as needed.
5. Wire outlets and actions between objects.
6. Add resources (images/sounds) and set references.
7. Save and load the archive from your GNUstep app at runtime.

Documentation Map

Primary sources in this repository:

• Documentation/Gorm.texi: main manual source
• Documentation/gorm.1.in: man page source
• Documentation/install.texi: install requirements and build notes
• Documentation/news.texi: release/user-visible change notes
• Documentation/readme.texi: short overview summary
• Documentation/DOCUMENTATION_PROGRESS.md: API/header documentation tracking
• Documentation/DOCUMENTATION_SUMMARY.md: API documentation status summary

Additional manual/wiki entry point:

• https://wiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Gorm_Manual

Project Status

Gorm is usable and stable.

Known long-term improvement areas include:

• Broader compatibility with newer Interface Builder behaviors
• Continued palette/editor expansion
• Ongoing API/header documentation completion

Contributing

Contributions are welcome in all areas, especially:

• Bug fixes and regressions
• Documentation improvements
• New palettes/editors/inspectors
• Compatibility and archive import/export improvements

Please open issues and pull requests on GitHub:

• https://github.com/gnustep/apps-gorm/issues

You can also send feedback and patches to:

• bug-gnustep@gnu.org

License

Gorm is part of GNUstep and distributed under the GNU General Public License. See COPYING for details.

Acknowledgements

• Icons: mostly by Andrew Lindsay; Gorm application icon by Jesse Ross.
• Code: GormViewKnobs.m adapted from code by Gerrit van Dyk.