View source for PowerPlant

'''PowerPlant''' is an [[object-oriented]] [[GUI toolkit]], [[application framework]] and set of class libraries for the [[Classic Mac OS]], created by [[Metrowerks]]. The framework was fairly popular during the late (OS versions 8 and 9) Classic Mac OS era, and was primarily used with [[CodeWarrior]]. It was designed to work with a GUI editor called Constructor, which was primarily a [[Resource fork|resource]] editor specializing in UI elements. Constructor used several custom resource types, 'PPob' ("PowerPlant object"—a general view description), 'CTYP' (custom widgets), and Mcmd (used for dispatching menu-related events). Later it was ported to also support [[MacOS|MacOS X]] development with a single code base.<ref name=ppwp />

After Metrowerks was acquired by [[Motorola]], then spun out as part of [[Freescale Semiconductor]], PowerPlant and the rest of the CodeWarrior desktop development tools were discontinued.<ref name=sdtimes132>{{cite magazine
| magazine = [[SD Times]]
| title    = Metrowerks plans to ax CodeWarrior for Macintosh
| first    = Alex
| last     = Handy
| date     = 15 August 2005
| issue    = 132
| page     = 1
| url      = https://archive.org/details/sdtimes132/mode/1up
}}</ref>

During its heyday from the mid-1990s until the early 2000s, PowerPlant was the most popular framework available for Mac programmers,<ref name=ppwp>{{cite web| url=http://www.freescale.com/files/soft_dev_tools/doc/white_paper/CWPWRPLNTWP.pdf |date=November 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924015545/http://www.freescale.com/files/soft_dev_tools/doc/white_paper/CWPWRPLNTWP.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |title=The Benefits of Using PowerPlant™}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.macworld.com/article/1004751/codewarrior.html |title = CodeWarrior for Mac OS, Version 8 due May 31|date = 2 May 2002 |website=[[Macworld]] |first = Dennis | last = Sellers}}</ref><ref name=mt2001_03>{{cite magazine
| url      = https://archive.org/details/eu_MacTech-2001-03_OCR/page/n59/mode/2up
| magazine = [[MacTech]]
| title    = Carbon: An Essential Element of MacOS X
| page     = 58-61
| volume   = 17
| issue    = 3
| date     = March 2001
| first    = Mark
| last     = Turner
}}</ref> replacing both the THINK Class Library and [[MacApp]] as the premier object-oriented toolkit for the MacOS; however, the transition to MacOS X was rather difficult for many PowerPlant programmers.{{Cite needed|date=August 2021}} In 1997, there was no plan to port PowerPlant to the Yellow Box API found on Rhapsody, a radically different API that would become [[Cocoa (API)|Cocoa]], the official [[MacOS|MacOS X]] API.<ref>
{{cite magazine
| magazine = [[MacTech]]
| url      = https://archive.org/details/eu_MacTech-1997-11_OCR/page/n50/mode/1up
| page     = 49-51
| title    = CodeWarrior Rhapsody Update, Part 2 and a Quick Look at WarriorWorld
| first    = Dave
| last     = Mark
| date     = November 1997
| volume   = 13
| issue    = 11
}}
</ref> Instead Metrowerks plan was to port PowerPlant using Codewarior Latitude, a Mac to UNIX porting library they acquired recently.<ref>
{{cite magazine
| magazine = [[MacTech]]
| url      = https://archive.org/details/eu_MacTech-1997-05_OCR/page/n65/mode/1up
| page     = 64-72
| title    = Greg Galanos and the Mac Developer's Roadmap
| first    = Dave
| last     = Mark
| date     = May 1997
| volume   = 13
| issue    = 5
}}
</ref> In 2000, as Apple revised its transition plans, PowerPlant was ported to [[Carbon (API)|Carbon]], with the Aqua user interface on [[MacOS|MacOS X]], offering a solution for developers wanting to support the new operating system.<ref name=mt2001_03 /><ref name=mt2000_07>{{cite magazine
| magazine = [[MacTech]]
| title    = Arnold goes to WWDC
| first    = Richard
| last     = Atwell
| date     = July 2000
| url      = https://archive.org/details/eu_MacTech-2000-07_OCR/page/n111/mode/1up
| page     = 110-111
| volume   = 16
| issue    = 6
}}</ref>

A new version, '''PowerPlant X''', was introduced in 2004 as a native [[Carbon (API)|Carbon]] framework, using Carbon Events but never became as popular on Mac OS X as PowerPlant had been on Classic Mac OS.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/middleware_and_section_311 |title = Middleware and Section 3.3.1 |website=Daring Fireball |date=30 April 2010}}</ref> 

In February 2006, the PowerPlant class libraries were released as [[Open-source license|open source]] under the [[BSD license]] hosted on [[SourceForge]].<ref>{{cite web|title=PowerPlant Frameworks |url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/open-powerplant/ |website=[[SourceForge]] |date=2 January 2014 |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> Although it could theoretically be recompiled for x86-64 Macs, it is Carbon-dependent and therefore can only be used in 32-bit mode, which preclude its use for software to run on [[macOS Catalina]] or later as 32-bit application support was dropped by the system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/12/20908567/apple-macos-catalina-breaking-apps-32-bit-support-how-to-prepare-avoid-update |title=Why macOS Catalina is breaking so many apps, and what to do about it |date=12 October 2019 |website=[[The Verge]] |first=Nick |last=Stat |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{SourceForge|open-powerplant|PowerPlant}}

{{Widget toolkits}}

[[Category:Widget toolkits]]


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