# G4P gui builder latest version doesn't work with older sketch

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893>\
**Category:** Libraries\
**Created:** [June 24, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893 "2021-06-24T20:17:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GvB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@GvB](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GvB)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893/1 "2021-06-24T20:17:50Z")

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Updating an older complex sketch I found out that the latest G4P gui builder is not compatible anymore. I installed an earlier version of the tool which works for now.  
Question is: is there some way to convert the ‘older’ gui to one that will work with the newest G4P gui builder? To remake the whole gui is a lot of work. I might go to ControlP5 if that is more stable and backwards compatible.

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**Author:** ![quark](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/quark/32/26_2.png) [@quark](https://discourse.processing.org/u/quark)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 10:30am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893/2 "2021-06-25T10:30:53Z")

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> [@GvB](#):
>
> is there some way to convert the ‘older’ gui to one that will work with the newest G4P gui builder?

Unfortunately not see this [webpage](http://www.lagers.org.uk/g4ptool/index.html) for more info.

> [@GvB](#):
>
> I might go to ControlP5 if that is more stable and backwards compatible.

GUI Builder is a _tool_ for designing GUIs using the G4P _library_ and has nothing to do with finished sketch.

Both GUI Builder and G4P are as _stable_ as ControlP5 whatever you might think. By all means use ControlP5 as a replacement for G4P but as far as I know it does not have an associated GUI design tool. If I am correct you would still have to modify the GUI layout by hand.

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**Author:** ![GvB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@GvB](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GvB)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 11:15am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893/3 "2021-06-25T11:15:05Z")

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My usage of the word ‘stable’ is not correct, you are right. I meant future proof. For which backwards compatibility is quite important in my view.

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**Author:** ![quark](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/quark/32/26_2.png) [@quark](https://discourse.processing.org/u/quark)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893/4 "2021-06-25T11:17:34Z")

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G4P is backwards compatible for all sketches created with Processing 3 or later, and AFAIK so is ControlP5

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GvB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@GvB](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GvB)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 11:32am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893/5 "2021-06-25T11:32:37Z")

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G4P but not Gui Builder right?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![quark](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/quark/32/26_2.png) [@quark](https://discourse.processing.org/u/quark)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 12:54pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/g4p-gui-builder-latest-version-doesnt-work-with-older-sketch/30893/6 "2021-06-25T12:54:16Z")

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Correct, GUI Builder has limited backward compatibility because it uses Java serialization to store the GUI data