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description: Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
items: Re: Determining window types

Re: Determining window types
type: item
description: James Tappin (sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk) writes: > Is there any way of determining whether a graphics window is: > 1) A draw widget > 2) A pixmap or > 3) A regular window? > > While "device, window_state=wstat" is useful to prevent trying to do illegal > operations on on-existent windows, there are sufficient differences between > the 3 types of window it would be very useful to be able to distinguish > from within a program. I don't think there is any way to determine between windows of different types, but I have to admit I don't really see the need for this capability. Graphics programs are typically either written in such a way that they are completely ignorant of where they are "going" (I.e., they go into PostScript output as easily as they go into the current graphics window) or they are written in such as way that you know *exactly* where graphic output is going (ie., a widget program). I think only programs that *hope* they know what the hell they are doing would benefit from this feature. :-) Cheers, David -- David W. Fanning, Ph.D. Fanning Software Consulting, Inc. Phone: 970-221-0438, E-mail: david@dfanning.com Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/ Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
creator: David Fanning
date: 2002-12-19T14:29:44-00:00

Re: Determining window types
type: item
description: David Fanning wrote: > James Tappin (sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk) writes: > >> Is there any way of determining whether a graphics window is: >> 1) A draw widget >> 2) A pixmap or >> 3) A regular window? >> >> While "device, window_state=wstat" is useful to prevent trying to do >> illegal operations on on-existent windows, there are sufficient >> differences between the 3 types of window it would be very useful to be >> able to distinguish from within a program. > > I don't think there is any way to determine between > windows of different types, but I have to admit I > don't really see the need for this capability. > > Graphics programs are typically either written in such > a way that they are completely ignorant of where they > are "going" (I.e., they go into PostScript output as > easily as they go into the current graphics window) > or they are written in such as way that you know > *exactly* where graphic output is going (ie., a > widget program). > > I think only programs that *hope* they know what > the hell they are doing would benefit from this > feature. :-) The particular application I had in mind was a case where I wanted to run an interactive locator tool within a package that can either be operated from a CLI in which case it uses regular graphics windows, or from a GUI in which case it uses a draw_widget and since they get positions in different ways this is clearly tricky. James -- +------------------------+-------------------------------+-- -------+ | James Tappin | School of Physics & Astronomy | O__ | | sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk | University of Birmingham | -- \/` | | Ph: 0121-414-6462. Fax: 0121-414-3722 | | +--------------------------------------------------------+-- -------+
creator: James Tappin
date: 2002-12-19T16:10:36-00:00

Re: Determining window types
type: item
description: "James Tappin" <sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk> wrote in message news:atsr1t$9hu$1@sun3.bham.ac.uk... [stuf deleted] > The particular application I had in mind was a case where I wanted to run an > interactive locator tool within a package that can either be operated from > a CLI in which case it uses regular graphics windows, or from a GUI in > which case it uses a draw_widget and since they get positions in different > ways this is clearly tricky. Any chance you could modify the application so it *always* uses draw widgets? Cheers, Liam. Practical IDL Programming http://www.gumley.com/
creator: Liam E. Gumley
date: 2002-12-19T16:57:45-00:00

Re: Determining window types
type: item
description: I think Liam's suggestion is the way to go. If you had multiple DG windows and worked in CLI you have no other means of changing the target window but WSET. And if you do use WSET then you obviously know the target window ID. The only way to allow interactive window selection, AFAIK, is to use widgets. Here's one simple template that may help: http://www.ainaco.com/idl/idl_library/smart_w.pro Cheers, Pavel James Tappin wrote: > > David Fanning wrote: > >> James Tappin (sjt@star.sr.bham.ac.uk) writes: >> >>> Is there any way of determining whether a graphics window is: >>> 1) A draw widget >>> 2) A pixmap or >>> 3) A regular window?
creator: Pavel A. Romashkin
date: 2002-12-20T17:52:28-00:00