| Re: Wt/Motif Interface (was: Real Number on PV-WAVE) [message #18097] |
Tue, 30 November 1999 00:00  |
rkj
Messages: 66
Registered: February 1996
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Mark D. Williams (markw@resource-eng.com) wrote:
: "R. Kyle Justice" wrote:
: > > Then you must not be developing "elegant" user-interfaces through
: > > direct calls to the Motif toolkit via the Wt functions. This is
: > > the epitome of "obscure."
: > > But even when you have found the little-known resource that does just
: > > what you want, there is only a 50/50 chance that setting it will have
: > > any effect.
: > > It's too bad IDL users don't have the "joy" of going through this process
: > since they
: > > don't have the illusion of so many interface design choices :-)
: Just as you note, it is a tradeoff between obscurity/difficulty and flexibility.
: For the
: additional flexibility that the Wt layer affords, I don't mind putting up with
: some
: obscurity and having to deal with the O'Reilly Motif "tomes". What the Ww layer
: gives you in cross-platform portability (it is the only interface design layer
: that
: works consistently on Windows) you give up in interface flexibility.
: There are some historical reasons behind Ww being the only supported layer
: on both Motif and Windows. When VNI first developed PV-WAVE on the
: Windows platform, they ported a subset of their Wt functions from Motif to
: the Microsoft Foundation Classes. How's that for obscure? I don't envy the
: programmers that accomplished that their jobs. The subset of Wt/Motif that
: VNI chose to port to Windows was exactly the functions necessary to get
: Ww to work properly. So it is a good bet that if VNI is using
: a Wt function in the Ww layer functions, that particular Wt function is
: supported on Windows, too. At least, that Wt function, in the specific way
: that it is called from the Ww function is supported :-)
Actually, I primarily develop in a UNIX environement (I would not recommend
Wt if you want cross-platform independence. Definitely stick with the Ww
functions). This is my gripe -- many of the Motif resources appear to have
no effect when accessed through the Wt layer. For instance, why can I set
the "no resize" resources for bulletin board and form layouts just fine, but
I can't for row-column layouts? One good side effect (pun intended) is that
I have learned a lot about Motif. Just staring at the "tomes" makes one a
better programmer ;-)
: Now, I suppose this is all fine and good for someone coming to the task
: with a good familiarity with UNIX/Motif. It is admittedly problematic and
: not quite desirable for the programmer coming to PV-WAVE from either
: a Visual Basic or MSVC++ background.
I don't know if you meant to imply that I am coming from the perspective/
background of a Windows programmer (*shudder* :-P ). Anyway, this stuff
would be pretty mind-boggling for a brilliant Xlib guru (I refuse to
consult the even more ancient tomes -- volumes 1,2,4,and 5. As an engineer
I don't feel worthy :-O). But then again, a brilliant Xlib guru would not
be writing code in PV-Wave, or would they???
: Regards,
: Mark Williams
: Resource Engineering, Inc.
Kyle
PS And I have not even mentioned "secret" keywords known only by VNI tech
support and the few that gain access to this "gnosis" (i.e. /Raise for
WtSet and /Fast for SPAWN. If you know others, please e-mail me!).
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