This program is packed with information about ViewIt and other programming tools distributed by FaceWare.
• To learn why you should be using ViewIt to create powerful Macintosh windows, press the ? button.
• To learn about other tools sold by FaceWare, press the Show Products button.
• To learn more about programming with ViewIt or other FaceWare tools, see the Startup menu in the "ViewIt On-Line Help" window.
• If you have purchased ViewIt or have the shareware version of ViewIt and would like to begin programming, first read all of the following introductory notes:
1. Contact Us If You Need Further Help
If you are a registered owner of the latest version of ViewIt and have any problems using ViewIt, you can contact us directly for technical help:
USA: 217-328-5842, M-F, 9AM-5PM Central (Illinois)
Also note that ViewIt's documentation and features are constantly being improved, so we would like to hear from you (whether you own ViewIt or not) if you have suggestions for improving ViewIt or its documentation.
2. The Manuals Are On-Line
The ViewIt product includes the ViewIt and FaceIt modules. A "manual" or "programmer's guide" for each of these modules is stored as TEXT resources which can be viewed on-line (see the "ViewIt On-Line Help" window behind this one - if you don't see this window, then you are using the smaller, non-editing version of the FaceWare file). Although each guide can be printed, many programmers also find it useful to access the help on-line where it is more easily searched.
3. Try ViewIt's On-Line Editing
One of the most unique and powerful ViewIt features is its support for "on-line editing". Before continuing, try putting this window into edit mode to see how easy it is to edit ViewIt windows. Edit mode is entered by pressing Option-‚åò-Shift (try it) and exited with the Enter key. No other Mac programming tool makes it so easy to edit windows. More information about editing windows can be found in the Editing topic under the ViewIt menu in the ViewIt Help window.
4. Read "Startup" Topics First
The Startup menu in the ViewIt Help window opens help topics that should be read before any other help. These startup topics define basic concepts, present an example of the Minimum Code needed to open a ViewIt window in a FaceIt-based program, and discuss how to start new projects or adapt existing programs for use with ViewIt and other modules. The final startup topic is a Tutorial that is designed to help you get started building new programs before you become overwhelmed by the detailed documentation in later topics.
5. Decide How You Want To Use ViewIt
ViewIt windows can be made to work within any Mac programming environment. This flexibility is made possible by our support for 3 different levels of use: (1) the use of modal ViewIt windows within isolated sections of any program, (2) the use of FaceIt to handle raw events, including those from modeless windows, and (3) the use of a special version of FaceIt to mix modeless event handling with the event handling in existing programs that have their own windows. (If the terms "modal" and "modeless" are unfamiliar, see the Windows topic in the ViewIt Guide.)
• Level 1: Adding Modal ViewIt Windows
If you are only interested in adding modal ViewIt windows to existing programs, then you can start by concentrating on the Windows topic in the ViewIt Guide, which deals with the initialization and use of modal ViewIt windows in programs. At this level you can ignore most info in the FaceIt Guide since the ViewIt windows that you'll be using are opened and closed within isolated sections of your program code. WARNING: If using ViewIt without FaceIt, you must set c = -1 when calling DoInit. The Initializations topic under the Startup menu describes this option.
• Level 2: Adding Modeless ViewIt Windows
If you are also interested in working with modeless ViewIt windows, and in taking advantage of features provided by FaceIt, then also read the first few topics in the FaceIt Guide: Introduction, Initializations, and The Main Loop. Many purchasers of ViewIt make use of FaceIt to do their event handling since it can dramatically simplify their source and does all or most of the work done by competing object libraries, or the voluminous code produced by program generators.
• Level 3: Mixing Window Types
If you wish to use modeless ViewIt windows within programs that already have their own windows and event loops, then read the Hybrid Programs topic in the FaceIt Guide. This topic describes a streamlined version of FaceIt ("FaceStub") that can be used to mix ViewIt modeless windows with other windows in an existing program, giving you the best of both worlds. (FaceStub, for example, is used by HyperFace.)
6. Study Other Demo Programs
After building the Tutorial program described in the startup topics, you should also study the source code of this vDemoXY program. The "Open Modal..." button below opens a modal window which contains a description of this source. Another set of programs named fDemoXY is also shipped with ViewIt to illustrate the use of advanced FaceIt features.
