Internet Surfer 2.0/Internet Surfer 2.0 (Wayzata Technology) (1996).iso/pc/text/mac/faqs.554

Text File | 1996-02-12 | 27.7 KB | 613 lines

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.554



Certain window managers, notably dxwm and olwm, are very picky about having
this done.

    If you are using Sun's OpenWindows olwm, you can also add this resource
to your defaults file to use clients that aren't ICCCM-compliant.
    OpenWindows.FocusLenience:       true

[mostly courtesy Dave Lemke of NCD and Stuart Marks of Sun]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 111)  How do I figure out what window manager is running?

    You can't reliably tell; whatever mechanism you could use could be
spoofed in any case.
    For most cases, you shouldn't care which window manager is running, so
long as you do things in an ICCCM-conformant manner. There are some cases in
which particular window managers are known to do things wrong; checking for
particular hints placed on the window by the window manager so that you can
sidestep the problem may be appropriate in these cases. Alternatively, it may
be appropriate to determine which window manager is running in order to take
advantage of specific *added* features (such as olwm's push-pin menus) in order
to give your program *added* functionality. Beware of usurping the window
manager's functions by providing that functionality even when it is missing;
this surely leads to future compatibility problems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 112)  Is there a skeleton X program available?

    There is no general framework such as the TransSkel program for the
Macintosh which handles lots of the odds and ends and overhead of development
under a window system and which can be used as a platform for additional
development. In X, the problem is typically solved by using an interactive
application builder tool or by using cut&paste on existing X applications. Good
applications which you might look to manipulate when you want to "test just
this one little thing" include contrib/clients/xskel, a simple R4 program that
puts up a window and allows sketching in it and offers a starting point for
quick hacks, the Xaw examples in the examples/ directory in the R3 and R4
distributions, and the Xlib "Hello World" example in the R3 doc/HelloWorld and
R4 doc/tutorials/HelloWorld; an updated version of this program which uses R4
Xlib calls and current ICCCM conventions was posted in 2/90 to comp.windows.x
by Glenn Widener of Tektronix.     [3/90]

    In addition, a sample Xt program (for Xaw or Xm) by Rainer Klute
showing how to open multiple displays and how to catch a broken display
connection is available on export.lcs.mit.edu in contrib/mdisp.tar.Z. [4/92]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 113)  Why does XtGetValues not work for me (sic)?

    The XtGetValues interface for retrieving resources from a widget is
sensitive to the type of variable. Your code may be doing something like this:
    {
    Arg args[3];
    int i;
    int sensitive;        /* oops; wrong data type */
    i=0;
    XtSetArg (args[i], XtNsensitive, &sensitive); i++;
    XtGetValues(widget, args, i );
    ...
    }

But XtNsensitive is a Boolean, which on most machines is a single byte;
declaring the variable "sensitive" as Boolean works properly. This problem
comes up often when using particular toolkits that redefine the Xt types
Dimension and Position; code that assumes they are int will have similar
problems if those types are actually short. In general: you are safe if you
use the actual type of the resource, as it appears in the widget's man page.
[11/90]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 114)  Why don't XtConfigureWidget/XtResizeWidget/XtMoveWidget work?

    You're probably trying to use these functions from application code.
They should be used only internally to widgets; these functions are for a
parent widget to change the geometry of its children. Other promising
functions, XtMakeGeometryRequest() and XtMakeResizeRequest(), are also for use
only by widgets, in this case by a child to request a change from its parent.
    The only way for your application to request a geometry change for a
widget is to issue an XtSetValues call setting some of the geometry resources.
Although this will result in the widget-internal functions' being called, your
application code must use the standard XtSetValues interface or risk the
widgets' data becoming corrupted.
    [The Xlib calls XMoveWindow() and XResizeWindow() should similarly be
avoided; they shouldn't be used to change XtNx, XtNy, XtNwidth, or XtNheight.]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 115)  Why isn't there an XtReparentWidget call like XReparentWindow?

    Although there are various details of the current implementation of
the Xt internals which make reparenting difficult, the major reason that no
such call exists is that it remains undefined what the set of resources for
the "new" widget should be. Resources are typically set based on the location
in the instance hierarchy; what resources should change if the instance moves?
What should happen to the widget's children? And by the time such semantics are
defined, there would probably be little advantage over destroying the old
widget and creating a new widget in the correct location with the desired
resources, as setting the resources correctly is the majority of work in
creating a new widget.

    Note that reparenting is possible in the OI toolkit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 116)  I'm writing a widget and can't use a float as a resource value.

Float resources are not portable; the size of the value may be larger than
the size of an XtPointer. Try using a pointer to a float instead; the Xaw
Scrollbar float resources are handled in this way.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 117)  Is this a memory leak in the X11R4 XtDestroyWidget()?!

Yes. This is the "unofficial" fix-19 for the X11R4 Destroy.c:

*** Destroy.c.1.37    Thu Jul 11 15:41:25 1991
--- lib/Xt/Destroy.c    Thu Jul 11 15:42:23 1991
***************
*** 1,4 ****
--- 1,5 ----
  /* $XConsortium: Destroy.c,v 1.37 90/09/28 10:21:32 swick Exp $ */
+ /* Plus unofficial patches in revisions 1.40 and 1.41 */

  /***********************************************************
  Copyright 1987, 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts,
***************
*** 221,239 ****
       */

      int i = 0;
!     DestroyRec* dr = app->destroy_list;
      while (i < app->destroy_count) {
      if (dr->dispatch_level >= dispatch_level)  {
          Widget w = dr->widget;
          if (--app->destroy_count)
          bcopy( (char*)(dr+1), (char*)dr,
!                app->destroy_count*sizeof(DestroyRec)
                );
          XtPhase2Destroy(w);
      }
      else {
          i++;
-         dr++;
      }
      }
  }
--- 222,245 ----
       */

      int i = 0;
!     DestroyRec* dr;
      while (i < app->destroy_count) {
+
+     /* XtPhase2Destroy can result in calls to XtDestroyWidget,
+      * and these could cause app->destroy_list to be reallocated.
+      */
+
+     dr = app->destroy_list + i;
      if (dr->dispatch_level >= dispatch_level)  {
          Widget w = dr->widget;
          if (--app->destroy_count)
          bcopy( (char*)(dr+1), (char*)dr,
!                (app->destroy_count - i) * sizeof(DestroyRec)
                );
          XtPhase2Destroy(w);
      }
      else {
          i++;
      }
      }
  }

[from Donna Converse, [e-mail]]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 118)  Are callbacks guaranteed to be called in the order registered?

    Although some books demonstrate that the current implementation of Xt
happens to call callback procedures in the order in which they are registered,
the specification does not guarantee such a sequence, and supplemental
authoritative documents (i.e. the Asente/Swick volume) do say that the order is
undefined.  Because the callback list can be manipulated by both the widget and
the application, Xt cannot guarantee the order of execution.
    In general, the callback procedures should be thought of as operating
independently of one another and should not depend on side-effects of other
callbacks operating; if a seqence is needed, then the single callback to be
registered can explicitly call other functions necessary.

[4/92; thanks to [e-mail]]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 119)  Why doesn't XtDestroyWidget() actually destroy the widget?

    XtDestroyWidget() operates in two passes, in order to avoid leaving
dangling data structures; the function-call marks the widget, which is not
actually destroyed until your program returns to its event-loop.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 120)  How do I query the user synchronously using Xt?

    It is possible to have code which looks like this trivial callback,
which has a clear flow of control. The calls to AskUser() block until answer
is set to one of the valid values. If it is not a "yes" answer, the code drops
out of the callback and back to an event-processing loop:

    void quit(Widget w, XtPointer client, XtPointer call)
    {
        int             answer;
        answer = AskUser(w, "Really Quit?");
        if (RET_YES == answer)
            {
            answer = AskUser(w, "Are You Really Positive?");
            if (RET_YES == answer)
                exit(0);
                }
    }

    A more realistic example might ask whether to create a file or whether
to overwrite it.
    This is accomplished by entering a second event-processing loop and
waiting until the user answers the question; the answer is returned to the
calling function. That function AskUser() looks something like this, where the
Motif can be replaced with widget-set-specific code to create some sort of
dialog-box displaying the question string and buttons for "OK", "Cancel" and
"Help" or equivalents:

  int AskUser(w, string)
        Widget          w;
        char           *string;
  {
        int             answer=RET_NONE;    /* some not-used marker */
        Widget          dialog;            /* could cache&carry, but ...*/
        Arg             args[3];
        int             n = 0;
        XtAppContext    context;

        n=0;
        XtSetArg(args[n], XmNmessageString, XmStringCreateLtoR(string,
                XmSTRING_DEFAULT_CHARSET)); n++;
        XtSetArg(args[n], XmNdialogStyle, XmDIALOG_APPLICATION_MODAL); n++;
        dialog = XmCreateQuestionDialog(XtParent(w), string, args, n);
        XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNokCallback, response, &answer);
        XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNcancelCallback, response, &answer);
        XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNhelpCallback, response, &answer);
        XtManageChild(dialog);

        context = XtWidgetToApplicationContext (w);
        while (answer == RET_NONE || XtAppPending(context)) {
                XtAppProcessEvent (context, XtIMAll);
        }
        XtDestroyWidget(dialog);  /* blow away the dialog box and shell */
        return answer;
  }

    The dialog supports three buttons, which are set to call the same
function when tickled by the user.  The variable answer is set when the user
finally selects one of those choices:

  void response(w, client, call)
        Widget          w;
        XtPointer client;
        XtPointer call;
  {
  int *answer = (int *) client;
  XmAnyCallbackStruct *reason = (XmAnyCallbackStruct *) call;
        switch (reason->reason) {
        case XmCR_OK:
                *answer = RET_YES;    /* some #define value */
                break;
        case XmCR_CANCEL:
                *answer = RET_NO;
        break;
        case XmCR_HELP:
                *answer = RET_HELP;
                break;
        default:
                return;
        }
}

and the code unwraps back to the point at which an answer was needed and
continues from there.

[Thanks to Dan Heller ([e-mail]); further code is in Dan's R3/contrib
WidgetWrap library. 2/91]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 121)  How do I determine the name of an existing widget?
I have a widget ID and need to know what the name of that widget is.

    Users of R4 and later are best off using the XtName() function, which
will work on both widgets and non-widget objects.

    If you are still using R3, you can use this simple bit of code to do
what you want. Note that it depends on the widget's internal data structures
and is not necessarily portable to future versions of Xt, including R4.

    #include <X11/CoreP.h>
    #include <X11/Xresource.h>
    String XtName (widget)
    Widget widget;    /* WILL work with non-widget objects */
    {
    return XrmNameToString(widget->core.xrm_name);
    }

[7/90; modified with suggestion by Larry Rogers ([e-mail]) 9/91]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 122)  What widget is appropriate to use as a drawing canvas?

    Some widget sets have a widget particularly for this purpose -- a
WorkSpace or DrawingArea which doesn't display anything but lets your Xt
application know when it has been re-exposed, resized, and when it has received
user key and mouse input.
    The best thing to do for other widget sets -- including the Athena set
-- is to create or obtain such a widget; this is preferable to drawing into a
core widget and grabbing events with XtAddEventHandler(), which loses a number
of benefits of Xt and encapsulation of the functionality .  At least one
version has been posted to comp.sources.x (name???). The publicly-available
programs xball and xpic include other versions. And the Athena Widget manual
(mit/doc/Xaw/Template in the R5 distribution) includes a tutorial and source
code to a simple widget which is suitable for use.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 123)  Why do I get a BadDrawable error drawing to XtWindow(widget)?
I'm doing this in order to get a window into which I can do Xlib graphics
within my Xt-based program:

> canvas = XtCreateManagedWidget ( ...,widgetClass,...) /* drawing area */
> ...
> window = XtWindow(canvas);    /* get the window associated with the widget */
> ...
> XDrawLine (...,window,...);    /* produces error */

    The window associated with the widget is created as a part of the
realization of the widget.  Using a window id of NULL ("no window") could
create the error that you describe.  It is necessary to call XtRealizeWidget()
before attempting to use the window associated with a widget.
    Note that the window will be created after the XtRealizeWidget() call,
but that the server may not have actually mapped it yet, so you should also
wait for an Expose event on the window before drawing into it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 124)  Why do I get a BadMatch error when calling XGetImage?

The BadMatch error can occur if the specified rectangle goes off the edge of
the screen. If you don't want to catch the error and deal with it, you can take
the following steps to avoid the error:

1) Make a pixmap the same size as the rectangle you want to capture.
2) Clear the pixmap to background using XFillRectangle.
3) Use XCopyArea to copy the window to the pixmap.
4) If you get a NoExpose event, the copy was clean. Use XGetImage to grab the
image from the pixmap.
5) If you get one or more GraphicsExpose events, the copy wasn't clean, and
the x/y/width/height members of the GraphicsExpose event structures tell you
the parts of the pixmap which aren't good.
6) Get rid of the pixmap; it probably takes a lot of memory.

[10/92; thanks to Oliver Jones ([e-mail])]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 125)  How can my application tell if it is being run under X?

    A number of programs offer X modes but otherwise run in a straight
character-only mode. The easiest way for an application to determine that it is
running on an X display is to attempt to open a connection to the X server:

    display = XOpenDisplay(display_name);
    if (display)
        { do X stuff }
    else
        { do curses or something else }
where display_name is either the string specified on the command-line following
-display, by convention, or otherwise is (char*)NULL [in which case
XOpenDisplay uses the value of $DISPLAY, if set].

This is superior to simply checking for the existence a -display command-line
argument or checking for $DISPLAY set in the environment, neither of which is
adequate. [5/91]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 126)! How do I make a "busy cursor" while my application is computing?
Is it necessary to call XDefineCursor() for every window in my application?

    The easiest thing to do is to create a single InputOnly window that is
as large as the largest possible screen; make it a child of your toplevel
window and it will be clipped to that window, so it won't affect any other
application. (It needs to be as big as the largest possible screen in case the
user enlarges the window while it is busy or moves elsewhere within a virtual
desktop.) Substitute "toplevel" with your top-most widget here (similar code
should work for Xlib-only applications; just use your top Window):

     unsigned long valuemask;
     XSetWindowAttributes attributes;

     /* Ignore device events while the busy cursor is displayed. */
     valuemask = CWDontPropagate | CWCursor;
     attributes.do_not_propagate_mask =  (KeyPressMask | KeyReleaseMask |
         ButtonPressMask | ButtonReleaseMask | PointerMotionMask);
     attributes.cursor = XCreateFontCursor(XtDisplay(toplevel), XC_watch);

     /* The window will be as big as the display screen, and clipped by
        its own parent window, so we never have to worry about resizing */
     XCreateWindow(XtDisplay(toplevel), XtWindow(toplevel), 0, 0,
         65535, 65535, (unsigned int) 0, CopyFromParent, InputOnly,
         CopyFromParent, valuemask, &attributes);

where the maximum size above could be replaced by the real size of the screen,
particularly to avoid servers which have problems with windows larger than
32767.

When you want to use this busy cursor, map and raise this window; to go back to
normal, unmap it. This will automatically keep you from getting extra mouse
events; depending on precisely how the window manager works, it may or may not
have a similar effect on keystrokes as well.

In addition, note also that most of the Xaw widgets support an XtNcursor
resource which can be temporarily reset, should you merely wish to change the
cursor without blocking pointer events.

[thanks to Andrew Wason ([e-mail]), Dan Heller
([e-mail]), and [e-mail]; 11/90,5/91]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 127)  How do I fork without hanging my parent X program?

    An X-based application which spawns off other Unix processes which
continue to run after it is closed typically does not vanish until all of its
children are terminated; the children inherit from the parent the open X
connection to the display.
    What you need to do is fork; then, immediately, in the child process,
    close (ConnectionNumber(XtDisplay(widget)));
to close the file-descriptor in the display information. After this do your
exec. You will then be able to exit the parent.

[Thanks to Janet Anstett ([e-mail]) and Gordon Freedman
([e-mail]) 2/91]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 128)  Can I make Xt or Xlib calls from a signal handler?

    No. Xlib and Xt have no mutual exclusion for protecting critical
sections. If your signal handler makes such a call at the wrong time (which
might be while the function you are calling is already executing), it can leave
the library in an inconsistent state. Note that the ANSI C standard points
out that behavior of a signal handler is undefined if the signal handler calls
any function other than signal() itself, so this is not a problem specific to
Xlib and Xt; the POSIX specification mentions other functions which may be
called safely but it may not be assumed that these functions are called by
Xlib or Xt functions.
    You can work around the problem by setting a flag in the interrupt
handler and later checking it with a work procedure or a timer event which
has previously been added.

    Note: the article in The X Journal 1:4 and the example in O'Reilly
Volume 6 are in error.

[Thanks to Pete Ware ([e-mail]) and Donna Converse
([e-mail]), 5/92]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 129)  What are these "Xlib sequence lost" errors?

    You may see these errors if you issue Xlib requests from an Xlib error
handler, or, more likely, if you make calls which generate X requests to Xt or
Xlib from a signal handler, which you shouldn't be doing in any case.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 130)  How can my Xt program handle socket, pipe, or file input?

    It's very common to need to write an Xt program that can accept input
both from a user via the X connection and from some other file descriptor, but
which operates efficiently and without blocking on either the X connection or
the other file descriptor.
    A solution is use XtAppAddInput(). After you open your file descriptor,
use XtAppAddInput() to register an input handler. The input handler will be
called every time there is something on the file descriptor requiring your
program's attention. Write the input handler like you would any other Xt
callback, so it does its work quickly and returns.  It is important to use only
non-blocking I/O system calls in your input handlers.
    Most input handlers read the file descriptor, although you can have an
input handler write or handle exception conditions if you wish.
    Be careful when you register an input handler to read from a disk file.
You will find that the function is called even when there isn't input pending.
XtAppAddInput() is actually working as it is supposed to. The input handler is
called whenever the file descriptor is READY to be read, not only when there is
new data to be read. A disk file (unlike a pipe or socket) is almost always
ready to be read, however, if only because you can spin back to the beginning
and read data you've read before.  The result is that your function will almost
always be called every time around XtAppMainLoop(). There is a way to get the
type of interaction you are expecting; add this line to the beginning of your
function to test whether there is new data:
         if (ioctl(fd, FIONREAD, &n) == -1 || n == 0) return;
But, because this is called frequently, your application is effectively in a
busy-wait; you may be better off not using XtAppAddInput() and instead setting
a timer and in the timer procedure checking the file for input.

[courtesy Dan Heller ([e-mail]), 8/90; [e-mail] 5/91;
Ollie Jones ([e-mail]) 6/92]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 131)  How do I simulate a button press/release event for a widget?

    You can do this using XSendEvent(); it's likely that you're not setting
the window field in the event, which Xt needs in order to match to the widget
which should receive the event.
     If you're sending events to your own application, then you can use
XtDispatchEvent() instead. This is more efficient than XSendEvent() in that you
avoid a round-trip to the server.
    Depending on how well the widget was written, you may be able to call
its action procedures in order to get the effects you want.

[courtesy Mark A. Horstman ([e-mail]), 11/90]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 132)  Why doesn't anything appear when I run this simple program?

> ...
> the_window = XCreateSimpleWindow(the_display,
>      root_window,size_hints.x,size_hints.y,
>      size_hints.width,size_hints.height,BORDER_WIDTH,
>      BlackPixel(the_display,the_screen),
>      WhitePixel(the_display,the_screen));
> ...
> XSelectInput(the_display,the_window,ExposureMask|ButtonPressMask|
>     ButtonReleaseMask);
> XMapWindow(the_display,the_window);
> ...
> XDrawLine(the_display,the_window,the_GC,5,5,100,100);
> ...

    You are right to map the window before drawing into it. However, the
window is not ready to be drawn into until it actually appears on the screen --
until your application receives an Expose event. Drawing done before that will
generally not appear. You'll see code like this in many programs; this code
would appear after window was created and mapped:
  while (!done)
    {
      XNextEvent(the_display,&the_event);
      switch (the_event.type) {
    case Expose:     /* On expose events, redraw */
        XDrawLine(the_display,the_window,the_GC,5,5,100,100);
        break;
    ...
    }
    }

    Note that there is a second problem: some Xlib implementations don't
set up the default graphics context to have correct foreground/background
colors, so this program could previously include this code:
  ...
  the_GC_values.foreground=BlackPixel(the_display,the_screen);    /* e.g. */
  the_GC_values.background=WhitePixel(the_display,the_screen);    /* e.g. */
  the_GC = XCreateGC(the_display,the_window,
                GCForeground|GCBackground,&the_GC_values);
  ...

Note: the code uses BlackPixel and WhitePixel to avoid assuming that 1 is
black and 0 is white or vice-versa.  The relationship between pixels 0 and 1
and the colors black and white is implementation-dependent.  They may be
reversed, or they may not even correspond to black and white at all.

Also note that actually using BlackPixel and WhitePixel is usually the wrong
thing to do in a finished program, as it ignores the user's preference for
foreground and background.

And also note that you can run into the same situation in an Xt-based program
if you draw into the XtWindow(w) right after it has been realized; it may
not yet have appeared.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 133)  What is the difference between a Screen and a screen?

    The 'Screen' is an Xlib structure which includes the information about
one of the monitors or virtual monitors which a single X display supports. A
server can support several independent screens. They are numbered unix:0.0,
unix:0.1, unix:0.2, etc; the 'screen' or 'screen_number' is the second digit --
the 0, 1, 2 which can be thought of as an index into the array of available
Screens on this particular Display connection.
    The macros which you can use to obtain information about the particular
Screen on which your application is running typically have two forms -- one
which takes a Screen and one with takes both the Display and the screen_number.
    In Xt-based programs, you typically use XtScreen(widget) to determine
the Screen on which your application is running, if it uses a single screen.
    (Part of the confusion may arise from the fact that some of the macros
which return characteristics of the Screen have "Display" in the names --
XDisplayWidth, XDisplayHeight, etc.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 134)  Can I use C++ with X11? Motif? XView?

    The X11R4/5 header files are compatible with C++. The Motif 1.1 header
files are usable as is inside extern "C" {...}. However, the definition of
String in Intrinsic.h can conflict with the libg++ or other String class and
needs to be worked around.

    Some other projects which can help:
    WWL, a set of C++ classes by Jean-Daniel Fekete to wrap X Toolkit
widgets, available via anonymous FTP from export.lcs.mit.edu as
contrib/WWL-1.2.tar.Z [7/92] or lri.lri.fr (129.175.15.1) as pub/WWL-1.2.tar.Z.
It works by building a set of C++ classes in parallel to the class tree of the
widgets.
    The C++ InterViews toolkit is obtainable via anonymous FTP from
interviews.stanford.edu. InterViews uses a box/glue model similar to that of
TeX for constructing user interfaces and supports multiple looks on the user
interfaces. Some of its sample applications include a WYSIWIG document editor
(doc), a MacDraw-like drawing program (idraw) and an interface builder (ibuild).
    THINGS,  a class library written at the Rome Air Force Base by the
Strategic Air Command, available as freeware on archive sites.