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1994-04-09
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**********************************************
triton.library
The object oriented GUI creation system.
Release 1.0
(c) 1993-1994 Stefan Zeiger
**********************************************
Be sure to read the file 'Distribution', too!
If you have suggestions or remarks about Triton, or if you find
any bugs, please let me know.
Contacting the author:
EMail: stefan@wwsp.adsp.sub.org
Z-Netz: stefan@sweet.zer
stefan@plus.zer
FidoNet: Stefan Zeiger 2:244/6302.15
Mail: Stefan Zeiger
Seligenstädter Weg 24
D-63796 Kahl
Germany
Voice: +49-6188-2525 (after 6:00 PM GMT only!)
Please use EMail/Z-Netz/FidoNet if possible. This is more convenient for
me and your chance of getting a reply quickly is much better.
Contents
========
1. Introduction
2. Installation
3. Using triton.library
4. Astronomy Lesson
5. Library history
6. Credits
1. Introduction
===============
triton.library is a standard Amiga shared, runtime library. Triton
makes it much easier to create good-looking graphical user interfaces (GUIs)
than GadTools, BOOPSI or other systems.
The most important features are:
- Object oriented system
- Automatically font sensitive, font adaptive
- Automatic keyboard shortcuts for default window actions
- *Really* easy to use
- Beautiful OS2.x/3.x look
- Comes as a freely distributable shared library
- Size! Though Triton is very powerful, it is a shared library of less
than 40KB. You don't need any startup tools, editors, BOOPSI classes
or other things. It's the Triton among the minnows of GUI creation
systems ;)
- Resizeability of windows wherever applicable
- No large stack required
By using Triton you don't have to worry about otherwise very
time-consuming things like font-sensitivity and resizeability of your
windows. What is even more important is that you can easily change your user
interfaces later without having to rearrange display objects. Simply add an
object to a group and the whole GUI will adapt to make room for it.
The usage of a Triton GUI should be pretty clear. All windows have
two additional keyboard shortcuts (if not explicitly disabled by the
application): 'Esc' will simulate the 'close window' gadget and 'Del' will
simulate the 'resize window' gadget. In palette, slider, scroller and
similar gadgets with an up/down facility you can use the shifted shortcut to
decrease the value.
2. Installation
===============
First of all, Triton requires OS2.04 or higher. If you're still running
1.2 or 1.3, you have to upgrade to OS2.04 or better.
To install triton.library copy it to your Libs: directory by hand, or
run the installation script which corresponds to your system (OS2.0, OS2.1+
with different languages) by double-clicking its icon.
3. Using triton.library
=========================
If you are a C programmer all you need to do is include the correct
header ('libraries/triton.h') and open triton.library. After that you can
use the functions in the library as if they were C functions. If your program
quits it must of course close the library again. You may also use the support
functions in the Triton linker library which make it even easier to use
Triton. See 'demo.c' for an example.
The FD (function description) file is included for the case that you
want to write glue code for other compilers/languages. If you do so, please
send it to me for inclusion in the next Triton distribution.
Functions allowing a variable number of arguments can't be called using
pragmas (in-line library calls; no glue code required). So if you use these
you must always link with LIB:triton.lib (for SAS/C, or with the specific
libraries for your compiler/language). All library functions are explained
in the autodoc file 'triton.doc'.
Live long and prosper!
4. Astronomy Lesson
===================
Triton - A moon of Neptune
Triton is a quaint little moon, in that it is one of the very few moons
to be known to have retrograd orbits around their host. Triton is believed to
be a 3-6000 km large world of mostly liquid nitrogen oceans, perhaps with a
thin methane atmosphere as well, but noone knows for sure since either of the
Voyager twins ever got close enough to take convincing snapshots.
Neptune itself is also quite strange in that it has an almost 90 degree
tilted inclination, so that it "rolls" through space, unlike Earth and the
other planets (minus Venus), which all spin like tops in their orbits. Noone
can tell for sure why Neptune has such an excentric inclination, but it has
been suggested that it was caused by a gigantic collision of some sort
(probably with a large asteroid). In the process Neptune also lost its third
moon, which at the time was none other than Pluto. The collision accellerated
Pluto to the point where it had enough momentum to actually leave its orbit
and shoot into space on its own. As it did so it probably passed below the
Roche' radius of Neptune, causing it to break up in two or more bodies under
the influence of the massive tidal forces of Neptune. This would certainly
account for Charon, which is in itself too large to have been "captured" by
an object as small as Pluto.
Okay, end of today's astronomy lesson :-)
5. Library History
==================
*****************************************************************************
RELEASE 1.0 (Library version 1.138)
First release.
Missing features, known bugs:
- No mutually exclusive menus
- TRAT_ID must be the *last* tag for all menu items
- No class authoring interface. This will follow soon. I will optimize
the class interface first.
- triton.library is a multiple-base library! That means you may not
use it from within single-base libraries and you cannot call
SetFunction() on functions of triton.library.
- triton.lib doesn't contain glue code for the library functions. You
have to create it yourself. I will add glue code in the next release.
*****************************************************************************
6. Credits
==========
Thanks must go to:
- Nico François for his suggestions, beta-testing and helping me with
some very weird problems in Triton
- Carsten Raufuß for beta-testing, suggestions and nagging ('When will
you finally implement listviews? I really need them for my GUI!' :-)
- Kai Iske for his BOOPSI class sources
- Michael Berg for the 'Astronomy Lesson' and beta-testing
- All the unmentioned guys on SPOT.BETA for beta-testing and suggestions
- Marco Frischkorn for beta-testing
- Danny Schrod and Chris Reichert (SysOps of 'Plus' and 'Publishers
Treff') for support
- SAS Institute for their great SAS/C compiler. With SAS/C it was
possible to develop Triton without a single line of assembly
- Commodore for the Amiga
__
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