InfoMagic Source Code 1993 July/THE_SOURCE_CODE_CD_ROM.iso/X/mit/doc/Xt/CH03

Text File | 1991-08-27 | 22.8 KB | 759 lines

.\" $XConsortium: CH03,v 1.8 91/08/27 10:00:40 swick Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991
.\" Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
.\" and Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts.
.\"
.\" Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this documentation for any
.\" purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright
.\" notice appears in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this
.\" permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of
.\" M.I.T. or Digital not be used in in advertising or publicity pertaining
.\" to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.
.\" M.I.T and Digital makes no representations about the suitability of the
.\" software described herein for any purpose.
.\" It is provided ``as is'' without express or implied warranty.
\&
.sp 1
.ce 3
\s+1\fBChapter 3\fP\s-1

\s+1\fBComposite Widgets and Their Children\fP\s-1
.sp 2
.nr H1 3
.nr H2 0
.nr H3 0
.nr H4 0
.nr H5 0
.LP
.XS
Chapter 3 \- Composite Widgets and Their Children
.XE
.IN "Composite widgets"
Composite widgets (widgets whose class is a subclass of
.PN compositeWidgetClass )
can have an arbitrary number of children.
Consequently, they are responsible for much more than primitive widgets.
Their responsibilities (either implemented directly by the widget class
or indirectly by \*(xI functions) include
.IP \(bu 5
Overall management of children from creation to destruction.
.IP \(bu 5
Destruction of descendants when the composite widget is destroyed.
.IP \(bu 5
Physical arrangement (geometry management) of a displayable subset of
children (that is, the managed children).
.IP \(bu 5
Mapping and unmapping of a subset of the managed children.
.LP
Overall management is handled by the generic procedures
.PN XtCreateWidget
and
.PN XtDestroyWidget .
.PN XtCreateWidget
adds children to their parent by calling the parent's insert_child
procedure.
.PN XtDestroyWidget
removes children from their parent by calling the parent's delete_child
procedure and ensures that all children of a destroyed composite widget
also get destroyed.
.LP
Only a subset of the total number of children is actually managed by
the geometry manager and hence possibly visible.
For example, a composite editor widget
supporting multiple editing buffers might allocate one child
widget for each file buffer,
but it might only display a small number of the existing buffers.
Widgets that are in this displayable subset are called managed widgets
and enter into geometry manager calculations.
The other children are called unmanaged widgets
and, by definition, are not mapped by the \*(xI.
.LP
Children are added to and removed from their parent's managed set by using
.PN XtManageChild ,
.PN XtManageChildren ,
.PN XtUnmanageChild ,
and
.PN XtUnmanageChildren ,
which notify the parent to recalculate the physical layout of its children
by calling the parent's change_managed procedure.
The
.PN XtCreateManagedWidget
convenience function calls
.PN XtCreateWidget
and
.PN XtManageChild
on the result.
.LP
Most managed children are mapped,
but some widgets can be in a state where they take up physical space
but do not show anything.
Managed widgets are not mapped automatically
if their \fImap_when_managed\fP field is
.PN False .
The default is
.PN True
and is changed by using
.PN XtSetMappedWhenManaged .
.LP
Each composite widget class declares a geometry manager,
which is responsible for figuring out where the managed children
should appear within the composite widget's window.
Geometry management techniques fall into four classes:
.IP "Fixed boxes" 1.6i
Fixed boxes have a fixed number of children created by the parent.
All these children are managed,
and none ever makes geometry manager requests.
.IP "Homogeneous boxes" 1.6i
Homogeneous boxes treat all children equally and apply the same geometry
constraints to each child.
Many clients insert and delete widgets freely.
.IP "Heterogeneous boxes" 1.6i
Heterogeneous boxes have a specific location where each child is placed.
This location usually is not specified in pixels,
because the window may be resized, but is expressed rather
in terms of the relationship between a child
and the parent or between the child and other specific children.
The class of heterogeneous boxes is usually a subclass of
Constraint .
.IP "Shell boxes" 1.6i
Shell boxes typically have only one child,
and the child's size is usually
exactly the size of the shell.
The geometry manager must communicate with the window manager, if it exists,
and the box must also accept
.PN ConfigureNotify
events when the window size is changed by the window manager.

.NH 2
Addition of Children to a Composite Widget: the insert_child Procedure
.XS
\*(SN Addition of Children to a Composite Widget: the insert_child Procedure
.XE
.LP
.IN "insert_child procedure"
To add a child to
the parent's list of children, the
.PN XtCreateWidget
function calls the parent's class routine insert_child.
The insert_child procedure pointer in a composite widget is of type
.PN XtWidgetProc .
.IN "insert_child procedure" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
typedef void (*XtWidgetProc)(Widget);
.br
      Widget \fIw\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP 1i
Passes the newly created child.
.LP
Most composite widgets inherit their superclass's operation.
The insert_child routine in
.PN CompositeWidgetClass calls the insert_position procedure
and inserts the child at the specified position
in the \fIchildren\fP list, expanding it if necessary.
.LP
Some composite widgets define their own insert_child routine
so that they can order their children in some convenient way,
create companion controller widgets for a new widget,
or limit the number or class of their child widgets.
A composite widget class that wishes
to allow nonwidget children (see Chapter 12) must specify a
.PN CompositeClassExtension
extension record as described
in section 1.4.2.1 and set the \fIaccepts_objects\fP field in this record to
.PN True .
If the
.PN CompositeClassExtension
record is not specified or the
\fIaccepts_objects\fP field is
.PN False ,
the composite widget can assume that all its children are of a subclass of Core
without an explicit subclass test in the insert_child procedure.
.LP
If there is not enough room to insert a new child in the \fIchildren\fP array
(that is, \fInum_children\fP is equal to \fInum_slots\fP),
the insert_child procedure must first reallocate the array
and update \fInum_slots\fP.
The insert_child procedure then places the child at the appropriate position
in the array and increments the \fInum_children\fP field.

.NH 2
Insertion Order of Children: the insert_position Procedure
.XS
\fB\*(SN Insertion Order of Children: the insert_position Procedure\fP
.XE
.LP
Instances of composite widgets sometimes need to specify more about the order in which
their children are kept.
For example,
an application may want a set of command buttons in some logical order
grouped by function,
and it may want buttons that represent file names to be kept
in alphabetical order without constraining the order in which the
buttons are created.
.LP
An application controls the presentation order of a set of children by
supplying an
.IN XtNinsertPosition
XtNinsertPosition
resource.
The insert_position procedure pointer in a composite widget instance is of type
.PN XtOrderProc .
.IN "XtOrderProc" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
typedef Cardinal (*XtOrderProc)(Widget);
.br
      Widget \fIw\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP 1i
Passes the newly created widget.
.LP
Composite widgets that allow clients to order their children (usually
homogeneous boxes) can call their widget instance's insert_position
procedure from the class's insert_child procedure to determine where a new
child should go in its \fIchildren\fP array.
Thus, a client using a composite class can apply different sorting criteria
to widget instances of the class, passing in a different insert_position
procedure resource when it creates each composite widget instance.
.LP
The return value of the insert_position procedure
indicates how many children should go before the widget.
Returning zero indicates that the widget should go before all other children,
and returning \fInum_children\fP indicates that it should go after all other children.
The default insert_position function returns \fInum_children\fP
and can be overridden by a specific composite widget's resource list
or by the argument list provided when the composite widget is created.

.NH 2
Deletion of Children: the delete_child Procedure
.XS
\*(SN Deletion of Children: the delete_child Procedure
.XE
.LP
.IN "delete_child procedure"
.LP
To remove the child from the parent's \fIchildren\fP list, the
.PN XtDestroyWidget
function eventually causes a call to the Composite parent's class delete_child
procedure.
The delete_child procedure pointer is of type
.PN XtWidgetProc .
.FD 0
typedef void (*XtWidgetProc)(Widget);
.br
      Widget \fIw\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP
Passes the child being deleted.
.LP
Most widgets inherit the delete_child procedure from their superclass.
Composite widgets that create companion widgets define their own
delete_child procedure to remove these companion widgets.

.NH 2
Adding and Removing Children from the Managed Set
.XS
\fB\*(SN Adding and Removing Children from the Managed Set\fP
.XE
.LP
The \*(xI provide a set of generic routines to permit the addition of
widgets to or the removal of widgets from a composite widget's managed set.
.IN "change_managed procedure"
These generic routines eventually call the composite widget's change_managed
procedure if the procedure pointer is non-NULL.
The change_managed procedure pointer is of type
.PN XtWidgetProc .
The widget argument specifies the composite widget whose managed child
set has been modified.

.NH 3
Managing Children
.XS
\fB\*(SN Managing Children\fP
.XE
.LP
To add a list of widgets to the geometry-managed (and hence displayable)
subset of their Composite parent, use
.PN XtManageChildren .
.IN "XtManageChildren" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
typedef Widget *WidgetList;
.sp
void XtManageChildren(\fIchildren\fP, \fInum_children\fP)
.br
      WidgetList \fIchildren\fP;
.br
      Cardinal \fInum_children\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIchildren\fP 1i
Specifies a list of child widgets.  Each child must be of class
RectObj or any subclass thereof.
.IP \fInum_children\fP 1i
Specifies the number of children in the list.
.LP
The
.PN XtManageChildren
function performs the following:
.IP \(bu 5
Issues an error if the children do not all have the same parent or
if the parent's class is not a subclass of
.PN compositeWidgetClass .
.IP \(bu 5
Returns immediately if the common parent is being destroyed;
otherwise, for each unique child on the list,
.PN XtManageChildren
ignores the child if it already is managed or is being destroyed,
and marks it if not.
.IP \(bu 5
If the parent is realized and after all children have been marked,
it makes some of the newly managed children viewable:
.RS
.IP \- 5
Calls the change_managed routine of the widgets' parent.
.IP \- 5
Calls
.PN XtRealizeWidget
on each previously unmanaged child that is unrealized.
.IP \- 5
Maps each previously unmanaged child that has \fImap_when_managed\fP
.PN True .
.RE
.LP
Managing children is independent of the ordering of children and
independent of creating and deleting children.
The layout routine of the parent
should consider children whose \fImanaged\fP field is
.PN True
and should ignore all other children.
Note that some composite widgets, especially fixed boxes, call
.PN XtManageChild
from their insert_child procedure.
.LP
If the parent widget is realized,
its change_managed procedure is called to notify it
that its set of managed children has changed.
The parent can reposition and resize any of its children.
It moves each child as needed by calling
.PN XtMoveWidget ,
which first updates the \fIx\fP and \fIy\fP fields and which then calls
.PN XMoveWindow .
.LP
If the composite widget wishes to change the size or border width of any of
its children, it calls
.PN XtResizeWidget ,
which first updates the
\fIwidth\fP, \fIheight\fP, and \fIborder_width\fP
fields and then calls
.PN XConfigureWindow .
Simultaneous repositioning and resizing may be done with
.PN XtConfigureWidget ;
see Section 6.6.
.sp
.LP
To add a single child to its parent widget's set of managed children, use
.PN XtManageChild .
.IN "XtManageChild" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
void XtManageChild(\fIchild\fP)
.br
      Widget \fIchild\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIchild\fP 1i
Specifies the child.  \*(rI
.LP
The
.PN XtManageChild
function constructs a
.PN WidgetList
of length 1 and calls
.PN XtManageChildren .
.sp
.LP
To create and manage a child widget in a single procedure, use
.PN XtCreateManagedWidget
or
.PN XtVaCreateManagedWidget .
.IN "XtCreateManagedWidget" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
Widget XtCreateManagedWidget(\fIname\fP, \fIwidget_class\fP, \fIparent\fP, \
\fIargs\fP, \fInum_args\fP)
.br
      String \fIname\fP;
.br
      WidgetClass \fIwidget_class\fP;
.br
      Widget \fIparent\fP;
.br
      ArgList \fIargs\fP;
.br
      Cardinal \fInum_args\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIname\fP 1i
Specifies the resource instance name for the created widget.
.IP \fIwidget_class\fP 1i
Specifies the widget class pointer for the created widget.  \*(rC
.IP \fIparent\fP 1i
Specifies the parent widget.  Must be of class Composite or any
subclass thereof.
.IP \fIargs\fP 1i
Specifies the argument list to override any other resource specifications.
.IP \fInum_args\fP 1i
Specifies the number of entries in the argument list.
.LP
The
.PN XtCreateManagedWidget
function is a convenience routine that calls
.PN XtCreateWidget
and
.PN XtManageChild .
.sp
.LP
.IN "XtVaCreateManagedWidget" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
Widget XtVaCreateManagedWidget(\fIname\fP, \fIwidget_class\fP, \fIparent\fP, ...)
.br
      String \fIname\fP;
.br
      WidgetClass \fIwidget_class\fP;
.br
      Widget \fIparent\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIname\fP 1i
Specifies the resource instance name for the created widget.
.IP \fIwidget_class\fP 1i
Specifies the widget class pointer for the created widget.  \*(rC
.IP \fIparent\fP 1i
Specifies the parent widget.  Must be of class Composite or any
subclass thereof.
.IP ... 1i
Specifies the variable argument list to override any other
resource specifications.
.LP
.PN XtVaCreateManagedWidget
is identical in function to
.PN XtCreateManagedWidget
with the \fIargs\fP and \fInum_args\fP parameters replaced
by a varargs list, as described in Section 2.5.1.

.NH 3
Unmanaging Children
.XS
\fB\*(SN Unmanaging Children\fP
.XE
.LP
To remove a list of children from a parent widget's managed list, use
.PN XtUnmanageChildren .
.IN "XtUnmanageChildren" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
void XtUnmanageChildren(\fIchildren\fP, \fInum_children\fP)
.br
      WidgetList \fIchildren\fP;
.br
      Cardinal \fInum_children\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIchildren\fP 1i
Specifies a list of child widgets.  Each child must be of class
RectObj or any subclass thereof.
.IP \fInum_children\fP 1i
Specifies the number of children.
.LP
The
.PN XtUnmanageChildren
function performs the following:
.IP \(bu 5
Issues an error if the children do not all have the same parent
or if the parent is not a subclass of
.PN compositeWidgetClass .
.IP \(bu 5
Returns immediately if the common parent is being destroyed;
otherwise, for each unique child on the list,
.PN XtUnmanageChildren
performs the following:
.RS
.IP \- 5
Ignores the child if it already is unmanaged or is being destroyed,
and marks it if not.
.IP \- 5
If the child is realized,
it makes it nonvisible by unmapping it.
.RE
.IP \(bu 5
Calls the change_managed routine of the widgets' parent
after all children have been marked
if the parent is realized.
.LP
.PN XtUnmanageChildren
does not destroy the child widgets.
Removing widgets from a parent's managed set is often a temporary banishment,
and some time later the client may manage the children again.
To destroy widgets entirely,
.PN XtDestroyWidget
should be called instead;
see Section 2.9.
.sp
.LP
To remove a single child from its parent widget's managed set, use
.PN XtUnmanageChild .
.IN "XtUnmanageChild" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
void XtUnmanageChild(\fIchild\fP)
.br
      Widget \fIchild\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIchild\fP 1i
Specifies the child.  \*(rI
.LP
The
.PN XtUnmanageChild
function constructs a widget list
of length 1 and calls
.PN XtUnmanageChildren .
.LP
These functions are low-level routines that are used by generic
composite widget building routines.
In addition, composite widgets can provide widget-specific,
high-level convenience procedures.

.NH 3
Determining If a Widget Is Managed
.XS
\fB\*(SN Determining If a Widget Is Managed\fP
.XE
.LP
To determine the managed state of a given child widget, use
.PN XtIsManaged .
.IN "XtIsManaged" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
Boolean XtIsManaged(\fIw\fP)
.br
       Widget \fIw\fP\^;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP 1i
Specifies the widget.  \*(oI
.LP
The
.PN XtIsManaged
function returns
.PN True
if the specified widget is of class RectObj or any subclass thereof
and is managed, or
.PN False
otherwise.

.NH 2
Controlling When Widgets Get Mapped
.XS
\fB\*(SN Controlling When Widgets Get Mapped\fP
.XE
.LP
A widget is normally mapped if it is managed.
However,
this behavior can be overridden by setting the XtNmappedWhenManaged resource
for the widget when it is created
or by setting the \fImap_when_managed\fP field to
.PN False .
.sp
.LP
To change the value of a given widget's \fImap_when_managed\fP field, use
.PN XtSetMappedWhenManaged .
.IN "XtSetMappedWhenManaged" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
void XtSetMappedWhenManaged(\fIw\fP, \fImap_when_managed\fP)
.br
      Widget \fIw\fP;
.br
      Boolean \fImap_when_managed\fP;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP 1i
Specifies the widget.  \*(cI
.IP \fImap_when_managed\fP 1i
Specifies a Boolean value that indicates the new value
that is stored into the widget's \fImap_when_managed\fP
field.
.LP
If the widget is realized and managed
and if \fImap_when_managed\fP is
.PN True ,
.PN XtSetMappedWhenManaged
maps the window.
If the widget is realized and managed
and if \fImap_when_managed\fP is
.PN False ,
it unmaps the window.
.PN XtSetMappedWhenManaged
is a convenience function that is equivalent to (but slightly faster than)
calling
.PN XtSetValues
and setting the new value for the XtNmappedWhenManaged resource
then mapping the widget as appropriate.
As an alternative to using
.PN XtSetMappedWhenManaged
to control mapping,
a client may set \fImapped_when_managed\fP to
.PN False
and use
.PN XtMapWidget
and
.PN XtUnmapWidget
explicitly.
.sp
.LP
To map a widget explicitly, use
.PN XtMapWidget .
.IN "XtMapWidget" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
XtMapWidget(\fIw\fP)
.br
     Widget \fIw\fP\^;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP 1i
Specifies the widget.  \*(cI
.LP
.sp
To unmap a widget explicitly, use
.PN XtUnmapWidget .
.IN "XtUnmapWidget" "" "@DEF@"
.FD 0
XtUnmapWidget(\fIw\fP)
.br
     Widget \fIw\fP\^;
.FN
.IP \fIw\fP 1i
Specifies the widget.  \*(cI

.NH 2
Constrained Composite Widgets
.XS
\*(SN Constrained Composite Widgets
.XE
.LP
The Constraint
widget class is a subclass of
.PN compositeWidgetClass .
The name is derived from the fact that constraint widgets
may manage the geometry
of their children based on constraints associated with each child.
These constraints can be as simple as the maximum width and height
the parent will allow the child to occupy or can be as complicated as
how other children should change if this child is moved or resized.
Constraint
widgets let a parent define constraints as resources that are supplied for their children.
For example, if the
Constraint
parent defines the maximum sizes for its children,
these new size resources are retrieved for each child as if they were
resources that were defined by the child widget's class.
Accordingly,
constraint resources may be included in the argument list or resource file just
like any other resource for the child.
.LP
Constraint
widgets have all the responsibilities of normal composite widgets
and, in addition, must process and act upon the constraint information
associated with each of their children.
.LP
To make it easy for widgets and the \*(xI to keep track of the
constraints associated with a child,
every widget has a \fIconstraints\fP field,
which is the address of a parent-specific structure that contains
constraint information about the child.
If a child's parent does not belong to a subclass of
.PN constraintWidgetClass ,
then the child's \fIconstraints\fP field is NULL.
.LP
Subclasses of
Constraint
can add constraint data to the constraint record defined by their superclass.
To allow this, widget writers should define the constraint
records in their private .h file by using the same conventions as used for
widget records.
For example, a widget class that needs to maintain a maximum
width and height for each child might define its constraint record as
follows:
.LP
.Ds
.TA .5i 3i
.ta .5i 3i
typedef struct {
    Dimension max_width, max_height;
} MaxConstraintPart;

typedef struct {
    MaxConstraintPart max;
} MaxConstraintRecord, *MaxConstraint;
.De
.LP
A subclass of this widget class that also needs to maintain a minimum size would
define its constraint record as follows:
.LP
.Ds
.TA .5i 3i
.ta .5i 3i
typedef struct {
    Dimension min_width, min_height;
} MinConstraintPart;

typedef struct {
    MaxConstraintPart max;
    MinConstraintPart min;
} MaxMinConstraintRecord, *MaxMinConstraint;
.De
.LP
Constraints are allocated, initialized, deallocated, and otherwise maintained
insofar as possible by the \*(xI.
The Constraint class record part has several entries that facilitate this.
All entries in
.PN ConstraintClassPart
are fields and procedures that are defined and implemented by the parent,
but they are called whenever actions are performed on the parent's children.
.LP
The
.PN XtCreateWidget
function uses the \fIconstraint_size\fP field in the parent's class record
to allocate a constraint record when a child is created.
.PN XtCreateWidget
also uses the constraint resources to fill in resource fields in the
constraint record associated with a child.
It then calls the constraint initialize procedure so that the parent
can compute constraint fields that are derived from constraint resources
and can possibly move or resize the child to conform to the given constraints.
.LP
When the
.PN XtGetValues
and
.PN XtSetValues
functions are executed
on a child, they use the constraint resources to get the values or
set the values of constraints associated with that child.
.PN XtSetValues
then calls the constraint set_values procedures so that the parent can
recompute derived constraint fields and move or resize the child
as appropriate.
If a
Constraint
widget class or any of its superclasses have declared a
.PN ConstraintClassExtension
record in the
.PN ConstraintClassPart
\fIextension\fP
fields with a record type of
.PN \s-1NULLQUARK\s+1
and the \fIget_values_hook\fP field in
.IN "get_values_hook procedure"
.IN "Constraint" "get_values_hook"
the extension record is non-NULL,
.PN XtGetValues
calls the get_values_hook
procedure(s) to allow the parent to return derived constraint fields.
.LP
The
.PN XtDestroyWidget
function calls the constraint destroy procedure to deallocate any
dynamic storage associated with a constraint record.
The constraint record itself must not be deallocated by the constraint
destroy procedure;
.PN XtDestroyWidget
does this automatically.
.bp