Atari Mega Archive 1/Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso/lists/gem/l_1199/1018

Internet Message Format | 1994-08-27 | 5.8 KB

Subject: Gem List
Subject:  Re: GEM-List
Subject:  Re: digest
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 94 20:57 EST
From: "Daniel J. Hollis" <[e-mail]>
To: ems <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gem List
Message-Id: <62940726015726/[e-mail]>
Precedence: bulk

Subject:  Re: GEM-List

Warwick:
--------
>Now he's arguing with the author of the library about its size, when
>the archive is sitting there for all to see, at atari.archive.  The
>archive is dated 23/11/93, and contains files with the sizes I quoted above.
>As for `they bombed more often than not', I can say that the example.prg
>of GEM++ 1.99 only runs on 68030 machines, due to GCC 2.5.7 being used to
>compile it.

Another thing I'd like to add to this is that not everyone has a 68030 in
their machine...  :-(

>I'm truly getting annoyed here, and I apologize to gem-list readers for
>having to re-iterate myself due to Dan/Ken's posting of vastly
>incorrect and unchecked `information'.

I don't quite think you know what you're talking about at this point,
Warwick.  What is "incorrect and unchecked" may be incorrect by your
beliefs.  Since I've had over 7 years of GEM programming experience,
I am speaking from *EXPERIENCE* and not from opinionated lingo.  If anyone
should be apologizing, it's me, but I have nothing to apologize about.
You seem to like to argue about all *opinions* I have posted, and like to
backfire against anything we say against GEM or any other libraries as
a matter of fact.

Besides, I thought this conference was for discussing standards, and not
arguing over stupid little piddly crap like this.

-- Ken Hollis (Bitgate Software)
-----
Subject:  Re: digest

Whomever:
---------
> I would like to see a demo of WinLIB Pro and whatever other libraries
> people are working on.

WinLIB PRO has changed over to XAES.  Send me a personal message (via
EMail) and I can send you a copy.  Write to [e-mail].

> Here's an idea for operating back-ground windows...  put an event
> rectangle around your window and watch for the mouse to move outside of
> your window.

This is not necessary, and it is very time-wasting.  Considering, that
when you move your mouse, you are checking the rectangles under the mouse
for which object your mouse moves under for the top window.  Remember, when
the mouse leaves the window, objc_find reports a -1 (for desktop) and you
can then do other things like move icons on desktop or whatever.  Your
method is inefficient.  Try re-designing and re-thinking it.  I'm not trying
to insult you, but, just think about it.  :-)

> When it does, monitor all mouse activity [wind_update(BEG_MCTRL)], and
> when you get a click, process it.

Monitor *all* mouse activity?  Ouch!  I thought that's what everyone else
was flaming us about; it's too "busy-waiting"...

> If it's an action on one of YOUR windows, then select buttons, whatever;
> top if necessary.  If it's someone else's window, send a message to the
> application, telling it to top the window.

Simply do this:  A button "press" activates a dialog inside a background
window.  A button "click" tops the window.  Press meaning hold down the
mouse button.  Click meaning tapping the mouse button.

> 1.  When you find another app's window and find out its handle, how do
>     you get the application ID of that app so you can send it a message?

>From what I understand, there's no real easy way.  Sure, you can get the
window handle, but the only way to really get the application ID of the
owner is to use WF_OWNER.  Another way is to use appl_find("PROGNAME") and
check if it is installed...  I think that's not possible any other way
except with WF_OWNER.

> 2.  How do you detect the presence of MultiTOS?

Simple:  Get cookie "MiNT" and check TOS version.  Or, you can use the
GemParBlk to find the global[1] variable which tells you if it can multitask
or not.  -1 = Multitasking, 0 = Not multitasking.

> 3.  How do you detect the presence of Geneva?

Check cookie "GNVA"

> 4.  How do you make a window untoppable under MultiTOS and Geneva?

I don't think there's a window setting that you can use to do this.  I think
it all depends on your library.  I could be wrong (if I am, the index is
not in my GEM Master Listing) but I'm probably right.

> 5.  My compiler (Lattice C 5.6) has full support for MultiTOS... what do
>     I do about Geneva?

But it and get the header file and developmental docs.

> Could someone give me replacement code for form_button?  I'm sure I could
> do it myself (and in fact will), but I just want to make sure that I'm
> not missing something.  I need to know what it does in detail.

What type of code are you looking for?  Try using atari.archive.umich.edu
and checking the programming directory, or use ftp.uni-kl.de to check its
programming directory.  E-GEM is a very good example of form_button code.
Once I release XAES's source, you will also see our form_button code which
is highly optimized.

> Oh, and objc_edit code would be nice too.  :)  Although, I don't believe
> in sending keypresses to anything other than the top window, so
> replacement objc_edit wouldn't be very useful.  <shrug>

The only real reason you would create your own objc_edit routine is to
have INSERT/REPLACE, or to have a scrollable text object (like allowing the
user to enter 40+ characters in a field)

> Are the icons on the desktop part of a desktop form?  If so, how do
> programs get away with replacing the the background without removing the
> desktop's object tree?

When you set WF_SCREEN, you are placing a dialog on the desktop.  This
dialog gets redrawn automatically by GEM, so when you move a window over it,
it automatically redraws itself.  To FORCE a redraw of the desktop, all you
have to do is send a form_dial(3, 0, deskx, desky, deskw, deskh, deskx,
desky, deskw, deskh).  That is documented in MultiTOS documentation too.

-- Ken Hollis (Bitgate Software)