nanogui: GUILib for C
Subject:
Re: GUILib for C
From:
Alex Holden ####@####.####
Date:
18 Dec 2000 17:41:59 -0000
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.4.04.10012181705550.870-100000@hyperspace.linuxhacker.org>
On Mon, 18 Dec 2000, Jordan Crouse wrote:
> beyond that, then we could add widgets in a modular fashion. For
> example, given a very specific framework, I could add a button widget
Yep, that's probably the nicest thing about nanowidgets- the extremely
lightweight C class framework. One thing it doesn't have which I would
like to see is dynamic positioning and resizing of widgets like Gtk+
ie. the application specifies the relative locations of the widgets, and
the toolkit decides exactly where to place them and how big they are. The
application doesn't have to worry about details like exactly how much
space a text field needs (which varies with the font used, so hard coding
it is a bad idea), or where to place it to get it exactly in the middle of
a window. If the user then resizes the window, it goes through resizing
and repositioning all the widgets automatically. When a widget gets a
resize event, if it's a container it passes the event on (possibly
modified) to it's children, and if it's not a container it redraws it's
contents at the new size. So in the case of standard widgets like text
fields, the application doesn't need to do anything at all when the when
the window is resized.
> this easy for all involved. Really, its not tough to draw a button --
From my perspective, the hardest thing is making it look nice. What we
could do with is someone with some artistic ability :)
> I don't know the state of the nanowidgets kit, but I would ask - Why was
> it dropped? Were they hard to use, or did nobody really care that much?
I think it's just that nobody has been working on it except for
Screenmedia. I'm not sure what the latest status is with regard to them
sending us their latest code. They said they were going to look into it,
but felt it unlikely that their managers would let them release it until
they actually release their product based on it (they regard the look and
feel of it a trade secret or something). Legally they're perfectly within
their rights to do this until they release a product which uses it.
> Unless you are working on new hardware or staring at the Nano-X engine 8
> hours a day, it is hard to find your place as a contributor to this
> project. I would think that a new widget set would give development
> opportunities to a whole new core of programmers that are interested in
> helping, but having trouble finding a niche. But then again, I have
> been wrong many times in the past. What do others think of this?
Maybe. Perhaps if we get a basic working core and some demo apps in place,
people will come along and write the more complex widgets (file selector,
scrolling text window, canvas, etc.) for us...
--
------- Alex Holden -------
http://www.linuxhacker.org/
http://www.robogeeks.org/
