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Re: Love the language & API, would like to modify the UI


From: Andrew Satori
Subject: Re: Love the language & API, would like to modify the UI
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:01:07 -0500

Delphi is a REALLY bad example of a Windows app, it (and apps it creates ) uses some truly grisly hacks, though they are probably relevant to this discussion.

The way Delphi works is that by default (and without a fair amount of API hacking), it creates a hidden window of class TApplication that 'owns' all other top level windows in the application and the first window created becomes the "Main" form. When that "Main" form is closed, TApplication exits, and closes the message loop.

In the OpenStep world, this TApplication window would be analogous to the NSRunLoop as the owner of the menu, and all top level windows. As such, it would be practicable to have that create a Delphi style 'menu window' that owns all child window. Where things get ugly is the management of the child windows. Theoretically, you could simply parent *all* GS windows to that GSWindowsApplication parent window and force them into that windows client space. The advantage is that you could pick up some free functionality (min/max/arrangement). This would look and behave very much like Adobe's PhotoShop on Windows, where Palette windows would be handled independently.

It's an interesting, but non-trivial bit of work that could pay huge dividends at the end though. You could then effectively take a GnuStep-gui app and compile it to have a much closer to native feel than ever in the past. If someone wanted to take the next entrprising step, It would theoretically be feasable to write a .app to .exe packager that would bundle the .app tree structure into a compressed archive with a custom .exe self extraction preloader that would unbundle/set the environment/openapp the GS-gui app all in one step allowing for easy packaging and consumption by Windows users that can barely double click a mouse, much less install a complex application system like GnuStep.

Andy


/* Satori & Associates, Inc. ************************************************/



On Mar 18, 2006, at 6:44 PM, Ingolf Jandt wrote:

Putting the menus into the document windows needs some digging into the -gui implementation, and in my very personal opinion it does not comply so well with the openstep design which in the MDI/SDI question could be described as cooperating/controlled SDI. (As each document has one window, but one app in control of them.) Do you remember also Delphi had its main menu apart from the document views, and I never had the feeling it was no real Windows app.

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