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Re: [XBoard-devel] readline support/ICS input box


From: Adrian Petrescu
Subject: Re: [XBoard-devel] readline support/ICS input box
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 12:49:37 -0800

Once the ICS Input Box because a full-fledged interface to the ICS, I
agree that will be a compelling alternative to the terminal solution.
Until then, however, using it requires keeping *three* separate
windows in the foreground just to conduct a normal ICS session, which
can be very difficult to do when multitasking.

Keeping readline, at least until the ICS Chat Box becomes a reality,
doesn't really hurt Input Box users. As long as the OS X issues are
worked out, what's the harm in keeping readline on for those who want
to minimize the number of Xboard-related windows they need to juggle?

Cheers!
-Adrian

On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 12:16 PM, h.g. muller <address@hidden> wrote:
> At 22:24 30-11-2010 -0800, Adrian Petrescu wrote:
>>
>> Is this open for discussion? I really, really liked the readline
>> support (including in OS X), and sorely miss it now that it's gone.
>> I'll volunteer to help debug whatever issues plagued the OS X build if
>> it helps bring it back.
>
> The point is that the functionality offerered by GNU ReadLine in the
> X-term window (local line editing and recalling command history)
> is already offered in the ICS Input Box. IMO this solution is superior
> to what a perfectly workng ReadLine can offer, as the latter would still
> cutter up the window when there is ICS output during the typing of a
> line. It would repeat the part of the line you had already typed below
> the output, but the partially entered line would still stay above that
> output, and pollute the display. The ICS Input Box does not have
> that problem.
>
> My long-term aim is to eliminate the use of the X-term console
> alltogether, and make the output also go in what is now the ICS
> Input Box, equiping the latter with an output text widget, so it
> becomes a full-blast ICS Interaction Window, WinBoard style.
> I could then also implement the ICS text menu in it, for right-clicks
> on that widget.
>
> The problem with the X-term is that it is not a child of the XBoard
> widget hierarchy, so that XBoard cannot control its sizing, positioning,
> attach callbacks to it, or whatever. At least I would not know how
> to do any of that. In a widget spawned by XBoard the whole book
> of tricks is available.
>
> I have actually made a start working on this some time ago, and the
> result is in the 'chat' branch of the hgm.nubati.net repository.
> It worked nicely, except that I could not find a way to colorize the
> text on a line-by-line basis in a text widget. This put a stop to
> that line of development. The original plan was to, once the
> interaction window was working, allow multiple copies of it to
> pop up as dedicated chat windows similar to those in WinBoard.
>
>



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