Atari Mega Archive 1/Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso/lists/gem/l_1199/1173

Internet Message Format | 1994-08-27 | 6.4 KB

Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 14:54:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Timothy Miller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: app_defs.sys
To: [e-mail]
In-Reply-To: <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.87.9407291428.E20268-0100000@grad>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Precedence: bulk

Warwick:

]In GEM++, I use a linked list, and go to the trouble of maintaining the
]list to be in the same order as the windows.  I'm still not sure how
]useful this is, since I could call wind_find(), then search an
]unordered list.  Comments?

I also keep a linked list, but I do not go to the trouble of keeping them
in any order.  They end up in the linked list in the opposite order you
created them in... from newest to oldest.

]
]I also never hold onto a window handle if the window is not open.
]This means keeping my own copies of the window sizes, but again,
]that hasn't been a problem.  Good for older TOSes.  Comments?  (Hey,
]maybe everyone does these things - I've not looked at the details of
]many libraries).

And when you close a window, you have to remove it from the linked list
yourself (by calling a function), so you COULD leave it there and go back
to it to reopen it later.


Warwick:

]>I am one of many people who have complained about Atari Works wiping out
]>their documents when their little finger slips and hits Ctrl and A at the
]>same time.
]
]Now, if only you could change the shortcut...
]
]By using a fixed standard, you cannot please all of the people all of the
]time.  By using an flexible standard, you can please everyone except those
]who think that Their Way Is Best.

Ok... look at it this way.  Ctrl-A is dangerous, but some people want
it.  Fine.  How about we change the STANDARD to something NOT dangerous,
then those who are hell-bent on using Ctrl-A instead of something safe
can change the app-defs file, hmmm?


Everyone:

Funny thing... My falcon is still under warrantee.  My Falcon is not
working properly.  My local dealer can't repair it.  It's going to cost
me anywhere from $10 to $40 and take at least a month to get my Falcon
repaired UNDER WARRANTEE.  Atari corp. sucks.

Warwick:

]Repeatedly using 0-length timers is misusing the AES, as it turns the
]application into the center of the world with AES being used as a key-getter
]and mouse-getter, rather than the event driven model used by the AES,
]and ALL other windowing systems.

How about for terminal programs?  This is one I've struggled with
myself.  Most terminal programs CRAWL under MultiTOS for two reasons:
0-lenght timers slow everything down, and GEM doesn't get back to the
program fast enough when catching characters from the modem so typing
comes out unbearably jumpy.

I figured that things would work a bit better (and cooperate with the
rest of the system) if I used a longer timer.  Things speed up a bit, but
typing us just as jumpy (when your host is the one who is echoing).
Any suggestions?



Everyone again:

I don't want app_defs.sys turning into another win.ini.  When you install
a Windoze program, it adds all this CRAP to your system files like
win.ini, etc., and then when you want to remove the app, you still have
this crap in your win.ini file.


Ofir:

][e-mail] said:
]>
]>But there is a problem with form_button and objects marked as
]>selectable.  As you know, when a selectable button is clicked,
]>form_button does not return until the button is let up.  What I want to
]>know is how is the use of form_button when a button is PRESSED (not
]>simply clicked) preventing further WM_TOPPED messages from being sent to
]>my application for that window, and how do I solve this problem?
]
]Try setting the object TOUCHEXIT AND NOT SELECTABLE. Either that or I have
]totally misunderstood you :-)

Your suggestion would be unacceptable, but that's because you didn't
understand me, probably because i wasn't very clear....

But never mind.  I figured it all out.




My library can now do dragging of active and passive sliders in
background windows, as well as buttons.  It also handles all of these
things using the rectangles list so they come out properly if partially
obscured.

I had to write my own form_button routine using only what information I
could get from the Compendium and the Lattice C manual, as well as a load
of guess-work.  As far as I can tell, it does not appear to work any
differently from the normal one in the OS, except that it works right in
background windows.

I also discovered that certain object types (G_STRING, G_IBOX, G_IMAGE,
and a few others) do not draw properly if you don't first draw their
parent objects... that took a few hours to figure out an ellegant
solution to.

It turns out that form_button (as well as graf_dragbox, incidentally)
must call evnt_multi internally.  Since evnt_multi will not return if the
mouse button is being held down and the last message sent was a WM_TOPPED
message, I had to stop using form_button.

So, I killed three birds with one stone.  I wrote a routine that draws
objects using the rectangle list, avoided the evnt_multi problem, and am
not able to do dragging and the sort in background windows.

And all this under normal TOS.  I feel special now.  :)



Also, my library doesn't directly support MODAL dialogs.  If you want to
make something modal, you have to set the disabled flags of any other
dialog you don't want topped.  Additionally, you would have to disable
the menubar yourself... I could add a little routine to disable all menu
titles if necessary.

How is a menu structured?  It seems kinda odd the way the objects are
arranged in it... boxes, iboxes, etc.  What's a sure way to just go
through JUST the titles one at a time?  How do I get the first title?
Require the programmer to pass the object number of the desk title?  That
would make it easiest.


Kevin:

]  > would have no problem with it.  But to assign something as dangerous as
]  > "Select-All" to it is pure lunacy!
]  >
]Why should select all be a dangerous function? Surely all it does is select
]everything. If the program in question then lets you perform a
]non-recoverable operation on every object then the program is flawed.

Even if you can recover from it, it's still damn annoying to have you
document even temporarily destroyed because you accidentally selected it
all.  And even if you don't destroy it to begin with, I don't want my
whole document selected unless I want it to be.  Ctrl-A is too easy to hit.


You have an Atari book that needs to be published?  Two Worlds Publishing
can do it for you.  :)