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<HTML><BODY>
<H1 ALIGN=RIGHT><A NAME=FLUID>8 - Programming with FLUID</A></H1>
This chapter shows how to use the Fast Light User-Interface Designer
("FLUID") to create your GUIs.
<H2>What is FLUID?</H2>
<P>The Fast Light User Interface Designer, or FLUID, is a graphical
editor that is used to produce FLTK source code.
<P>FLUID edits and saves its state in <TT>.fl</TT> files. These files are
text, and you can (with care) edit them in a text editor, perhaps to
get some special effects. </P>
<P>FLUID can "compile" the <TT>.fl</TT> file into a <TT>.cxx</TT> and a <TT>.h</TT> file. The
<TT>.cxx</TT> file defines all the objects from the <TT>.fl</TT> file and the <TT>.h</TT> file
declares all the global ones. </P>
<P>FLUID also supports localization (<A HREF="#I18N">Internationalization</A>)
of label strings using message files and the GNU gettext or POSIX catgets
interfaces.
<P>A simple program can be made by putting all your code (including a <TT>
main()</TT> function) into the <TT>.fl</TT> file and thus making the <TT>.cxx</TT> file a
single source file to compile. Most programs are more complex than
this, so you write other <TT>.cxx</TT> files that call the FLUID functions.
These <TT>.cxx</TT> files must <TT>#include</TT> the <TT>.h</TT> file or they can <TT>
#include</TT> the <TT>.cxx</TT> file so it still appears to be a single source
file.
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG src="fluid-org.gif" ALT="FLUID organization.">
<P>Normally the FLUID file defines one or more functions or classes which
output C++ code. Each function defines a one or more FLTK
windows, and all the widgets that go inside those windows. </P>
<P>Widgets created by FLUID are either "named", "complex named" or
"unnamed". A named widget has a legal C++ variable identifier as its
name (i.e. only alphanumeric and underscore). In this case FLUID
defines a global variable or class member that will point at the widget
after the function defining it is called. A complex named object has
punctuation such as '.' or '->' or any other symbols in its name. In
this case FLUID assigns a pointer to the widget to the name, but does
not attempt to declare it. This can be used to get the widgets into
structures. An unnamed widget has a blank name and no pointer is stored. </P>
<P>Widgets may either call a named callback function that you write in
another source file, or you can supply a small piece of C++ source and
FLUID will write a private callback function into the <TT>.cxx</TT> file. </P>
<H2>Running FLUID Under UNIX</H2>
To run FLUID under UNIX, type:
<UL>
<PRE>
fluid <I>filename.fl</I> &</PRE>
</UL>
to edit the <TT>.fl</TT> file <TT>filename.fl</TT>. If the file does not exist
you will get an error pop-up, but if you dismiss it you will be editing
a blank file of that name. You can run FLUID without any name, in
which case you will be editing an unnamed blank setup (but you can use
save-as to write it to a file).
<P>You can provide any of the standard FLTK switches before the filename: </P>
<UL>
<PRE>
-display host:n.n
-geometry WxH+X+Y
-title windowtitle
-name classname
-iconic
-fg color
-bg color
-bg2 color
</PRE>
</UL>
Changing the colors may be useful to see what your interface will look
at if the user calls it with the same switches.
<P>In the current version, if you don't go into the background (with
'&') then you will be able to abort FLUID by typing ^C on the terminal. It
will exit immediately, losing any changes. </P>
<H2>Running FLUID Under Microsoft Windows</H2>
To run FLUID under WIN32, double-click on the <I>FLUID.exe</I> file.
You can also run FLUID from the Command Prompt window (FLUID always
runs in the background under WIN32).
<H2>Compiling <TT>.fl</TT> files</H2>
FLUID can also be called as a command-line "compiler" to create the
<TT>.cxx</TT> and <TT>.h</TT> file from a <TT>.fl</TT> file. To do this type:
<UL><PRE>
fluid -c <I>filename.fl</I>
</PRE></UL>
This will read the <TT>filename.fl</TT> file and write <I>filename.cxx</I> and <I>
filename.h</I>. The directory will be stripped, so they are written to
the current directory always. If there are any errors reading or
writing the files it will print the error and exit with a non-zero
code. In a makefile you can use a line like this:
<UL>
<PRE>
my_panels.h my_panels.cxx: my_panels.fl
fluid -c my_panels.fl
</PRE>
</UL>
Some versions of make will accept rules like this to allow all <TT>.fl</TT>
files found to be compiled:
<UL>
<PRE>
.SUFFIXES: .fl .cxx .h
.fl.h .fl.cxx:
fluid -c $<
</PRE>
</UL>
<H2>A Short Tutorial</H2>
FLUID is an amazingly powerful little program. However, this power
comes at a price as it is not always obvious how to accomplish seemingly
simple tasks with it. This tutorial will show you how to generate a
complete user interface class with FLUID that is used for the CubeView
program provided with FLTK.
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="cubeview.gif" ALT="CubeView demo."></P>
<P>The window is of class CubeViewUI, and is completely generated by FLUID, including
class member functions. The central display of the cube is a separate
subclass of Fl_Gl_Window called CubeView. CubeViewUI manages CubeView
using callbacks from the various sliders and rollers to manipulate the
viewing angle and zoom of CubeView.
<p>At the completion of this tutorial you will (hopefully) understand
how to:
<ol>
<li>Use FLUID to create a complete user interface class, including
constructor and any member functions necessary.
<li>Use FLUID to set callbacks member functions of a custom widget
classes.
<li>Subclass an <a
href="Fl_Gl_Window.html#Fl_Gl_Window"><TT>Fl_Gl_Window</TT></A> to suit
your purposes.
</ol>
<h3>The CubeView Class</h3>
The CubeView class is a subclass of Fl_Gl_Window. It has methods for
setting the zoom, the <i>x</i> and <i>y</i> pan, and the rotation angle
about the <i>x</i> and <i>y</i>axes.
<p>You can safely skip this section as long as you realize the CubeView
is a sublass of <tt>Fl_Gl_Window</tt> and will respond to calls from
CubeViewUI, generated by FLUID.
<h4><a name="def">The CubeView Class Definition</a></h4>
Here is the CubeView class definition, as given by its header file
"test/CubeView.h":
<ul><pre>
class CubeView : public Fl_Gl_Window {
public:
CubeView(int x,int y,int w,int h,const char *l=0);
// this value determines the scaling factor used to draw the cube.
double size;
/* Set the rotation about the vertical (y ) axis.
*
* This function is called by the horizontal roller in CubeViewUI
* and the initialize button in CubeViewUI.
*/
void v_angle(float angle){vAng=angle;};
// Return the rotation about the vertical (y ) axis.
float v_angle(){return vAng;};
/* Set the rotation about the horizontal (x ) axis.
*
* This function is called by the vertical roller in CubeViewUI
and the
* initialize button in CubeViewUI.
*/
void h_angle(float angle){hAng=angle;};
// the rotation about the horizontal (x ) axis.
float h_angle(){return hAng;};
/* Sets the x shift of the cube view camera.
*
* This function is called by the slider in CubeViewUI and the
* initialize button in CubeViewUI.
*/
void panx(float x){xshift=x;};
/* Sets the y shift of the cube view camera.
*
* This function is called by the slider in CubeViewUI and the
* initialize button in CubeViewUI.
*/
void pany(float y){yshift=y;};
/* The widget class draw() override.
* The draw() function initialize Gl for another round of
* drawing then calls specialized functions for drawing each
* of the entities displayed in the cube view.
*/
void draw();
private:
/* Draw the cube boundaries
* Draw the faces of the cube using the boxv[] vertices, using
* GL_LINE_LOOP for the faces. The color is #defined by
* CUBECOLOR.
*/
void drawCube();
float vAng,hAng; float xshift,yshift;
float boxv0[3];float boxv1[3]; float boxv2[3];float boxv3[3];
float boxv4[3];float boxv5[3]; float boxv6[3];float boxv7[3];
};
</pre></ul>
<h4><a name="imp">The CubeView Class Implementation</a></h4>
Here is the CubeView implementation. It is very similar to the
"cube" demo included with FLTK.
<ul><pre>
#include "CubeView.h"
#include <math.h>
CubeView::CubeView(int x,int y,int w,int h,const char *l)
: Fl_Gl_Window(x,y,w,h,l)
{
vAng = 0.0; hAng=0.0; size=10.0;
/* The cube definition. These are the vertices of a unit cube
* centered on the origin.*/
boxv0[0] = -0.5; boxv0[1] = -0.5; boxv0[2] = -0.5; boxv1[0] = 0.5;
boxv1[1] = -0.5; boxv1[2] = -0.5; boxv2[0] = 0.5; boxv2[1] = 0.5;
boxv2[2] = -0.5; boxv3[0] = -0.5; boxv3[1] = 0.5; boxv3[2] = -0.5;
boxv4[0] = -0.5; boxv4[1] = -0.5; boxv4[2] = 0.5; boxv5[0] = 0.5;
boxv5[1] = -0.5; boxv5[2] = 0.5; boxv6[0] = 0.5; boxv6[1] = 0.5;
boxv6[2] = 0.5; boxv7[0] = -0.5; boxv7[1] = 0.5; boxv7[2] = 0.5;
};
// The color used for the edges of the bounding cube.
#define CUBECOLOR 255,255,255,255
void CubeView::drawCube() {
/* Draw a colored cube */
#define ALPHA 0.5
glShadeModel(GL_FLAT);
glBegin(GL_QUADS);
glColor4f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, ALPHA);
glVertex3fv(boxv0);
glVertex3fv(boxv1);
glVertex3fv(boxv2);
glVertex3fv(boxv3);
glColor4f(1.0, 1.0, 0.0, ALPHA);
glVertex3fv(boxv0);
glVertex3fv(boxv4);
glVertex3fv(boxv5);
glVertex3fv(boxv1);
glColor4f(0.0, 1.0, 1.0, ALPHA);
glVertex3fv(boxv2);
glVertex3fv(boxv6);
glVertex3fv(boxv7);
glVertex3fv(boxv3);
glColor4f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, ALPHA);
glVertex3fv(boxv4);
glVertex3fv(boxv5);
glVertex3fv(boxv6);
glVertex3fv(boxv7);
glColor4f(1.0, 0.0, 1.0, ALPHA);
glVertex3fv(boxv0);
glVertex3fv(boxv3);
glVertex3fv(boxv7);
glVertex3fv(boxv4);
glColor4f(0.0, 1.0, 0.0, ALPHA);
glVertex3fv(boxv1);
glVertex3fv(boxv5);
glVertex3fv(boxv6);
glVertex3fv(boxv2);
glEnd();
glColor3f(1.0, 1.0, 1.0);
glBegin(GL_LINES);
glVertex3fv(boxv0);
glVertex3fv(boxv1);
glVertex3fv(boxv1);
glVertex3fv(boxv2);
glVertex3fv(boxv2);
glVertex3fv(boxv3);
glVertex3fv(boxv3);
glVertex3fv(boxv0);
glVertex3fv(boxv4);
glVertex3fv(boxv5);
glVertex3fv(boxv5);
glVertex3fv(boxv6);
glVertex3fv(boxv6);
glVertex3fv(boxv7);
glVertex3fv(boxv7);
glVertex3fv(boxv4);
glVertex3fv(boxv0);
glVertex3fv(boxv4);
glVertex3fv(boxv1);
glVertex3fv(boxv5);
glVertex3fv(boxv2);
glVertex3fv(boxv6);
glVertex3fv(boxv3);
glVertex3fv(boxv7);
glEnd();
};//drawCube
void CubeView::draw() {
if (!valid()) {
glLoadIdentity(); glViewport(0,0,w(),h());
glOrtho(-10,10,-10,10,-20000,10000); glEnable(GL_BLEND);
glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
}
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
glPushMatrix(); glTranslatef(xshift, yshift, 0);
glRotatef(hAng,0,1,0); glRotatef(vAng,1,0,0);
glScalef(float(size),float(size),float(size)); drawCube();
glPopMatrix();
};
</pre></ul>
<h3>The CubeViewUI Class</h3>
We will completely construct a window to display and control the
CubeView defined in the previous section using FLUID.
<h4><a name="defui">Defining the CubeViewUI Class</a></h4>
Once you have started FLUID, the first step in defining a class is to
create a new class within FLUID using the <b>New->Code->Class</b>
menu item. Name the class "CubeViewUI" and leave the
subclass blank. We do not need any inheritance for this
window. You should see the new class declaration in the FLUID
browser window.
<p align=center><img src="fluid1.gif" ALT="FLUID file for CubeView."></p>
<h4><a name="addcon">Adding the Class Constructor</a></h4>
Click on the CubeViewUI class in the FLUID window and add a new method
by selecting <b>New->Code->Function/Method.</b> The name of the
function will also be CubeViewUI. FLUID will understands that this will
be the constructor for the class and will generate the appropriate
code. Make sure you declare the constructor public.
<p>Then add a window to the CubeViewUI class. Highlight the name of
the constructor in the FLUID browser window and click on
<b>New->Group->Window</b>. In a similar manner add the
following to the CubeViewUI constructor:
<ul>
<li>A horizontal roller named <tt>hrot</tt>
<li>A vertical roller named <tt>vrot</tt>
<li>A horizontal slider named <tt>xpan</tt>
<li>A vertical slider named <tt>ypan</tt>
<li>A horizontal value slider named <tt>zoom</tt>
</ul>
None of these additions need be public. And they shouldn't be
unless you plan to expose them as part of the interface for
CubeViewUI.
<p>When you are finished you should have something like this:
<p align=center><img src="fluid2.gif" ALT="FLUID window containing CubeView demo.">
<p>We will talk about the <tt>show()</tt> method that is highlighted
shortly.
<h4><a name="addcube">Adding the CubeView Widget</a></h4>
What we have is nice, but does little to show our cube. We have already
defined the CubeView class and we would like to show it within the
CubeViewUI.
<p>The CubeView class inherits the <tt>Fl_Gl_Window</tt> class, which
is created in the same way as a <tt>Fl_Box</tt> widget. Use
<b>New->Other->Box</b> to add a square box to the main window.
This will be no ordinary box, however.
<p>The Box properties window will appear. The key to letting CubeViewUI
display CubeView is to enter CubeView in the "Class:" text
entry box. This tells FLUID that it is not an <tt>Fl_Box</tt>, but a
similar widget with the same constructor. In the "Extra
Code:" field enter <tt>#include "CubeView.h"</tt>
<p>This <tt>#include</tt> is important, as we have just included
CubeView as a member of CubeViewUI, so any public CubeView methods are
now available to CubeViewUI.
<p align=center><img src="fluid3.gif" ALT="CubeView methods."></p>
<h4><a name="defcall">Defining the Callbacks</a></h4>
Each of the widgets we defined before adding CubeView can have
callbacks that call CubeView methods. You can call an external
function or put in a short amount of code in the "Callback"
field of the widget panel. For example, the callback for the
<tt>ypan</tt> slider is:
<ul><pre>
cube->pany(((Fl_Slider *)o)->value());
cube->redraw();
</pre></ul>
We call <tt>cube->redraw()</tt> after changing the value to update
the CubeView window. CubeView could easily be modified to do this, but
it is nice to keep this exposed in the case where you may want to do
more than one view change only redrawing once saves a lot of time.
<p>There is no reason no wait until after you have added CubeView to
enter these callbacks. FLUID assumes you are smart enough not to refer
to members or functions that don't exist.
<h4><a name="addmeth">Adding a Class Method</a></h4>
You can add class methods within FLUID that have nothing to do with the
GUI. An an example add a show function so that CubeViewUI can actually
appear on the screen.
<p>Make sure the top level CubeViewUI is selected and select
<b>New->Code->Function/Method</b>. Just use the name
<tt>show()</tt>. We don't need a return value here, and since we will
not be adding any widgets to this method FLUID will assign it a return
type of <tt>void</tt>.
<p align=center><img src="fluid4.gif" ALT="CubeView constructor."></p>
<p>Once the new method has been added, highlight its name and select
New->Code->Code. Enter the method's code in the code window.
<h3><a name="addconst">Adding Constructor Initialization Code</a></h3>
If you need to add code to initialize class, for example setting
initial values of the horizontal and vertical angles in the
CubeView, you can simply highlight the Constructor and select
<b>New->Code->Code</b>. Add any required code.
<h3><a name="gencode">Generating the Code</a></h3>
Now that we have completely defined the CubeViewUI, we have to generate
the code. There is one last trick to ensure this all works. Open the
preferences dialog from <b>Edit->Preferences</b>.
<p>At the bottom of the preferences dialog box is the key: "Include
Header from Code". Select that option and set your desired file
extensions and you are in business. You can include the CubeViewUI.h
(or whatever extension you prefer) as you would any other C++ class.
<HR BREAK>
<H2>FLUID Reference</H2>
<H3>The Widget Browser</H3>
The main window shows a menu bar and a scrolling browser of all
the defined widgets. The name of the <TT>.fl</TT> file being edited is shown in
the window title.
<P>The widgets are stored in a hierarchy. You can open and close a
level by clicking the "triangle" at the left of a widget.
The leftmost widgets are the <I>parents</I>, and all the widgets
listed below them are their <I>children</I>. Parents don't have to have
any children.</P>
<P>The top level of the hierarchy is composed of <I>functions</I> and
<I>classes</I>. Each of these will produce a single C++ public
function or class in the output <TT>.cxx</TT> file. Calling the function or
instantiating the class will create all of the child widgets. </P>
<P>The second level of the hierarchy contains the <I>windows</I>. Each of these
produces an instance of class <tt>Fl_Window</tt>. </P>
<P>Below that are either <I>widgets</I> (subclasses of <tt>Fl_Widget</tt>) or <I>
groups</I> of widgets (including other groups). Plain groups are for
layout, navigation, and resize purposes. <I>Tab groups</I> provide the
well-known file-card tab interface. </P>
<P>Widgets are shown in the browser by either their <I>name</I> (such
as "main_panel" in the example), or by their <I>type</I>
and <I>label</I> (such as "Button "the green""). </P>
<P>You <I>select</I> widgets by clicking on their names, which highlights
them (you can also select widgets from any displayed window). You can
select many widgets by dragging the mouse across them, or by using
Shift+Click to toggle them on and off. To select no widgets, click in
the blank area under the last widget. Note that hidden children may
be selected even when there is no visual indication of this.
<P>You <I>open</I> widgets by double-clicking on them, or (to open several
widgets you have picked) by typing the F1 key. A control panel will appear
so you can change the widget(s).</P>
<H3>Menu Items</H3>
<P>The menu bar at the top is duplicated as a pop-up menu on any
displayed window. The shortcuts for all the menu items work in any
window. The menu items are: </P>
<H4>File/Open... (Alt+o)</H4>
Discards the current editing session and reads in a different <TT>.fl</TT> file.
You are asked for confirmation if you have changed the current file.
<P>FLUID can also read <tt>.fd</tt> files produced by the Forms and
XForms "fdesign" programs. It is best to File/Merge them
instead of opening them. FLUID does not understand everything in a
<tt>.fd</tt> file, and will print a warning message on the controlling
terminal for all data it does not understand. You will probably need
to edit the resulting setup to fix these errors. Be careful not to
save the file without changing the name, as FLUID will write over the
<tt>.fd</tt> file with its own format, which fdesign cannot read! </P>
<H4>File/Save (Alt+s)</H4>
Writes the current data to the <TT>.fl</TT> file. If the file is unnamed
then FLUID will ask for a filename.
<H4>File/Save As...(Alt+Shift+S)</H4>
Asks for a new filename and saves the file.
<H4>File/Merge... (Alt+i)</H4>
Inserts the contents of another <TT>.fl</TT> file, without changing the name of
the current <TT>.fl</TT> file. All the functions (even if they have the same
names as the current ones) are added, and you will have to use cut/paste to
put the widgets where you want.
<H4>File/Write Code (Alt+Shift+C)</H4>
"Compiles" the data into a <TT>.cxx</TT> and <TT>.h</TT>
file. These are exactly the same as the files you get when you run
FLUID with the <tt>-c</tt> switch.
<P>The output file names are the same as the <TT>.fl</TT> file, with
the leading directory and trailing ".fl" stripped, and
".h" or ".cxx" appended. </P>
<H4>File/Write Messages (Alt+Shift+W)</H4>
Writes a message file for all of the text labels defined in the current file.
<P>The output file name is the same as the <TT>.fl</TT> file, with
the leading directory and trailing ".fl" stripped, and
".txt", ".po", or ".msg" appended depending
on the <A HREF="#I18N">Internationalization Mode</A>. </P>
<H4>File/Quit (Alt+q)</H4>
Exits FLUID. You are asked for confirmation if you have changed the
current data.
<H4>Edit/Undo (Alt+z)</H4>
This isn't implemented yet. You should do save often so you can
recover from any mistakes you make.
<H4>Edit/Cut (Alt+x)</H4>
Deletes the selected widgets and all of their children. These are saved
to a "clipboard" file and can be pasted back into any FLUID
window.
<H4>Edit/Copy (Alt+c)</H4>
Copies the selected widgets and all of their children to the "clipboard"
file.
<H4>Edit/Paste (Alt+c)</H4>
Pastes the widgets from the clipboard file.
<P>If the widget is a window, it is added to whatever function is
selected, or contained in the current selection. </P>
<P>If the widget is a normal widget, it is added to whatever window or
group is selected. If none is, it is added to the window or group that
is the parent of the current selection. </P>
<P>To avoid confusion, it is best to select exactly one widget before
doing a paste. </P>
<P>Cut/paste is the only way to change the parent of a widget. </P>
<H4>Edit/Select All (Alt+a)</H4>
Selects all widgets in the same group as the current selection.
<P>If they are all selected already then this selects all widgets in
that group's parent. Repeatedly typing Alt+a will select larger and
larger groups of widgets until everything is selected. </P>
<H4>Edit/Open... (F1 or double click)</H4>
Displays the current widget in the attributes panel. If the widget is a window
and it is not visible then the window is shown instead.
<H4>Edit/Sort</H4>
Sorts the selected widgets into left to right, top to bottom
order. You need to do this to make navigation keys in FLTK work
correctly. You may then fine-tune the sorting with "Earlier" and
"Later". This does not affect the positions of windows or functions.
<H4>Edit/Earlier (F2)</H4>
Moves all of the selected widgets one earlier in order among the
children of their parent (if possible). This will affect navigation
order, and if the widgets overlap it will affect how they draw, as the
later widget is drawn on top of the earlier one. You can also use this
to reorder functions, classes, and windows within functions.
<H4>Edit/Later (F3)</H4>
Moves all of the selected widgets one later in order among the
children of their parent (if possible).
<H4>Edit/Group (F7)</H4>
Creates a new <tt>Fl_Group</tt> and make all the currently selected widgets
children of it.
<H4>Edit/Ungroup (F8)</H4>
Deletes the parent group if all the children of a group are selected.
<H4>Edit/Overlays on/off (Alt+Shift+O)</H4>
Toggles the display of the red overlays off, without changing the
selection. This makes it easier to see box borders and how the layout
looks. The overlays will be forced back on if you change the
selection.
<H4>Edit/Preferences (Alt+p)</H4>
Displays the preferences panel. The alignment preferences control the
grid that all widgets snap to when you move and resize them, and for the
"snap" which is how far a widget has to be dragged from its original position
to actually change.
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="fluid_prefs.gif" ALT="FLUID Preferences Window"></P>
<P>The output filenames control the extensions or names of the files the are
generated by FLUID. If you check the "Include .h from .cxx" button the code
file will include the header file automatically.
<P>The internationalization options are described <A HREF="#I18N">later in
this chapter</A>.
<H4>New/Code/Function</H4>
Creates a new C function. You will be asked for a name for the
function. This name should be a legal C++ function template, without
the return type. You can pass arguments which can be referred to by
code you type into the individual widgets.
<P>If the function contains any unnamed windows, it will be declared
as returning a Fl_Window pointer. The unnamed window will be returned
from it (more than one unnamed window is useless). If the function
contains only named windows, it will be declared as returning nothing
(<tt>void</tt>). </P>
<P>It is possible to make the <TT>.cxx</TT> output be a self-contained
program that can be compiled and executed. This is done by deleting
the function name so <tt>main(argc,argv)</tt> is used. The function
will call <tt>show()</tt> on all the windows it creates and then call
<tt>Fl::run()</tt>. This can also be used to test resize behavior or
other parts of the user interface.</P>
<P>You can change the function name by double-clicking on the function. </P>
<H4>New/Window</H4>
Creates a new <tt>Fl_Window</tt> widget. The window is added to the
currently selected function, or to the function containing the
currently selected item. The window will appear, sized to 100x100.
You can resize it to whatever size you require.
<P>The widget panel will also appear and is described later in this
chapter.</P>
<H4>New/...</H4>
All other items on the New menu are subclasses of <tt>Fl_Widget</tt>. Creating
them will add them to the currently selected group or window, or the
group or window containing the currently selected widget. The initial
dimensions and position are chosen by copying the current widget, if
possible.
<P>When you create the widget you will get the widget's control panel,
which is described later in this chapter. </P>
<H4>Help/About FLUID</H4>
Pops up a panel showing the version of FLUID.
<H3>The Widget Panel</H3>
When you double-click on a widget or a set of widgets you will get
the "widget attribute panel".
<P>When you change attributes using this panel, the changes are
reflected immediately in the window. It is useful to hit the "no
overlay" button (or type Alt+Shift+O) to hide the red overlay so you can see
the widgets more accurately, especially when setting the box type.
<P>If you have several widgets selected, they may have different values
for the fields. In this case the value for <I>one</I> of the widgets
is shown. But if you change this value, <I>all</I> of the selected
widgets are changed to the new value.
<P>Hitting "OK" makes the changes permanent. Selecting a different
widget also makes the changes permanent. FLUID checks for simple
syntax errors such as mismatched parenthesis in any code before
saving any text.
<P>"Revert" or "Cancel" put everything back to when you last brought up
the panel or hit OK. However in the current version of FLUID, changes
to "visible" attributes (such as the color, label, box) are not undone
by revert or cancel. Changes to code like the callbacks are undone,
however.
<!-- NEW PAGE -->
<TABLE cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100% summary="columns of text">
<TR>
<TD VALIGN=TOP>
<H3><A name=widget_attributes>Widget Attributes</A></H3>
<H4>Name (text field)</H4>
Name of a variable to declare, and to store a pointer to this
widget into. This variable will be of type "<class>*". If the name is
blank then no variable is created.
<P>You can name several widgets with "name[0]", "name[1]", "name[2]",
etc. This will cause FLUID to declare an array of pointers. The array
is big enough that the highest number found can be stored. All widgets
that in the array must be the same type. </P>
<H4>Type (upper-right pulldown menu)</H4>
Some classes have subtypes that modify their appearance or behavior.
You pick the subtype off of this menu.
<H4>Box (pulldown menu)</H4>
The boxtype to draw as a background for the widget.
</TD>
<TD> </TD>
<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=378><IMG src="fluid_widget.gif" ALT="The FLUID widget dialog."></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<P>Many widgets will work, and draw faster, with a "frame" instead of a
"box". A frame does not draw the colored interior, leaving whatever
was already there visible. Be careful, as FLUID may draw this ok but
the real program may leave unwanted stuff inside the widget. </P>
<P>If a window is filled with child widgets, you can speed up redrawing
by changing the window's box type to "NO_BOX". FLUID will display a
checkerboard for any areas that are not colored in by boxes. Note
that this checkerboard is not drawn by the resulting program. Instead
random garbage will be displayed.</P>
<H4>Color</H4>
<P>The color to draw the box with. </P>
<H4>Color2</H4>
<P>Some widgets will use this color for certain parts. FLUID does not
always show the result of this: this is the color buttons draw in when
pushed down, and the color of input fields when they have the focus. </P>
<H4>Label</H4>
String to print next to or inside the button.
<P>You can put newlines into the string to make multiple lines. The
easiest way is by typing Ctrl+j. </P>
<H4>Label style (pull down menu)</H4>
How to draw the label. Normal, shadowed, engraved, and embossed
change the appearance of the text. "symbol" requires the label to
start with an '@' sign to draw a named <A href="common.html#symbols">
symbol</A>.
<P>From this menu you can also pick <A href=drawing.html#images>
"Image..."</A>. This lets you use the contents of a GIF, XPM, or
XBM image file to label the widget. </P>
<H4>Label Alignment (Buttons)</H4>
Where to draw the label. The arrows put it on that side of the
widget, you can combine the to put it in the corner. The "box" button
puts the label inside the widget, rather than outside.
<H4>Label Font</H4>
Font to draw the label in. Ignored by symbols, bitmaps, and pixmaps.
Your program can change the actual font used by these "slots" in case
you want some font other than the 16 provided.
<H4>Label Size</H4>
Pixel size (height) for the font to draw the label in. Ignored by symbols,
bitmaps, and pixmaps. To see the result without dismissing the panel,
type the new number and then Tab.
<H4>Label Color</H4>
Color to draw the label. Ignored by pixmaps (bitmaps, however, do use
this color as the foreground color).
<H4>Text Font, Size, and Color</H4>
Some widgets display text, such as input fields, pull-down menus, and
browsers.
<H4>Visible</H4>
If you turn this off then the widget is hidden initially. Don't change
this for windows or for the immediate children of a Tabs group.
<H4>Active</H4>
If you turn this off then the widget is deactivated initially.
<H4>Resizable</H4>
If a window is resizable or has an immediate child that is resizable,
then the user will be able to resize it. In addition all the size
changes of a window or group will go "into" the resizable child. If
you have a large data display surrounded by buttons, you probably want
that data area to be resizable.
<P>Only one child can be resizable. Turning this on turns it off for
the other children. </P>
<P>You can get more complex behavior by making invisible boxes the
resizable widget, or by using hierarchies of groups. Unfortunately the
only way to test it is to compile the program. Resizing the FLUID
window is <I>not</I> the same as what will happen in the user program. </P>
<H4>Hotspot</H4>
Each window may have exactly one hotspot (turning this on will turn
off any others). This will cause it to be positioned with that widget
centered on the mouse. This position is determined <I>when the FLUID
function is called</I>, so you should call it immediately before showing
the window. If you want the window to hide and then reappear at a
new position, you should have your program set the hotspot itself just
before <tt>show()</tt>.
<H4>Subclass</H4>
This is how you use your own subclasses of <tt>Fl_Widget</tt>. Whatever
identifier you type in here will be the class that is instantiated.
<P>In addition, no <tt>#include</tt> header file is put in the <TT>.h</TT> file. You
must provide a <tt>#include</tt> line as the first line of the "Extra
Code" which declares your subclass. </P>
<P>The class must be similar to the class you are spoofing. It
does not have to be a subclass. It is sometimes useful to change this
to another FLTK class. Currently the only way to get a double-buffered
window is to change this field for the window to "Fl_Double_Window" and
to add "#include <FL/Fl_Double_Window.h>" to the extra code. </P>
<H4>Extra Code</H4>
These four fields let you type in literal lines of code to dump into
the <TT>.h</TT> or <TT>.cxx</TT> files.
<P>If the text starts with a <tt>#</tt> or the word <tt>extern</tt> then FLUID thinks
this is an "include" line, and it is written to the <TT>.h</TT> file. If the
same include line occurs several times then only one copy is written. </P>
<P>All other lines are "code" lines. The current widget is
pointed to by the local variable <tt>o</tt>. The window being constructed is
pointed to by the local variable <tt>w</tt>. You can also access any
arguments passed to the function here, and any named widgets that are
before this one. </P>
<P>FLUID will check for matching parenthesis, braces, and quotes, but
does not do much other error checking. Be careful here, as it may be
hard to figure out what widget is producing an error in the compiler.
If you need more than four lines you probably should call a function in
your own <TT>.cxx</TT> code. </P>
<H4>Callback</H4>
This can either be the name of a function, or a small snippet of code.
If you enter anything but letters, numbers, and the underscore then FLUID
treats it as code.
<P>A name names a function in your own code. It must be declared as
<tt>void name(<class>*,void*)</tt>. </P>
<P>A code snippet is inserted into a static function in the
<TT>.cxx</TT> output file. The function prototype is <tt>void
name(class *o, void *v)</tt> so that you can refer to the widget as
<tt>o</tt> and the <tt>user_data()</tt> as <tt>v</tt>. FLUID will
check for matching parenthesis, braces, and quotes, but does not do
much other error checking. Be careful here, as it may be hard to
figure out what widget is producing an error in the compiler. </P>
<P>If the callback is blank then no callback is set. </P>
<H4>user_data</H4>
This is a value for the <tt>user_data()</tt> of the widget. If blank the
default value of zero is used. This can be any piece of C code that
can be cast to a <tt>void</tt> pointer.
<H4>User Data Type</H4>
The <tt>void *</tt> in the callback function prototypes is replaced with this.
You may want to use <tt>long</tt> for old XForms code. Be warned that
anything other than <tt>void *</tt> is not guaranteed to work!
However on most architectures other pointer types are ok, and <tt>long</tt> is
usually ok, too.
<H4>When</H4>
When to do the callback. This can be "never", "changed",
"release", "enter key", or "no change". The
value of "enter key" is only useful for text input fields. The "no
change" button means the callback is done on the matching event even if
the data is not changed.
<P>There are other rare but useful values for the <tt>when()</tt> field that are
not in the menu. You should use the extra code fields to put these
values in.</P>
<H3>Selecting and Moving Widgets</H3>
Double-clicking a window name in the browser will display it, if not
displayed yet. From this display you can select widgets, sets of
widgets, and move or resize them. To close a window either
double-click it or type Esc.
<P>To select a widget, click it. To select several widgets drag a
rectangle around them. Holding down shift will toggle the selection of
the widgets instead. </P>
<P>You cannot pick hidden widgets. You also cannot choose some widgets
if they are completely overlapped by later widgets. Use the browser to
select these widgets. </P>
<P>The selected widgets are shown with a red "overlay" line around
them. You can move the widgets by dragging this box. Or you can
resize them by dragging the outer edges and corners. Hold down the Alt
key while dragging the mouse to defeat the snap-to-grid effect for fine
positioning. </P>
<P>If there is a tab box displayed you can change which child is
visible by clicking on the file tabs. The child you pick is selected. </P>
<P>The arrow, tab, and shift+tab keys "navigate" the selection. Left,
right, tab, or shift+tab move to the next or previous widgets in the
hierarchy. Hit the right arrow enough and you will select every widget
in the window. Up/down widgets move to the previous/next widgets that
overlap horizontally. If the navigation does not seem to work you
probably need to "Sort" the widgets. This is important if you have
input fields, as FLTK uses the same rules when using arrow keys to move
between input fields. </P>
<P>To "open" a widget, double click it. To open several widgets select
them and then type F1 or pick "Edit/Open" off the pop-up menu. </P>
<P>Type Alt+o to temporarily toggle the overlay off without changing
the selection, so you can see the widget borders. </P>
<P>You can resize the window by using the window manager border
controls. FLTK will attempt to round the window size to the nearest
multiple of the grid size and makes it big enough to contain all the
widgets (it does this using illegal X methods, so it is possible it
will barf with some window managers!). Notice that the actual window
in your program may not be resizable, and if it is, the effect on child
widgets may be different. </P>
<P>The panel for the window (which you get by double-clicking it) is
almost identical to the panel for any other Fl_Widget. There are three
extra items: </P>
<H4>Border</H4>
This button turns the window manager border on or off. On most window
managers you will have to close the window and reopen it to see the
effect.
<H4>xclass</H4>
The string typed into here is passed to the X window manager as the
class. This can change the icon or window decorations. On most (all?)
window managers you will have to close the window and reopen it to see
the effect.
<H3><A name=images>Image Labels</A></H3>
<P>Selecting "Image..." off the label style pull-down menu will bring
up a file chooser from which you pick the image file. If an image has
already been chosen, you can change the image used by picking
"Image..." again. The name of the image will appear in the "label"
field, but you can't edit it. </P>
<P>The <I>contents</I> of the image file are written to the <TT>.cxx</TT> file,
so if you wish to distribute the C code, you only need to copy the <TT>.cxx</TT>
file, not the images. If many widgets share the same image then only
one copy is written. </P>
<P>However the <I>file name</I> is stored in the <TT>.fl</TT> file, so to read
the <TT>.fl</TT> file you need the image files as well. Filenames are relative
to the location the <TT>.fl</TT> file is (not necessarily the current
directory). I recommend you either put the images in the same
directory as the <TT>.fl</TT> file, or use absolute path names. </P>
<H4>Notes for all image types</H4>
FLUID runs using the default visual of your X server. This may be 8
bits, which will give you dithered images. You may get better results
in your actual program by adding the code "Fl::visual(FL_RGB)" to your
code right before the first window is displayed.
<P>All widgets with the same image on them share the same code and
source X pixmap. Thus once you have put an image on a widget, it is
nearly free to put the same image on many other widgets. </P>
<P>If you are using a painting program to edit an image: the only way
to convince FLUID to read the image file again is to remove the image
from all widgets that are using it (including ones in closed windows),
which will cause it to free its internal copy, and then set the image
again. You may find it easier to exit FLUID and run it again. </P>
<P>Don't rely on how FLTK crops images that are outside the widget, as
this may change in future versions! The cropping of inside labels will
probably be unchanged. </P>
<P>To more accurately place images, make a new "box" widget and put the
image in that as the label. This is also how you can put both an image
and text label on the same widget. If your widget is a button, and you
want the image inside it, you must change the button's boxtype to
FL_UP_FRAME (or another frame), otherwise when it is pushed it will
erase the image. </P>
<H4>XBM (X bitmap files)</H4>
FLUID will read X bitmap files. These files have C source code to
define a bitmap. Sometimes they are stored with the ".h" or ".bm"
extension rather than the standard ".xbm".
<P>FLUID will output code to construct an Fl_Bitmap widget and use it
to label the widget. The '1' bits in the bitmap are drawn using the
label color of the widget. You can change the color in FLUID. The '0'
bits are transparent. </P>
<P>The program "bitmap" on the X distribution does an ok job of editing
bitmaps. </P>
<H4>XPM (X pixmap files)</H4>
FLUID will read X pixmap files as used by the libxpm library. These
files have C source code to define a pixmap. The filenames usually
have a ".xpm" extension.
<P>FLUID will output code to construct an Fl_Pixmap widget and use it
to label the widget. The label color of the widget is ignored, even
for 2-color images that could be a bitmap. </P>
<P>XPM files can mark a single color as being transparent. Currently
FLTK and FLUID simulate this transparency rather badly. It will use
the color() of the widget as the background, and all widgets using the
same pixmap are assummed to have the same color. This may be fixed in
the future or on non-X systems. </P>
<P>I have not found any good editors for small iconic pictures. For
pixmaps I have used <A
href="http://home.worldonline.dk/~torsten/xpaint/index.html">XPaint</A>.
This (and most other) painting programs are designed for large full
color images and are difficult to use to edit an image of small size
and few colors. </P>
<H4>GIF files</H4>
FLUID will also read GIF image files. These files are often used on
html documents to make icons. This lets you use nice icons that you
steal off the net in your user interface.
<P>FLUID converts these into (modified) XPM format and uses an
Fl_Pixmap widget to label the widget. Transparency is handled the same
as for xpm files. Notice that the conversion removes the compression,
so the code may be much bigger than the .gif file. Only the first
image of an animated gif file is used. </P>
<P>Behavior and performance with large .gif files is not guaranteed! </P>
<H2><A NAME="I18N">Internationalization with FLUID</A></H2>
<P>FLUID supports internationalization (I18N for short) of label strings
used by widgets. The preferences window (<TT>Alt+p</TT>) provides access
to the I18N options.
<H3>I18N Methods</H3>
<P>FLUID supports three methods of I18N: use none, use GNU gettext, and
use POSIX catgets. The "use none" method is the default and just passes the
label strings as-is to the widget constructors.
<P>The "GNU gettext" method uses GNU gettext (or a similar text-based I18N
library) to retrieve a localized string before calling the widget
constructor.
<P>The "POSIX catgets" method uses the POSIX catgets function to retrieve a
numbered message from a message catalog before calling the widget
constructor.
<H3>Using GNU gettext for I18N</H3>
<P>FLUID's code support for GNU gettext is limited to calling a function or
macro to retrieve the localized label; you still need to call
<TT>setlocale()</TT> and <TT>textdomain()</TT> or <TT>bindtextdomain()</TT>
to select the appropriate language and message file.
<P>To use GNU gettext for I18N, open the preferences window and choose
"GNU gettext" from the "Use" chooser. Two new input fields will then
appear to control the include file and function/macro name to use when
retrieving the localized label strings.
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="fluid-gettext.gif" ALT="I18N using FLUID."></P>
<P>The "#include" field controls the header file to include for I18N; by
default this is <TT><libintl.h></TT>, the standard I18N file for
GNU gettext.
<P>The "Function" field controls the function (or macro) that will
retrieve the localized message; by default the <TT>gettext</TT>
function will be called.
<H3>Using POSIX catgets for I18N</H3>
<P>FLUID's code support for POSIX catgets allows you to use a global message
file for all interfaces or a file specific to each <TT>.fl</TT> file; you still
need to call <TT>setlocale()</TT> to select the appropriate language.
<P>To use POSIX catgets for I18N, open the preferences window and choose
"POSIX catgets" from the "Use" chooser. Three new input fields will then
appear to control the include file, catalog file, and set number for
retrieving the localized label strings.
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="fluid-catgets.gif" ALT="I18N using FLUID"></P>
<P>The "#include" field controls the header file to include for I18N; by
default this is <TT><nl_types.h></TT>, the standard I18N file for
POSIX catgets.
<P>The "File" field controls the name of the catalog file variable to
use when retrieving localized messages; by default the file field is
empty which forces a local (static) catalog file to be used for all
of the windows defined in your <TT>.fl</TT> file.
<P>The "Set" field controls the set number in the catalog file. The default
set is 1 and rarely needs to be changed.
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