fltk/documentation/osissues.html
Michael R Sweet a910371403 Documentation updates, mainly to fix typos, mark constants with TT, and
clean up the osissues.html file for all OS's.


git-svn-id: file:///fltk/svn/fltk/branches/branch-1.1@1836 ea41ed52-d2ee-0310-a9c1-e6b18d33e121
2001-12-12 15:20:27 +00:00

603 lines
20 KiB
HTML

<HTML>
<BODY>
<H1 ALIGN="RIGHT"><A NAME="osissues">F - Operating System Issues</A></H1>
<P>This appendix describes the operating system specific interfaces in FLTK.
<H2>Accessing the OS Interfaces</H2>
<P>All programs that need to access the operating system
specific interfaces must include the following header file:
<UL><PRE>
#include &lt;FL/x.H&gt;
</PRE></UL>
<P>Despite the name, this header file will define the
appropriate interface for your environment. The pages that
follow describe the functionality that is provided for each
operating system.
<CENTER><TABLE WIDTH="90%" BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="#cccccc">
<TR>
<TD><B>WARNING:</B>
<P>The interfaces provided by this header file may
change radically in new FLTK releases. Use them only
when an existing generic FLTK interface is not
sufficient.</P>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<H2>The UNIX (X11) Interface</H2>
<P>The UNIX interface provides access to the X Window System
state information and data structures.
<H3>Handling Other X Events</H3>
<H4><A name="add_handler">void Fl::add_handler(int (*f)(int))</A></H4>
<P>Installs a function to parse unrecognized events. If FLTK
cannot figure out what to do with an event, it calls each of
these functions (most recent first) until one of them returns
non-zero. If none of them returns non-zero then the event is
ignored.
<P>FLTK calls this for any X events it does not recognize, or X
events with a window ID that FLTK does not recognize. You can
look at the X event in the <A
href="#fl_xevent"><TT>fl_xevent</TT></A> variable.</P>
<P>The argument is the FLTK event type that was not handled, or
zero for unrecognized X events. These handlers are also called
for global shortcuts and some other events that the widget they
were passed to did not handle, for example
<TT>FL_SHORTCUT</TT>.</P>
<H4><A name="fl_xevent">extern XEvent *fl_xvent</A></H4>
<P>This variable contains the most recent X event.
<H4><A name="fl_event_time">extern ulong fl_event_time</A></H4>
<P>This variable contains the time stamp from the most recent X
event that reported it; not all events do. Many X calls like cut
and paste need this value.
<H4><A name="fl_xid">Window fl_xid(const Fl_Window *)</A></H4>
<P>Returns the XID for a window, or zero if not <TT>shown()</TT>.
<H4><A name="fl_find">Fl_Window *fl_find(ulong xid)</A></H4>
<P>Returns the <TT>Fl_Window</TT> that corresponds to the given
XID, or <TT>NULL</TT> if not found. This function uses a cache
so it is slightly faster than iterating through the windows
yourself.</P>
<H4><A name="fl_handle">int fl_handle(const XEvent &amp;)</A></H4>
<P>This call allows you to supply the X events to FLTK, which
may allow FLTK to cooperate with another toolkit or library. The
return value is non-zero if FLTK understood the event. If the
window does not belong to FLTK and the <TT>add_handler()</TT>
functions all return 0, this function will return false.
<P>Besides feeding events your code should call <A
href="functions.html#flush"><TT>Fl::flush()</TT></A>
periodically so that FLTK redraws its windows.</P>
<P>This function will call the callback functions. It will not
return until they complete. In particular, if a callback pops up
a modal window by calling <A
href="functions.html#fl_ask"><TT>fl_ask()</TT></A>, for
instance, it will not return until the modal function
returns.</P>
<H3>Drawing using Xlib</H3>
<P>The following global variables are set before <A
HREF="subclassing.html#draw"><TT>Fl_Widget::draw()</TT></A> is
called, or by <A
href="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window.make_current"><TT>Fl_Window::make_current()</TT></A>:
<UL><PRE>
extern Display *fl_display;
extern Window fl_window;
extern GC fl_gc;
extern int fl_screen;
extern XVisualInfo *fl_visual;
extern Colormap fl_colormap;
</PRE></UL>
<P>You must use them to produce Xlib calls. Don't attempt to change
them. A typical X drawing call is written like this:
<UL><PRE>
XDrawSomething(fl_display, fl_window, fl_gc, ...);
</PRE></UL>
<P>Other information such as the position or size of the X
window can be found by looking at <A
href="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window.make_current"><TT>Fl_Window::current()</TT></A>,
which returns a pointer to the <TT>Fl_Window</TT> being drawn.
<H4><A name="fl_xpixel">unsigned long fl_xpixel(Fl_Color i)<BR>
unsigned long fl_xpixel(uchar r, uchar g, uchar b)</A></H4>
<P>Returns the X pixel number used to draw the given FLTK color
index or RGB color. This is the X pixel that <A
href="drawing.html#fl_color"><TT>fl_color()</TT></A> would use.
<H4><A name="fl_xfont">extern XFontStruct *fl_xfont</A></H4>
<P>Points to the font selected by the most recent <A
href="drawing.html#fl_font"><TT>fl_font()</TT></A>. This is not
necessarily the current font of <TT>fl_gc</TT>, which is not set
until <A href="drawing.html#text"><TT>fl_draw()</TT></A> is
called.
<H3>Changing the Display, Screen, or X Visual</H3>
<P>FLTK uses only a single display, screen, X visual, and X
colormap. This greatly simplifies its internal structure and
makes it much smaller and faster. You can change which it uses
by setting global variables <I>before the first
<TT>Fl_Window::show()</TT> is called</I>. You may also want to
call <A href="functions.html#visual">Fl::visual()</A>, which is
a portable interface to get a full color and/or double buffered
visual.
<H4><A name="display">int Fl::display(const char *)</A></H4>
<P>Set which X display to use. This actually does
<TT>putenv(&quot;DISPLAY=...&quot;)</TT> so that child programs
will display on the same screen if called with <TT>exec()</TT>.
This must be done before the display is opened. This call is
provided under MacOS and WIN32 but it has no effect.
<H4><A name="fl_display">extern Display *fl_display</A></H4>
<P>The open X display. This is needed as an argument to most
Xlib calls. Don't attempt to change it! This is <TT>NULL</TT>
before the display is opened.
<H4><A name="fl_open_display">void fl_open_display()</A></H4>
<P>Opens the display. Does nothing if it is already open. This
will make sure <TT>fl_display</TT> is non-zero. You should call
this if you wish to do X calls and there is a chance that your
code will be called before the first <TT>show()</TT> of a
window.
<P>This may call <TT>Fl::abort()</TT> if there is an error
opening the display.</P>
<H4><A name="fl_close_display">void fl_close_display()</A></H4>
<P>This closes the X connection. You do <I>not</I> need to call
this to exit, and in fact it is faster to not do so! It may be
useful to call this if you want your program to continue without
the X connection. You cannot open the display again, and
probably cannot call any FLTK functions.
<H4><A name="fl_screen">extern int fl_screen</A></H4>
<P>Which screen number to use. This is set by
<TT>fl_open_display()</TT> to the default screen. You can change
it by setting this to a different value immediately afterwards.
It can also be set by changing the last number in the
<TT>Fl::display()</TT> string to &quot;host:0.#&quot;.
<H4><A name="fl_visual">extern XVisualInfo *fl_visual</A><BR>
<A name="fl_colormap">extern Colormap fl_colormap</A></H4>
<P>The visual and colormap that FLTK will use for all windows.
These are set by <TT>fl_open_display()</TT> to the default
visual and colormap. You can change them before calling
<TT>show()</TT> on the first window. Typical code for changing
the default visual is:
<UL><PRE>
Fl::args(argc, argv); // do this first so $DISPLAY is set
fl_open_display();
fl_visual = find_a_good_visual(fl_display, fl_screen);
if (!fl_visual) Fl::abort(&quot;No good visual&quot;);
fl_colormap = make_a_colormap(fl_display, fl_visual-&gt;visual, fl_visual-&gt;depth);
// it is now ok to show() windows:
window-&gt;show(argc, argv);
</PRE></UL>
<H3>Using a Subclass of Fl_Window for Special X Stuff</H3>
<P>FLTK can manage an X window on a different screen, visual
and/or colormap, you just can't use FLTK's drawing routines to
draw into it. But you can write your own <TT>draw()</TT> method
that uses Xlib (and/or OpenGL) calls only.
<P>FLTK can also manage XID's provided by other libraries or
programs, and call those libraries when the window needs to be
redrawn.</P>
<P>To do this, you need to make a subclass of <A
href="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window"><TT>Fl_Window</TT></A> and
override some of these virtual functions:</P>
<H4>virtual void Fl_Window::show()</H4>
<P>If the window is already <TT>shown()</TT> this must cause it
to be raised, this can usually be done by calling
<TT>Fl_Window::show()</TT>. If not <TT>shown()</TT> your
implementation must call either <TT>Fl_X::set_xid()</TT> or
<TT>Fl_X::make_xid()</TT>.
<P>An example:</P>
<UL><PRE>
void MyWindow::show() {
if (shown()) {Fl_Window::show(); return;} // you must do this!
fl_open_display(); // necessary if this is first window
// we only calcualte the necessary visual colormap once:
static XVisualInfo *visual;
static Colormap colormap;
if (!visual) {
visual = figure_out_visual();
colormap = XCreateColormap(fl_display, RootWindow(fl_display,fl_screen),
vis-&gt;visual, AllocNone);
}
Fl_X::make_xid(this, visual, colormap);
}
</PRE></UL>
<H4>Fl_X *Fl_X::set_xid(Fl_Window *, Window xid)</H4>
<P>Allocate a hidden structure called an <TT>Fl_X</TT>, put the
XID into it, and set a pointer to it from the
<TT>Fl_Window</TT>. This causes <TT>Fl_Window::shown()</TT> to
return true.
<H4>void Fl_X::make_xid(Fl_Window *, XVisualInfo *= fl_visual,
Colormap = fl_colormap)</H4>
<P>This static method does the most onerous parts of creating an
X window, including setting the label, resize limitations, etc.
It then does <TT>Fl_X::set_xid()</TT> with this new window and
maps the window.
<H4>virtual void Fl_Window::flush()</H4>
<P>This virtual function is called by <TT>Fl::flush()</TT> to
update the window. For FLTK's own windows it does this by
setting the global variables <TT>fl_window</TT> and
<TT>fl_gc</TT> and then calling the <TT>draw()</TT> method. For
your own windows you might just want to put all the drawing code
in here.
<P>The X region that is a combination of all <TT>damage()</TT>
calls done so far is in <TT>Fl_X::i(this)-&gt;region</TT>. If
<TT>NULL</TT> then you should redraw the entire window. The
undocumented function <TT>fl_clip_region(XRegion)</TT> will
initialize the FLTK clip stack with a region or <TT>NULL</TT>
for no clipping. You must set region to <TT>NULL</TT> afterwards
as <TT>fl_clip_region()</TT> will own and delete it when
done.</P>
<P>If <TT>damage() &amp; FL_DAMAGE_EXPOSE</TT> then only X
expose events have happened. This may be useful if you have an
undamaged image (such as a backing buffer) around.</P>
<P>Here is a sample where an undamaged image is kept somewhere:</P>
<UL><PRE>
void MyWindow::flush() {
fl_clip_region(Fl_X::i(this)-&gt;region);
Fl_X::i(this)-&gt;region = 0;
if (damage() != 2) {... draw things into backing store ...}
... copy backing store to window ...
}
</PRE></UL>
<H4>virtual void Fl_Window::hide()</H4>
<P>Destroy the window server copy of the window. Usually you
will destroy contexts, pixmaps, or other resources used by the
window, and then call <TT>Fl_Window::hide()</TT> to get rid of
the main window identified by <TT>xid()</TT>. If you override
this, you must also override the destructor as shown:
<UL><PRE>
void MyWindow::hide() {
if (mypixmap) {
XFreePixmap(fl_display,mypixmap);
mypixmap = 0;
}
Fl_Window::hide(); // you must call this
}
</PRE></UL>
<H4>virtual void Fl_Window::~Fl_Window()</H4>
<P>Because of the way C++ works, if you override <TT>hide()</TT>
you <I>must</I> override the destructor as well (otherwise only
the base class <TT>hide()</TT> is called):
<UL><PRE>
MyWindow::~MyWindow() {
hide();
}
</PRE></UL>
<H3>Setting the Icon of a Window</H3>
<P>FLTK currently supports setting a window's icon *before* it
is shown using the <TT>Fl_Window::icon()</TT> method.
<H4>void Fl_Window::icon(char *)</H4>
<P>Sets the icon for the window to the passed pointer. You will
need to cast the icon <TT>Pixmap</TT> to a <TT>char *</TT> when
calling this method. To set the icon using a bitmap compiled
with your application use:
<UL><PRE>
#include &quot;icon.xbm&quot;
Pixmap p = XCreateBitmapFromData(fl_display, DefaultRootWindow(fl_display),
icon_bits, icon_width, icon_height);
window-&gt;icon((char *)p);
</PRE></UL>
<CENTER><TABLE WIDTH="90%" BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="#cccccc">
<TR>
<TD><B>NOTE:</B>
<P>You must call <A
HREF="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window.show"><TT>Fl_Window::show(argc,
argv)</TT></A> for the icon to be used. The
<TT>Fl_Window::show()</TT> method does not bind the icon
to the window.
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<H2>The Windows (WIN32) Interface</H2>
<P>The Windows interface provides access to the WIN32 GDI
state information and data structures.
<H3>Handling Other WIN32 Messages</H3>
<P>By default a single WNDCLASSEX called &quot;FLTK&quot; is
created. All <TT>Fl_Window</TT>'s are of this class unless you
use <TT>Fl_Window::xclass()</TT>. The window class is created
the first time <TT>Fl_Window::show()</TT> is called.
<P>You can probably combine FLTK with other libraries that make
their own WIN32 window classes. The easiest way is to call
<TT>Fl::wait()</TT>, as it will call <TT>DispatchMessage</TT>
for all messages to the other windows. If necessary you can let
the other library take over as long as it calls
<TT>DispatchMessage()</TT>, but you will have to arrange for the
function <TT>Fl::flush()</TT> to be called regularly so that
widgets are updated, timeouts are handled, and the idle
functions are called.</P>
<H4><A name="fl_msg">extern MSG fl_msg</A></H4>
<P>This variable contains the most recent message read by
<TT>GetMessage</TT>, which is called by <A
href="Fl.html#wait"><TT>Fl::wait()</TT></A>. This may not be the
most recent message sent to an FLTK window, because silly WIN32
calls the handle procedures directly for some events (sigh).
<H4><A name="WIN32.add_handler">void Fl::add_handler(int (*f)(int))</A></H4>
<P>Installs a function to parse unrecognized messages sent to
FLTK windows. If FLTK cannot figure out what to do with a
message, it calls each of these functions (most recent first)
until one of them returns non-zero. The argument passed to the
functions is the FLTK event that was not handled or zero for
unknown messages. If all the handlers return zero then FLTK
calls <TT>DefWindowProc()</TT>.
<H4><A name="WIN32.fl_xid">HWND fl_xid(const Fl_Window *)</A></H4>
<P>Returns the window handle for a <TT>Fl_Window</TT>, or zero
if not <TT>shown()</TT>.
<H4><A name="WIN32.fl_find">Fl_Window *fl_find(HWND xid)</A></H4>
<P>Returns the <TT>Fl_Window</TT> that corresponds to the given
window handle, or <TT>NULL</TT> if not found. This function uses
a cache so it is slightly faster than iterating through the
windows yourself.
<H3>Drawing Things Using the WIN32 GDI</H3>
<P>When the virtual function <A
HREF="subclassing.html#draw"><TT>Fl_Widget::draw()</TT></A> is
called, FLTK stores all the silly extra arguments you need to
make a proper GDI call in some global variables:
<UL><PRE>
extern HINSTANCE fl_display;
extern HWND fl_window;
extern HDC fl_gc;
COLORREF fl_RGB();
HPEN fl_pen();
HBRUSH fl_brush();
</PRE></UL>
<P>These global variables are set before <TT>draw()</TT> is
called, or by <A
href="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window.make_current"><TT>Fl_Window::make_current()</TT></A>.
You can refer to them when needed to produce GDI calls, but don't
attempt to change them. The functions return GDI objects for
the current color set by <TT>fl_color()</TT> and are created as
needed and cached. A typical GDI drawing call is written like
this:
<UL><PRE>
DrawSomething(fl_gc, ..., fl_brush());
</PRE></UL>
<P>It may also be useful to refer to <A
href="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window.make_current"><TT>Fl_Window::current()</TT></A>
to get the window's size or position.
<H3>Setting the Icon of a Window</H3>
<P>FLTK currently supports setting a window's icon *before* it
is shown using the <TT>Fl_Window::icon()</TT> method.
<H4>void Fl_Window::icon(char *)</H4>
<P>Sets the icon for the window to the passed pointer. You will
need to cast the <TT>HICON</TT> handle to a <TT>char *</TT> when
calling this method. To set the icon using an icon resource
compiled with your application use:
<UL><PRE>
window-&gt;icon((char *)LoadIcon(fl_display, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_ICON)));
</PRE></UL>
<P>You can also use the <TT>LoadImage()</TT> and related
functions to load specific resolutions or create the icon from
bitmap data.
<CENTER><TABLE WIDTH="90%" BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="#cccccc">
<TR>
<TD><B>NOTE:</B>
<P>You must call <A
HREF="Fl_Window.html#Fl_Window.show"><TT>Fl_Window::show(argc,
argv)</TT></A> for the icon to be used. The
<TT>Fl_Window::show()</TT> method does not bind the icon
to the window.
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<H3>How to Not Get a MSDOS Console Window</H3>
<P>WIN32 has a really stupid mode switch stored in the
executables that controls whether or not to make a console
window.
<P>To always get a console window you simply create a console
application (the &quot;/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE&quot; option for the
linker). For a GUI-only application create a WIN32 application
(the &quot;/SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS&quot; option for the linker).</P>
<P>FLTK includes a <TT>WinMain()</TT> function that calls the
ANSI standard <TT>main()</TT> entry point for you. <I>This
function creates a console window when you use the debug version
of the library.</I></P>
<P>WIN32 applications without a console cannot write to
<TT>stdout</TT> or <TT>stderr</TT>, even if they are run from a
console window. Any output is silently thrown away.
Additionally, WIN32 applications are run in the background by
the console, although you can use "start /wait program" to run
them in the foreground.</P>
<H3>Known WIN32 Bugs and Problems</H3>
<P>The following is a list of known bugs and problems in the WIN32
version of FLTK:
<UL>
<LI>If a program is deactivated, <TT>Fl::wait()</TT>
does not return until it is activated again, even though
many events are delivered to the program. This can cause
idle background processes to stop unexpectedly. This
also happens while the user is dragging or resizing
windows or otherwise holding the mouse down. We were
forced to remove most of the efficiency FLTK uses for
redrawing in order to get windows to update while being
moved. This is a design error in WIN32 and probably
impossible to get around.</LI>
<LI><TT>Fl_Gl_Window::can_do_overlay()</TT> returns true
until the first time it attempts to draw an overlay, and
then correctly returns whether or not there is overlay
hardware.</LI>
<LI>Cut text contains ^J rather than ^M^J to break
lines. This is a feature, not a bug. </LI>
<LI><TT>SetCapture</TT> (used by <TT>Fl::grab()</TT>)
doesn't work, and the main window title bar turns gray
while menus are popped up.</LI>
<LI>FLTK does not support BMP files yet.</LI>
</UL>
<H2>The MacOS Interface</h2>
<P>FLTK supports MacOS 8.6, MacOS 9 and MacOS X using the Apple
Carbon library. When compiled with MPW or MetroWerks'
CodeWarrior, application binaries in CFM format will run on all
the above systems without changes. The OS X GNU (gcc) compiler,
however, creates Mach-O binaries which are not supported by
MacOS 9 and earlier.
<H4>WindowRef fl_xid(const Fl_Window *)</H4>
<P>Returns the window reference for an <tt>Fl_Window</tt>, or
<TT>NULL</TT> if the window has not been shown.
<h4>Fl_Window *fl_find(WindowRef xid)</h4>
<P>Returns the <tt>Fl_Window</tt> that corresponds to the give
window handle, or <TT>NULL</TT> if not found. FLTK windows that
are children of top-level windows share the WindowRef of the
top-level window.
<h3>Drawing Things Using QuickDraw</h3>
<P>When the virtual function <tt>Fl_Widget::draw()</tt> is
called, FLTK has prepared the Window and CGrafPort for drawing.
Clipping and offsets are prepared to allow correct subwindow
drawing.
<P>OS X doublebuffers all windows automatically. On OS X,
<tt>Fl_Window</tt> and <tt>Fl_Double_Window</tt> are handled
internally in the same way.
<h3>Mac File System Specifics</h3>
<h4>Resource Forks</h4>
<P>FLTK does not access the resource fork of an application.
However, a minimal resource fork must be created for OS 8 and OS
X applications.
<h4>Mac File Paths</h4>
<P>FLTK uses UNIX-style filenames and paths.
<H3>Known MacOS Bugs and Problems</H3>
<P>The following is a list of known bugs and problems in the MacOS
version of FLTK:
<UL>
<LI>Line styles are not well supported. This is due to
limitations in the QuickDraw interface.</LI>
</UL>
</BODY>
</HTML>