FLTK EXAMPLE PROGRAMS
---------------------
This directory contains example FLTK programs that demonstrate
recommended programming practices and techniques for FLTK application
programmers. The "*-simple.cxx" files are a good starting point for
those new to FLTK.
The programs in this directory are NOT built automatically
when you build FLTK; you have to manually build them.
The goals of these example programs:
o Show good programming style for app programmers to emulate
o Show simple examples of how to use widgets to new users of FLTK.
o Show intermediate or advanced examples that show particular
techniques often misused or hard to document
o Demonstrate code that are FAQs on the newsgroup forum.
(such as how to use threads, callbacks, etc)
o Example code should be short, but not at the expense of clarity.
o Where possible, examples should emphasize FLTK's simplicity.
NEW SUBMISSIONS: RECOMMENDED PRACTICES
These programs must follow FLTK coding style as defined in the FLTK
"CMP" (Configuration Management Plan/Coding Standards).
Example code should demonstrate recommended techniques the FLTK
developers think application programmers should use in their own
applications.
The best examples are those that are as short and clear as possible;
terse, but not at the expense of clarity.
To avoid cluttering up the top level directory with ancillary files
(such as image files or icons), examples that depend on more than
just a .cxx/.h file pair should have their own subdirectory.
Data files common to several examples should be located in the
examples/data directory.
Ancillary data files should be as small as possible, to keep the
distribution tar files small. Avoid high resolution images or
uncompressed images when possible.
Examples that need very large data sets should not be part of the
FLTK distribution; they can be provided as separate packages
(eg. as articles or external links).
Some widgets have multiple common uses that are best demonstrated
separately. For instance, the table widget can be used as a
custom data table, or as a spreadsheet, or as a widget container.
So separate examples for each would be e.g. "table-custom-data.cxx",
"table-spreadsheet.cxx", "table-widget-container.cxx", etc.
Example programs should contain comments that help understand the
concepts shown, but not so verbose as to dwarf the code or make
the code hard to read. Within code, it's best to use single line
comments to emphasize code that might be unclear. Let the code
speak as much as possible.
Examples programs may be referred to from the documentation
as good examples on how to do particular programming techniques.
NAMING CONVENTIONS
Example programs that demonstrate a particular widget should start
with that widget's name in lowercase, eg. "table.cxx" for Fl_Table.
Demonstrations of a particular technique should start with
"howto-xxx.cxx" to avoid naming conflicts with future widgets
of the same name.
xxx-simple.cxx -- Simplest possible example of widget xxx
eg. table-simple.cxx
xxx-<technique>.cxx -- A particular "technique" using widget xxx
eg. "table-spreadsheet.cxx"
howto-<technique>.cxx -- Demonstrate a particular technique, eg. "howto-threading.cxx"
Some example programs may depend on multiple files. To avoid
cluttering up the top level examples directory, such examples will
have their own subdirectory with the files they depend on localized
to that directory.
Example programs should be as small as possible, to keep the
distribution tar files small.
Very large examples, or examples that depend on large data sets
should be submitted as separate articles on the FLTK site, or as
external links on the FLTK site's 'links' page.
HISTORY
Previous to FLTK 1.3.0, the fltk/test directory served the dual
purpose of containing test suites as well as example code.
But the fltk/test programs started becoming necessarily complex,
testing for obscure problems, and not necessarily good demos for
applications programmers.
The fltk/examples directory was created in FLTK 1.3.0 to separate
'good programming examples' from the test suite code.
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