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@node Part I Introduction
@chapter Introduction
The Forms Library is a library of C-routines that allows you to build up
interaction forms with buttons, sliders, input fields, dials, etc. in a
very simple way. Following the X tradition, Forms Library does not
enforce the look and feel of objects although in its default state, it
does provide a consistent look and feel for all objects.
The Forms Library only uses the services provided by Xlib and should be
compilable on all machines that have X installed and have an ANSI
compatible compiler. Being based on Xlib,Forms Library is small and
efficient. It can be used in both C and C++ programs and soon it will be
available for other languages@footnote{As of this writing, perl,
Ada95, scheme, pascal, Fortran and python bindings are in beta
testing.}.
The basic procedure of using the Forms Library is as follows. First
one or more forms are defined, by indicating what objects should be
placed on them and where. Types of objects that can be placed on the
forms include: boxes, texts, sliders, buttons, dials, input fields and
many more. Even a clock can be placed on a form with one command.
After the form has been defined it is displayed on the screen and
control is given to a library call @code{@ref{fl_do_forms()}}. This
routine takes care of the interaction between the user and the form
and returns as soon as some change occurs in the status of the form
due to some user action. In this case control is returned to the
program (indicating that the object changed) and the program can take
action accordingly, after which control is returned again to the
@code{@ref{fl_do_forms()}} routine. Multiple forms can be handled
simultaneously by the library and can be combined with windows of the
application program. More advanced event handling via object callbacks
is also supported.
The Forms Library is simple to use. Defining a form takes a few lines
of code and interaction is fully handled by the library routines. A
number of demo programs are provided to show how to piece together
various parts of the library and demonstrate how easy forms are built
and used. They can be found in the directory @code{demos}. Studying
these demos is a good way of learning the system.
If you only have very simple applications for the Forms Library, e.g.,
to ask the user for a file name, or ask him a question or give him a
short message, @ref{Part I Goodies, , Goodies} contains some even more
simple routines for this. So, e.g., a form with the question "Do you
want to quit?" can be made with one line of code.
To make designing forms even easier a Form Designer is provided. As
its name implies, this is a program that lets you interactively design
forms and generate the corresponding C-code. @xref{Part II
Introduction, , Introduction}, and the following chapters for its use.
The current version of the software is already quite extended but we are
working on further improvements. In particular, we plan on designing new
classes of objects that can be placed on the forms. Adding classes to
the system is not very complicated. Part IV of this document describes
in detail how to do this yourself.
The following chapters will describe the basic application
programmer's interface to the Forms Library and lead you through the
different aspects of designing and using forms. In @ref{Part I Getting
Started} we give some small and easy examples of the design and use of
forms. In @ref{Part I Defining Forms, , Defining Forms} we describe
how to define forms. This chapter just contains the basic classes of
objects that can be placed on forms. Also, for some classes only the
basic types are described and not all. For an overview of all classes
and types of objects see Part III of this document. @ref{Part I Doing
Interaction, , Doing Interaction} describes how to set up interaction
with forms. A very specific class of objects are free objects and
canvases. The application program has full control over their
appearance and interaction. They can be used to place anything on
forms that is not supported by the standard objects. @ref{Part I Free
Objects, , Free Objects} describes their use. Finally, @ref{Part I
Goodies, , Goodies} describes some built-in routines for simple
interaction like asking questions and prompting for choices etc.
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