From:	"D. Huizenga" <skis AT concentric DOT net>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: New GUI?
Date:	Sat, 07 Mar 1998 21:59:26 -0500
Organization:	Student
Lines:	114
Message-ID:	<3502098D.7031555@concentric.net>
References:	<35011748 DOT 68BB AT cam DOT org>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	ts001d17.gps-mi.concentric.net
Mime-Version:	1.0
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Vic wrote:
> 
> Hey, it seems everybody is doing one these days, and so am I :)
> Now, seriously, I got interested in the "who wants win95 look for
> allegro" thread and I started my own 3D looking windoze like GUI.
> Is there any interest in a new one?

Sure, but why not make an actual *window manager*, as there are plenty
of
WIN-95 like GUI's out there already.

> The reason I did this is, well, I didn't like the others.
> Some of them look nice (like Degui for example) but they are based on
> Allegro. I don't like the allegro GUI cause
> 1: the buttons don't act like bloody buttons! (I mean, they act like a
> checkbox only look different!)

I have a partial solution to this: in BGui, there is a procedure called
d_ex_billbutton_proc which will call a callback function when pressed
instead
of just staying down.  The callback function is called with
callback_proc(d->dp3, d->d2).
There is also a button which is SUPPOSED to play a sample when pressed,
and call a callback
function with no parameters, but it doesn't play the sound properly.


> 2: you are trapped inside the dialog.(meaning you say do_dialog() and
> that is it) 

With the release of Allegro 3, it is now possible to continue doing
other things
while a dialog is open, using init_dialog, update_dialog, and
shutdown_dialog.

> The dialog draws directy on screen. If you want to add your
> own thing on the screen you have to add a dialog procedure. etc.

Simple solution: 
BITMAP *oldscreen;
BITMAP *memory_bitmap;
memory_bitmap = create_bitmap blah blah blah;
oldscreen = screen;
screen = memory_bitmap;

This is really handy, especially if you have a moving background behind
a dialog.

> So I coded for a couple of hours and I got the bases of a 3D GUI, where
> buttons are buttons, and you just tell it to "update" itself on a
> bitmap, and it will check for mouse and keyboard input, and draw itself.
> The thing is based on a message system, it calls the object's MouseOver,
> MouseDown etc.
> Should I put the sources on the Web?

Go ahead. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would like a more
flexible dialog
system. (Me included).  I think a better solution that the one you are
going for would
be to simply write a new d_button_proc for Allegro, and then send it to
Shawn to be 
included in the next release of Allegro. Perhaps we should start a
project to write a 
windowing system for inclusion in Allegro? Any comments on this idea?  A
few suggestions
that I have for it:

- Try and keep it as compatible as possible with the current system. For
instance, maybe
  have a type called WinSystem, in which you define windows, like
dialogs are now, and each
  element contains a pointer to a dialog.

- Have a variable like alleg_dialog_style to change between different
drawing routines for
  the winsystem/dialog. For instance, there could be a Windows style,
Mac style, Atari ST style
  (That's a must ;-), and a X-Windows style.

- Instead of using the quick hack posted above, there should be a BITMAP
pointing at where to
  draw the dialog system.

- Instead of having the clunky FG/BG for each element of the dialog,
have global RGB's that
  are used for the entire winsystem. This would simplify things a lot (I
think).

- Last, but not least, KEEP IT SIMPLE! For clipping the windows
properly, I like the idea posted
  on another thread where you call something like 
   while(next_rect) {
    set_clip(get_next_rect); 
    draw_window(win);
   }

- Please post any other ideas that you have.

> --
> --> http://www.cam.org/~tudor <--

Hope to see your source there soon! Have you checked out BGui, at my
home page? It's a win-95
like drop in replacement for the DIALOG system. I have also posted a
version of the Grabber done
with it. Things that aren't implemented yet are the menus and radio
buttons.

--
Dan Huizenga
Email: Skis AT Concentric DOT net
Home: http://www.concentric.net/~skis
(Not much there right now, except BGui [now there's actually an 
 example program ;-)])

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