1. Re: GUIS - DOS and otherwise
- Posted by bonn ortloff <kc7yrh at HOTMAIL.COM>
Aug 20, 1998
-
Last edited Aug 21, 1998
Dar, dar, dar... Jeez, I never evenb _thought_ of any of that. I liked
how great itt really was. Alot of it is quite true...
>Hi, All.
>
>[Control Text Attributes]
>
>People have been asking for the ability to change fonts family, size
and
>styles of control labels in Win32Lib. I've mentioned this several
times,
>but I'll say it again:
>
>I still have NO idea how to do this. If someone does, please clue me
in!
>
>I understand how to change the attributes for dialogs, but Win32Lib
>builds the windows dynamically - it doesn't use real dialogs. I was
>thinking of breaking the controls into two parts: a static label (the
>text), and the control portion. But I don't know how to change the
>attributes of a static label any more than for any other control.
>
>The only option I can think of at this point is to take over the
display
>of the text by hand - something that I would prefer not to do.
>
>Can anyone help?
>
>
>[DOS GUI Features]
>
>My goals for Dos32Lib are fairly modest: support the basic Win32Lib API
>in DOS. A bit more functionality than my Dialog program, perhaps - but
>not that far from it.
>
>I *don't* intend to:
>
> - invent a new GUI
> - write a Win95 replacement
> - add features unlikely to be used
>
>I don't see that much serious demand for a DOS GUI - most people
>demanding the features that Irv has been alluding to will be in Win95,
>not DOS. After all, Dos32Lib won't even be able to use a printer.
>
WAAH! I liked it because it was a replacement for those who didn't have
Windows. Irv's DOS GUI is quite a replacement. Those business apps do
look quite nice! (what i'll make of his GUI) WOW!
>
>[How GUI is Windoz?]
>
>Just a few critical notes (sorry) about Windoz. I should preface them
>with the comments that
>(1) there is nothing in the current design that prevents these things
>from being corrected, and (2) yes, I know: it's just an *alpha*
release.
>
>Anyhoo, Windoz is permeated with modality. All this goes against the
>whole concept of a graphical interface - to *avoid* modes.
... avoid modes? It'd be kewl to read a CFG file to see what mode the
person _can_ support, but Mode 257 is okay for such an app.
>
>Windoz is either in Mouse mode or Text Edit mode (perhaps "Keys" mode
is
>a better name), and these modes are diametrically opposed - virtually
>every feature in one mode is absent in the other.
>
... ??? Oh, you mean, the ability to edit text in Mouse mode? hmm...
good point.
>In Mouse mode, keys are ignored, and there is no concept of focus. You
>can click and drag, but the behavior is inconsistant from one control
to
>the next. For example:
>
>1. Click the window control button in the upper left corner, and the
>button depresses. Keeping the mouse button pressed, drag the mouse off
>the button and release the mouse button. Release the mouse button, and
>the window control button remains depressed, instead of popping back
up.
>
I haven't tested it yet? jeez, I make so many mouse errors, it ain't
even funny! whoa...
>--- side note
>The button retains the "pressed" attribute. For example, do the above
>procedure to a dialog, and close it. Open the dialog again, and the
>control button is still drawn as depressed.
>--- end side note
>
>2. Now click the OK command button, and the button depresses. Keeping
>the mouse button pressed, drag the mouse off the command button. The
>command button correctly pops up. But (keeping the mouse button
pressed)
>drag it back onto the command button - and it does not depress again.
>
Yup, I wanted to see if it would do the same thing windows does... and
it didn't... Good point again.
>--- side note
>While I'm on the topic, if you click on the label of a control, it has
>no effect. For example, with the checkbox control:
>
> [ ] Foo
>
>you should be able to click on the label ("Foo"), as well as the check
>box graphic.
>-- end side note
>
Somewhat easy to fix, no? (group the label with the control?)
>
>The other major modality is the SLE Text Edit mode. When you enter Text
>Edit mode, the mouse disappears entirely, so it *only* accepts
>keystrokes.
>
I like that. Can you get out of it with ESC? I think so...
>To exit the Text Edit mode, you need to know the magic key to press
>(escape), or Tab past the SLE fields, and mouse (again, magically)
>appears as Mouse mode is entered.
>
See above....
>The Text Edit code isn't really well integrated into Windoz. It
>overwrites the SLE's bottom border, and if you get to the end of the
>SLE, it overwrites the right border.
>
No, it doesn't "overwrite" the right border. It does what HTML fields
do. I like it.
>In Text Edit mode, Windoz suddenly acquires a concept of focus, and the
>The Tab and Shift+Tab keys work. But the keys have two different
>functions: Navigation, and Exit Mode. If there is next/prior field is
an
>SLE, you are navigated to that field. But if it is not, you are booted
>out into Mouse mode again. Same key, same control, same mode - two
>different behaviors.
>
... buttons don't have an optional "group" function, do they?...
>Pressing the right mouse button pops up an attribute browser - but you
>can't enter edit any of the controls. Apparently, they are read-only,
>although there is nothing to clue the user that this is the case. The
>controls *look* just the same as editable text.
Change the color of the text boxes?
>
>The latest demo is even more modal. You can't do anything while the
>program is drawing - you have to press a key to exit that mode.
Dragging
>the window to another position gives away the trick of the Draw mode -
>it writes to the screen where the window is *positioned*, not actually
>*onto* the window. So if you move the window, you lose the drawing.
... ? It writes where the window will be positioned. If it was given the
ability to redraw immediatly where the window will be positioned,
then... it will run quite slow on a 486.
>
>OK, end of complaints.
>
And, end of critisizm. Reason? I like it, and this sorta went against...
blah, blah, blah... :)
>
>-- David Cuny
>
-- "LEVIATHAN"
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