src/motif/mdi/doc/mdi.html

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   4 <TITLE>Motif Multi-Document Interface (MDI)</TITLE>
   5 <LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:ssadler@cisco.com">
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   9 <IMG SRC="pics/mdi.gif" ALT="[Class Structure]">
  10 <P><H2>
  11 <B>
  12 The Motif Multi-Document Interface
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  16
  17 <P>
  18 The Motif Multi-Document Interface (MDI) is a collection of C++ classes
  19 that emulates the behavior of the Multi-Document Interface in Microsoft
  20 Windows.  The MDI framework allows a user to view multiple documents (windows)
  21 constrained to a single parent window.
  22
  23 <P>
  24 <HR SIZE = 4>
  25
  26 <P>
  27 <B>
  28 C<FONT SIZE=-1>LASS</FONT>
  29 S<FONT SIZE=-1>TRUCTURE:</FONT>
  30 </B>
  31
  32 <P>
  33 <IMG SRC="pics/classes.gif" ALT="[Class Structure]">
  34
  35 <BR>
  36 Figure 1.  Inheritance Graph for MDI classes
  37
  38 <P>
  39 The <I>XsMDICanvas</I> is a self-contained component used to display and manage
  40 any number of child document windows.  All documents windows are derived from
  41 the abstract base-class <I>XsMDIWindow</I>.  To get the Motif-like functionality,
  42 document windows should be derived from the <I>XsMotifWindow</I> class.
  43
  44 <P>
  45 <HR SIZE = 4>
  46
  47 <P>
  48 <B>
  49 E<FONT SIZE=-1>XAMPLE:</FONT>
  50 </B>
  51
  52 <P>
  53 The process of building and displaying a Multi-Document Interface using MDI
  54 consists of the following steps:
  55
  56 <OL>
  57 <LI>Creating the application document(s)</LI>
  58 <LI>Creating the MDI canvas</LI>
  59 <LI>Adding the document(s) to the canvas</LI>
  60 </OL>
  61
  62 <PRE>
  63
  64 #include "XsMDICanvas.h"
  65 #include "XsMotifWindow.h"
  66
  67 // Application document (derived from XsMotifWindow)
  68
  69 class MyDocument : public XsMotifWindow {
  70    public:
  71       MyDocument (const char *name);
  72       virtual ~MyDocument ( );
  73    protected:
  74       virtual void _buildClientArea (Widget parent);
  75 };
  76
  77 void createCanvas (Widget parent) {
  78
  79 // Create documents
  80
  81    MyDocument *doc1 = new MyDocument ("doc1");
  82    MyDocument *doc2 = new MyDocument ("doc2");
  83
  84 // Create the canvas
  85
  86    XsMDICanvas *canvas = new XsMDICanvas ("canvas", parent);
  87
  88 // Add documents to canvas
  89
  90    canvas->add (doc1);
  91    canvas->add (doc2);
  92
  93 // Show the canvas
  94
  95    canvas->show ( );
  96 }
  97
  98 </PRE>
  99
 100 <P>
 101 In this example, the application document <I>MyDocument</I> is derived
 102 from <I>XsMotifWindow</I>.  This provides a Motif-like window suitable for
 103 use with the <I>XsMDICanvas</I>.
 104
 105 <P>
 106 Next, two <I>MyDocument</I> objects are created along with the <I>XsMDICanvas</I>.
 107 The two documents are then added to the canvas using the <I>add</I>
 108 member-function of the canvas.  Lastly, the canvas is shown (managed)
 109 using the <I>show</I> member-function.
 110
 111 <P>
 112 Creating the document <I>MyDocument</I> does not automatically create any
 113 widgets.  Rather, it only initializes internal variables.  The widgets are
 114 not created until the document is added to the canvas.  The <I>XsMDICanvas</I>
 115 is responsible for calling <I>XsMotifWindow::_buildClientArea()</I> at an
 116 appropriate time.  In this member-function, the application can create the
 117 actual contents of the document.
 118
 119 <P>
 120 The member-function <I>_buildClientArea</I> is passed a widget to be used as
 121 the parent of the document contents.  This parent widget is an unmanaged
 122 <I>XmForm</I> widget.  The application is free to create whatever contents
 123 it needs as a child of the <I>XmForm</I> parent.
 124
 125 <P>
 126 <HR SIZE = 4>
 127
 128 <P>
 129 <B>
 130 C<FONT SIZE=-1>LASS</FONT>
 131 R<FONT SIZE=-1>EFERENCES:</FONT>
 132 </B>
 133
 134 <P>
 135 Of the classes in the MDI package, only the following should be of
 136 interest to MDI library users:
 137
 138 <UL>
 139 <LI> <A HREF="canvas.html"> XsMDICanvas </A> </LI>
 140 <LI> <A HREF="mwindow.html"> XsMotifWindow </A> </LI>
 141 </UL>
 142
 143 <P>
 144 <HR SIZE = 4>
 145
 146 <P>
 147 <B>
 148 E<FONT SIZE=-1>XPLORING</FONT>
 149 R<FONT SIZE=-1>ESOURCES:</FONT>
 150 </B>
 151
 152 <P>
 153 The MDI classes support a number of different X-resources (please refer
 154 the the class manual pages for complete details).  In order to get a feel
 155 for the customization capabilities of the MDI library, try running the
 156 test program (<I>MDItest</I>) with the following command-line options:
 157
 158 <DL>
 159 <DD>MDItest -xrm "*showBorder:false"</DD>
 160 <DD>MDItest -xrm "*showTitle:false" -xrm "*showResize:false"</DD>
 161 <DD>MDItest -xrm "*showMenu:false" -xrm "*showMaximize:false"</DD>
 162 <DD>MDItest -xrm "*borderSize:4" -xrm "*buttonSize:14"</DD>
 163 <DD>MDItest -xrm "*lowerOnIconify:true" -xrm "*title:Hello World"</DD>
 164 </DL>
 165
 166 <P>
 167 <HR SIZE = 4>
 168
 169 <P>
 170 <B>
 171 A<FONT SIZE=-1>DDITIONAL</FONT>
 172 I<FONT SIZE=-1>INFORMATION:</FONT>
 173 </B>
 174
 175 <P>
 176 The test program <I>MDItest.C</I> gives a complete example of an MDI
 177 application.  It should serve as a good reference/example of the MDI library.
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