Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcso!hpfcmgw!chan
From: chan@hpfcmgw.HP.COM (Chan Benson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Xlib graphics within widgets
Message-ID: <1210019@hpfcmgw.HP.COM>
Date: 13 Oct 89 17:44:49 GMT
References: <46739@bbn.COM>
Organization: HP Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 40

> The problem with a "general-purpose" drawing widget is that either
> 
> A) It handles every possible anticipated contingency; i.e.
>    number of pixels (how many? 1, 2, 5, SizeofColormap()?),
>    number of callbacks (one for Expose, one for ConfigureNotify,
>    one for KeyPress ...), etc.
> 
> B) It makes some choice of a "reasonable" subset of A.
> 
> In the case of A you wind up with a very bloated widget and
> an application that instantiates even a few of them gets very big
> and we get lots of flames about how inefficient Xaw/Xt is.

How is this different from any other widget?

The HP WorkSpace widget and the Motif DrawingArea widget have been
adequate for any drawing application I've had to do *except*
that I can't select a specific visual and colormap. This seems to
be more of an Xt limitation.

> In the case of B you wind up with a widget that is probably
> bigger than most applications need but too primitive for many
> and you still haven't educated people about how to live
> without Mommy and Daddy.
>
> At some point developers aren't being provided a service when the
> silver platter gets too large.

I'm sorry, this is a piss-poor attitude.  As someone who is firmly 
entrenched in Xt and widget writing, it's very easy for you to say
"write your own." Most application writers don't care to know how to 
write a widget. They just want to write their application, not be
indoctrinated into the great church of Xt. What do you know about
what services developers want? Have you asked them?

When you're "silver platter" is already ten feet in diameter, adding
another canape' or celery stick is not going to make a difference.

			-- Chan Benson
			HP Fort Collins