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From: max@spam.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: simple x interface tools from shell scripts?
Message-ID: <1990Aug4.212914.24102@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 4 Aug 90 21:29:14 GMT
References: <1990Jul24.194548.22897@midway.uchicago.edu> <5177@harrier.ukc.ac.uk> <725@venice.SEDD.TRW.COM> <5659@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM>
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Reply-To: max@estragon.uchicago.edu (Max Ziff)
Organization: U. Chicago Computer Science Dept.
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Several people have asked me to summarize the responses I've received to my
query about shell-callable x interface building tools.  I'm sorry to report
that I've heard of little other than what was also mentioned in follow up
postings in this newsgroup, and I haven't found what I really want:
a shell callable interface to forms, based on public domain widgets.
Still, I have more to report on the programs mentioned in previous postings.

xmenu, which Richard Hesketh (rlh2@ukc.ac.uk) wrote and described in his 
posting, is an interface to menus, based on athena widgets.  It makes and 
works quite nicely under release 4.  It is available by ftp from 
gatekeeper.dec.com in the directory pub/comp.sources.x/xmenu, or from 
uunet.uu.net in comp.sources.x/volume8/xmenu.  

Mr. Hesketh reports that a colleague of his,

    ... has written a form fill-in tool that takes a simple syntax, parses 
    it and displays a form containing different fields for text entry, 
    one-of-many and many-of-many values.  It outputs the results as shell 
    variables which can be EVALuated.  Its needs a little change in the
    syntax before Alison is willing to release it.

xgen uses an opposite design -- instead of an x tool you can call
from a shell script, it is an x tool which calls shell scripts.  More
precisely, you give it a "script" which describes an interface and associates 
shell scripts and other actions with buttons and other user interface features.
There's even fancy constructs like a "spreadsheet" object.  

I haven't been able to get the thing to work, so I'm not sure.  I was using
the old version, based on X11R3 athena widgets, which is still available by 
ftp from gatekeeper.dec.com in pub/comp.sources.x/xgen (or from uunet.uu.net in 
comp.sources.x/volume4/xgen).  It compiled but wouldn't run its sample 
application without crashing.  Apparently Claude Scarpelli 
(scarpell@cnca.cnca-cam.fr) had better success with it at some point, 
since he reported that it's slow.

Jim Westervelt (westerve@zorro.cecer.army.mil), the author of xgen, tells
me that Kurt Buehler (buehlerk%wasser@boulder.colorado.edu) is the current xgen
programmer, and, in his words:

    1) it is better than ever, 2) is based in Motif, 3) is not
    yet documented, and 4) is in testing at my lab.

Carlo Milon (netcom!cmilono@apple.com) suggests: 

    You might look at AT&T's new 'A.L.E.X.' which stands for A Language
    Extension for X, which allows character (i.e., shell) programs to appear
    as X11 interfaces.  I have only seen a simple demonstration of this, but
    it sounds like a way to take *older* character-based apps or simple,
    let's-write-one-now types of things and make them immediately available.

But at present I know nothing more about this.

If anyone kowns about other similar programs, I'd love to hear about them.

Donald Ziff (Max)         Center for Information and Language Studies
                          1100 E. 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois   60637
                          max@estragon.UChicago.{EDU,BITNET,MAILNET,CSNET}
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