Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!jimomura
From: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Sozobon Sprites
Message-ID: <1990Dec17.211812.21144@lsuc.on.ca>
Date: 17 Dec 90 21:18:12 GMT
Reply-To: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura)
Organization: Consultant, Toronto
Lines: 39


     And now for my progress report:

     It seems that Sozobon C only supports "sprite" calls properly
if you use "minimum.h".  I understand that this can be a problem
because it may mean that GEM is not supported if you use "minimum.h".
So for the time being, it would seem that you either develop a
GEM application or a Sprite application.  At least that seems to
be a way of looking at it.  It turns out that I could complete my
current program without Sprites, though it would have been a better
program if I could use them, and so I'm not concerned.  I intend
to proceed with another program that will need sprites but not GEM
later so this will work out satisfactory as well.

     Now on to another question.  I haven't reached the point where
this question is important quite yet, but I will soon.

     In CyberPaint, Jim Kent used a custom menu interface which I
really liked.  I've seen similar menus in Amiga programs.  The menu
bar is hidden until you click and then it appears at the top of
the screen and menus drop down covering only part of the "work" area
leaving the rest visible.  This is particularly good for graphic
programs of an artistic nature because, unlike Degas, it leaves as
much of the "work" on-screen at all possible times.  If you're not
an "artist" you may not realize why this is important at first, but
if you've ever done extensive art it becomes a fairly obvious matter.
At any rate, I like the idea generally and even though my current
project is not a "paint" program, I would like to impliment this
type of menu.  But I've *never* seen it done in GEM/TOS programs.
As such, I have a feeling it's probably not possible.  Does anybody
know for sure?  It would seem to me that if I define a "window"
with 0 height but with a "menu bar" I should be able to do the same
type of thing, but would the drop down menus work over the window
underneath?  Or would I have to define the window to be at least
the height of the largest drop down menu?
-- 
Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880
lsuc!jimomura
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