Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!shelby!neon!torrie
From: torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan J Torrie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Hooks into the OS vs doing it all yourself (Was Re: Clueless Mac<>)
Message-ID: <1991Feb1.032445.15245@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 1 Feb 91 03:24:45 GMT
References: <1991Jan25.075446.716@Neon.Stanford.EDU> <7658@sugar.hackercorp.com> <1991Jan31.011702.12095@Neon.Stanford.EDU> <1991Jan31.044116.25645@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Sender: torrie@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Evan James Torrie)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 59

rjc@geech.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) writes:

>In article <1991Jan31.011702.12095@Neon.Stanford.EDU> torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan J Torrie) writes:
>   Well the Amiga can do this too, but its not officially supported.
>Programs can use input handlers to get mouse/key events before
>intuition gets them, programs can SetFunction() OpenWindow, programs
>can open their own screen and uses layer's to implement their own 
>windowing system. 

  This sounds like more of a hacky solution that the Apple method of
having a window definition function.  Each definition function must
accept and reply to a set of messages which the OS can send it (e.g.
DrawFrame, CalcRgns etc.)  This function is compiled as a code segment
into a WDEF resource.  
  Each WDEF resource can have its own ID.  Normally programs just use
the default ID (=0), which corresponds to the standard Mac window you
see on every Mac desktop.  Since this is stored in ROM, and resource
which are in open files can override ROM resources, you can put your
own WDEF ID=0 resource in the System file (which is kept open), and
every application automagically calls your WDEF code (and hence
generates whatever kind of window shape/shade you want).


>>  Can you have callback functions.. i.e. get Intuition to call your
>>function while it's moving the knob?

>  Not that I know of. I wouldn't want it. 

  The places where it is used on the Mac, is in programs which want to
do dynamic updating of displays such as the page number in
MacWrite/line number in Excel (i.e. as the scroll box is dragged, a
number in the status bar is updated to reflect which line you will end
up on if you let go of the mouse button now).
  How would you do a similar thing on the Amiga?  If you put code in
the input handler to do this, then it once again means your input
handler needs to know about the internal data structures of your application.

>Since when does the Mac have a NeXT/Motif look? If so, is it a  PD hack
>and where can I get it? I want to try it on my friends Amax. I think
>plain old finder looks horrible, and so do many of the Mac requestors.
>AmigaDOS 2.0 makes the Mac look like C64 GEOS.

  There are plenty of Mac PD window-changers, control-changers...
Things like AltWDEF, AltCDEF and a host of others.  One of the archive
sites will probably have them (e.g. sumex-aim.stanford.edu).  There
are also two commercial programs which do similar things (ClickChange
and Personality).
  Also interesting is that the firm doing a MacClone (NuTek?) has a
Motif style interface to avoid lawsuits.  From the screenshot I saw,
they even had nice things like the menu-bar inside the window of the
running application!



-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evan Torrie.  Stanford University, Class of 199?       torrie@cs.stanford.edu   
"She's got a tongue like an electric eel, and she likes the taste of a 
 man's tonsils!"  - Rik Flashheart