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From: rosenkra@convex.com (William Rosencranz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: GEM source code
Message-ID: <1991Mar22.123601.1378@convex.com>
Date: 22 Mar 91 12:36:01 GMT
References: <1991Mar21.101741.14347@convex.com> <A66918006@thelake.mn.org>
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Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx.
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In article <A66918006@thelake.mn.org> steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) writes:
>[In article <1991Mar21.101741.14347@convex.com>,
>> in this regard, i promise to post a real gem application sometime in
>> the next few months. source included! how 'bout that for trend setting :-)
>
>Great! I don't suppose you're interested in writing a simple text-editing
>window module, are you? I really don't want to reinvent the wheel. (Which
>is a euphemism for ``I'm too lazy to write one myself.'')

i use emacs. what the heck do i need gem windows for? :-)

actually, i doubt i will have time to write something from scratch. so
let me modify this: i will post more a skeleton of an application which
may need fleshing out. sort of a tutorial.

i have some code laying around for passing messages between DAs and
applications. does this sound interesting enuf? i originally wrote it
for a MIDI application. the DA would pass data from the application to
a MIDI device (a sample dump, in this case), and pass MIDI info to the
appl. the idea was to use DAs more like device drivers, but with a
dialog. it worked well.

elements of this is:

	GEM messages, care and feeding of
	shared memory
	protocol development
	DA/AP message passing
	having an appl wake up a DA, etc.

it will take some time to get it in a form i can explain (since i forgot
most of what i did long ago). so...if at least 10 people say "do it", i will.

another thing i *could* do is to pass along a ladder-style menu system:

	 _______________
	|		|
	|_______________|
	|******* _______|_______
	|_______|		|
	|	|_______________|
	|_______|******** ______|_______
	|	|________|		|
	|_______________||______________|
			 |**************|
			 |______________|
			 |		|
			 |______________|

i wrote. it was convoluted and not general, however, but worked well. i
was planning on writing a code generator to make it general. oh, well...
one of these days...

a *simple* text editor is relatively easy. just shovel ed(1) into
a gem wrapper. the only tricky parts are scrolling: v_gtext/vro_cpyfm
or whatever instead of printf. i have a working ed(1) if you want src. it
is small, simple, and easy to modify. but i think IPC (or the menu thingie)
is much more interesting.

a better idea would be an MGR editor. done like apollo's display manager
editor. now THAT would be slick.

>The only GEM text editor for which I have located sources is DIARY.ACC,
>which unfortunately is written in Modula-2.  Since you're a fellow who 
>regards the shift key in the same way most people regard bedbugs, you 
>probably know why I find that disappointing. :-)

Ha Ha. :-) To Paraphrase A Popular Saw Heard Around These Parts: "Not
Shifting At Beginning Of Sentences Saves Many, Many Keystrokes, Not To
Mention My Little Pinky".

thanx for the code, BTW...

-bill
rosenkra@convex.com
--
Bill Rosenkranz            |UUCP: {uunet,texsun}!convex!c1yankee!rosenkra
Convex Computer Corp.      |ARPA: rosenkra%c1yankee@convex.com