Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!lll-winken!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!PANDONIA.CANBERRA.EDU.AU!jan From: jan@PANDONIA.CANBERRA.EDU.AU (Jan Newmarch) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.motif Subject: Frequently Asked Questions about Motif Message-ID: <9103190408.AA02761@pandonia.canberra.edu.au> Date: 19 Mar 91 19:08:42 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: inet Organization: The Internet Lines: 1130 Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.motif Subject: Frequently Asked Questions about Motif Distribution: world Expires: Fri, 05 Apr 91 00:00:00 GMT [Last changed: 18 Mar 91] [Sorry this is running so late, but I've been away a lot recently. There are a number of things I wanted to put in, but they will have to wait till next month or this thing will never see the light of day! ] This article and one following contain the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) often seen in comp.windows.x.motif. It is posted to help reduce volume in this newsgroup and to provide hard-to-find information of general interest. Please redistribute this article! This article includes answers to the following questions. Ones marked with a + indicate questions new to this issue; those with changes of content since the last issue are marked by *: 0) What versions of Motif are there? 1) Where can I get Motif? 2) Where can I get public domain Motif source? 3) Has anyone done a public domain Motif lookalike? 4) Does anyone from OSF pay attention to our questions/suggestions? 5) Does OSF have an application compliance validation service? 6) What books should I read or do I need to program using Motif? 7) What is the diference between Motif and mwm? 8) Does anyone have an alternative set of 3-D defaults for a monochrome screen? 9) What prototyping tools are there to generate Motif code? 10) Why does pressing in a text widget do nothing? 11) When I add text to a scrolling text widget how can I get the new text to show? 12) Does the text widget support 16 bit character fonts? 13) How can I stop the text widget from echoing characters typed? 14) How can I replace characters typed with say a `*'? 15) How can I best add a large piece of text to a scrolled list widget? 16) How do I best put a new set of items into a list? 17) Can I get a bitmap to show in a list item like I can in a Label? 18) What can I put inside a menu bar? 19) Can I have a cascade button without a submenu in a pulldown menu? 20) Should I have a cascade button without a submenu in a pulldown menu? 21) How can I direct the keyboard input to a particular widget? 22) How can I have a modal dialog which has to be answered before the application can continue? 23) Why does my application grow in size? 24) Why does my application take a long time to start up? 25) My application is running too slowly. How can I speed it up? 26) How can I get the Ascii text out of an XmString? 27) When can XmStrings used as resources be freed? 28) Why doesn't XmStringGetNextSegment() work properly? 29) How do I stop my dialog disappearing when I press the help button? 30) How do I make my own dialog? 31) What is libPW.a and do I need it? 32) How can tell I if the user has selected the "Close" item on the system menu attached to the top-level shell? 33) Is there a C++ binding for Motif? 34)+ Is there a Common Lisp binding for Motif? 35) Why does an augment translation appear to act as replace? 36)* What MIT patches do I use, and when do I use fix-osf? 37) I tried to make shared libraries on a Sun, and got the message "ld.so: Undefined symbol: __XtInherit" when executing UIL. What did I do? 38) How can I set a multiline label in .Xdefaults? 39) How do you "grey" out a widget so that it cannot be activated? 40) What is causing the messages "unknown keysym osfDown..."? 41) Why doesn't the Help callback work on some widgets? 42)+ What's wrong with the Motif 1.0 File Selection Box? 43)+ What is the motif-talk mailing list? If you have suggestions or corrections for any of these answers or any additional information, please send them directly to jan@ise.canberra.edu.au; the information will be included in the next revision (or possibly the one after that; thanks for the many suggestions which haven't been incorporated yet). The answers in this iteration are acknowledged to be partial. This posting is intended to be distributed at approximately the beginning of each month. The information contained herein has been gathered from a variety of sources. In many cases attribution has been lost; if you would like to claim responsibility for a particular item, please let us know. Conventions used below: telephone numbers tend to be Bell-system unless otherwise noted; prices on items are not included. 1. OSF and Motif ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 0) What versions of Motif are there? Answer: Motif 1.0 is based on the R3 toolkit. There are patch releases to 1.0: 1.0.1, 1.0.A, 1.0.2 and 1.0.3. 1.0.A was a fairly major patch, as it involved a complete re-engineering of UIL and Mrm. Almost everyone who has 1.0.x has either 1.0.A or 1.0.3. Motif 1.1 is based on the R4 toolkit. The current version is Motif 1.1.0, plus a couple of patches available to full support contract holders. Motif 1.1.1 has been released as a patch to licensees with Full Support or Technical Update service. Motif 1.2 is not expected until after mid 1991, and will be based on the R5 toolkit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 1) Where can I get Motif? Answer: [This tries to mirror FAQ of comp.windows.x Send changes to xug@expo.lcs.mit.edu] Various hardware vendors produce developer's toolkits of binaries, header files, and documentation; check your hardware vendor, particularly if that vendor is an OSF member. Systems known to be shipping now: HP (sans UIL), Apollo (sans UIL), SCO, ISC, Mips (RISCwindows=X11R3 + full Motif), IBM, Data General for AViioNs (includes UIL), Bull (?), Concurrent Computer Corporation 5000, 6000, 8000 series machines. In addition, independent binary vendors produce Motif toolkits . ICS makes several binary kits, notably for Sun, DEC, Apple; Quest (408-988-8880) sells kits for Suns, as well; IXI (+44 223 462 131) offers kits for Sun3 (SunOS 3.5 or later, and Sun4 (SunOS 4.0.1 or later). Unipalm XTech (+44 954211862; or Aurora Technologies 617-577-1288 in USA) offers a binary kit for Suns based on Motif 1.1, with shared libraries. NSL (+33 (1) 43 36 77 50; requests@nsl.fr) offers kits for the Sun 3 and Sun 4. The kits include varied levels of bug-fixing and support for shared libraries. BIM (Fax : +32(2)759.47.95) offer Motif 1.1 for Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun-386i. Includes shared libraries. Metrolink Inc. (+1-305-566-9586, sales@metrolink.com; in Europe contact ADNT, (33 1) 3956 5333) ships an implementation of X11R4 and Motif 1.1 for several 386 systems. An OSF/Motif source license must be obtained from OSF before source can be obtained from the Open Software Foundation. Call the Direct Channel Desk at OSF at 617-621-7300 or email direct@osf.org for ordering information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 2) Where can I get public domain Motif source? Answer: You cannot. Motif source is not publically available. Subject: 3) Has anyone done a public domain Motif lookalike? Answer: Not yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 4) Does anyone from OSF pay attention to our questions/suggestions? Answer: Yes, and they quite often post answers too. But they may not respond to *your* problem because they have other things to do as well. This newsgroup is not run by OSF, and has no formal connection with OSF. OSF is a member-driven company. The membership (and anyone can be a member) provides the primary input for future development of Motif. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 5) Does OSF have an application compliance validation service? Answer: They have a checklist and a certification process which you can request from them. Ask for the Level One Certification Checklist. The process is one of self-certification. It tests only the appearance and behavior of the application against Motif style. The product will also be put in the OSF reference listing. There's a one-time fee of $250. According to the master license agreement, you can't use any OSF identifying mark unless you have done a certification. 2. Literature ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 6) What books should I read or do I need to program using Motif? Answer: Ken Lee of the DEC Western Software Laboratory (klee@wsl.dec.com) regularly posts to comp.windows.x and ba.windows.x a list of reference books and articles on X and X programming. In FAQ comp.windows.x an extract of his list appears. Specifically for Motif programming, though: OSF/Motif Programmers Guide, Prentice-Hall 13-640525-8 (Motif 1.0) ISBN 0-13- 640681-5 (Motif 1.1) OSF/Motif Programmers Reference Manual, Prentice-Hall 13-640517-17 (Motif 1.0) ISBN 0-13-640616-5 (Motif 1.1) OSF/Motif Style Guide, Prentice-Hall 13-640491-X (Motif 1.0) ISBN 0-13-640673-4 (Motif 1.1) Young, Doug. "The X Window System: Applications and Programming with Xt (Motif Version)," Prentice Hall, 1989 (ISBN 0-13-497074-8). The excellent tutorial "X Window Systems Programming and Applications with Xt," (ISBN 0-13-972167-3) updated for Motif. [The examples from the Motif version are available on expo in ~ftp/contrib/young.motif.tar.Z] Marshall Brain at brain@adm.csc.ncsu.edu posted a set of simple and useful Motif tutorials. You will also need books and references on Xt such as: Asente, Paul J., and Swick, Ralph R., "X Window System Toolkit, The Complete Programmer's Guide and Specification", Digital Press, 1990. The bible on Xt. A treasury of information, excellent and invaluable. Distributed by Digital Press, ISBN 1-55558-051-3, order number EY-E757E-DP; and by Prentice- Hall, ISBN 0-13-972191-6. Nye, Adrian, and Tim O'Reilly, "X Toolkit Programming Manual, Volume 4," O'Reilly and Associates, 1989. The folks at O'Reilly give their comprehensive treatment to programming with the MIT X11R3 Intrinsics; some information on X11R4 is included. O'Reilly, Tim, ed., "X Toolkit Reference Manual, Volume 5," O'Reilly and Associates, 1989. A professional reference manual for the MIT X11R3 Xt; some information on X11R4 is included. Books and reference manuals on Xlib may also be useful. 3. Mwm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 7) What is the diference between Motif and mwm? Answer: mwm is a window manager. Motif itself is made up of four parts: a User- Interface Guideline, an API toolkit of `C' routines which helps in the building of applications which conform to the Guideline, the window manager mwm, and a language UIL which is designed to ease user interface development. In general mwm will run an application built with any X-windows API, and in general an application built using the Motif toolkit will run under any window manager. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 8) Does anyone have an alternative set of 3-D defaults for a monochrome screen? Answer: This is obviously a matter of taste. Some alternatives suggested include !Benjamin Schreiber, bs@osf.osf.org, bs@cs.brandeis.edu Mwm*foreground: black ! Actually, when a window is Mwm*background: white ! deactivated, the background Mwm*backgroundPixmap: 50_foreground ! becomes white, insted of Mwm*topShadowPixmap: white ! 50% foreground (grey) Mwm*activeForeground: black Mwm*activeBackground: white Mwm*activeBackgroundPixmap: 50_foreground Mwm*activeTopShadowPixmap: white Mwm*menu*backgroundPixmap: background Mwm*menu*topShadowPixmap: 50_foreground Mwm*title*foreground: black Mwm*title*background: white Mwm*title*backgroundPixmap: white Mwm*title*topShadowPixmap: 50_foreground Mwm*title*activeForeground: white Mwm*title*activeBackground: black Mwm*title*activeBackgroundPixmap: black Mwm*title*activeBottomShadowPixmap: 50_foreground Mwm*feedback*backgroundPixmap: white or ! From: tsang@isi.com (Kam C. Tsang) Mwm*background: White Mwm*activeBackground: White Mwm*activeBackgroundPixmap: 25_foreground Mwm*foreground: Black Mwm*activeForeground: Black Mwm*menu*background: white Mwm*menu*foreground: black xterm*Foreground: black xterm*Background: white or ! From: ucsd.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!paperboy!yee (Michael K. Yee) Mwm*cleanText: True Mwm*activeBackground: white Mwm*activeForeground: black Mwm*background: white Mwm*foreground: black Mwm*client*activeBackgroundPixmap: 50_foreground Mwm*client*activeTopShadowPixmap: foreground Mwm*client*activeBottomShadowPixmap: background !Mwm*client*background: white !Mwm*client*foreground: black Mwm*client*backgroundPixmap: 75_foreground Mwm*client*topShadowPixmap: foreground Mwm*client*bottomShadowPixmap: background !Mwm*feedback*background: white !Mwm*feedback*foreground: black Mwm*feedback*backgroundPixmap: 50_foreground !Mwm*feedback*topShadowPixmap: 25_foreground !Mwm*feedback*bottomShadowPixmap: background !Mwm*menu*background: white !Mwm*menu*foreground: black Mwm*menu*backgroundPixmap: foreground !Mwm*menu*topShadowPixmap: foreground !Mwm*menu*bottomShadowPixmap: background !Mwm*icon*background: white !Mwm*icon*foreground: black Mwm*icon*activeBackgroundPixmap: 50_foreground Mwm*icon*activeBottomShadowPixmap: foreground Mwm*icon*backgroundPixmap: 75_foreground 4. Motif generators ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 9) What prototyping tools are there to generate Motif code? Answer: `Prototyping tools' come in two forms: those that can be used to design the interface only (Interactive Design Tools), and those that go beyond this to give support for application code (User Interface Management Systems). There are a number of commercial and non-commnercial tools of both kinds that will support the Motif interface. They include: IDTs: Builder Xcessory UIMX X Build ExoCODE/xm UIMS: WINTERP Widget Creation Library Serpent TeleUse Some contact addresses are: WINTERP: You may obtain the current source, documentation, and examples via anonymous ftp from host expo.lcs.mit.edu: in directory contrib/winterp you will find the compress(1)'d tar(1) file winterp.tar.Z. If you do not have Internet access you may request the source code to be mailed to you by sending a message to winterp-source%hplnpm@hplabs.hp.com or hplabs!hplnpm!winterp-source. Serpent: The S/W is free (anonymous ftp) from fg.sei.cmu.edu. For more info contact erik/robert at serpent-info@sei.cmu.edu. TeleUse: In the U.K., send mail to xtech@unipalm.co.uk or call +44 954 211862. In the US call Telesoft at (619) 457-2700 or write TeleSoft, 5959 Cornerstone Court West, San Diego, California 92121. Builder Xcessory from ICS. More details are available by sending a request to info@ics.com. 617.547.0510 X-Designer: From Imperial Software Technology in the UK. Email address is sales@ist.co.uk. (+44) 743 587055 ExoCODE/xm: From Expert Object Corp., 7250 Cicero Avenue, Lincolnwood, IL 60646 (708)676-5555. X Build: From Nixdorf Computer (Waltham, MA) xbuild@nixdorf.com ExoCode: From EXOC (Chicago, IL) UIMX: Visual Edge Software Limited, 3870 Cote Vertu, St Laurent, Quebec, H4R 1V4, Phone: (514) 332-6430, Fax: (514) 332-5914, or: Visual Edge Software Ltd., 101 First Street, Suite 443, Los Altos, CA 94022, Phone: (415) 948-0753, Fax: (415) 948-0843 The Widget Creation Library: The distribution is available in several ways. The preferred approach it for you to get the compressed tar file using anonymous ftp from either of these ftp servers: devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (128.149.1.143) pub/Wc1_03.tar.Z expo.lcs.mit.edu (18.30.0.212) /contrib/Wcl.1.05Wc1_05.tar.Z 5. Text widget ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 10) Why does pressing in a text widget do nothing? This happens using Motif 1.0 when I have a text widget inside a bulletin board (or form) inside a dialog shell. (In Motif 1.1 it is fixed for both text and list widgets.) Answer: In single line mode, pressing the key usually invokes the Activate() action, and in multi-line mode, the newline() action. However, whenever a widget is the child of a bulletin board widget which is the child of a dialog shell, the bulletin board forces all of its children to translate to the bulletin board action Return() which is usually associated with the default button of the dialog. To restore the text actions of Activate() or newline(), you need to overide the Return() action of the bulletin board. /* declarations */ /* for a single line widget */ char newTrans[] = "Return : Activate()"; /* for a multi line widget */ char newTrans[] = "Return : newline()"; XtTranslations transTable; /* in executable section */ transTable = XtParseTranslationTable(newTrans); /* after creating but before managing text widget */ XtOverrideTranslations(textWidget, transTable); Subject: 11) When I add text to a scrolling text widget how can I get the new text to show? Answer: Use the call undocumented in Motif 1.0 void XmTextShowPosition(w, position) Widget w; XmTextPosition position; where the position is the number of characters from the beginning of the buffer of the text to be displayed. If you don't know how many characters are in the buffer, use another call undocumented in Motif 1.0 position = XmTextGetLastPosition(w) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 12) Does the text widget support 16 bit character fonts? Answer: R5 will have support for 16 bit character sets, and Motif 1.2 will use that. You will have to wait until then. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 13) How can I stop the text widget from echoing characters typed? I need to turn off echo for password input. Answer: Use the modifyVerifyCallback to tell when input is received. Set the `doit' field in the XmTextVerifyCallbackStruct to False to stop the echo. In Motif 1.0 this will cause a beep per character: Live with it, because at 1.1 you can turn it off. Note that password hiding is inherently insecure in X - someone may have an X grab on the keyboard and be reading all characters typed in anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 14) How can I replace characters typed with say a `*'? I want to replace input for password entry. Answer: In Motif 1.1 set text->ptr in the callback structure to '*'. This does not work under 1.0 because of an oversight in which changes to this are ignored. In Motif 1.0, what you can do is set the doit flag to 'false' so the text is not displayed. Then set a static boolean to True to prevent re-entrance. Next call XmTextReplace() to display your '*'. then reset your re-entrance flag to False. XmTextReplace() will call the XmNmodifyVerify callback. To prevent getting into an infinite loop, you need the re-entrance flag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 15) How can I best add a large piece of text to a scrolled list widget? It insists on adding the text one line at a time, adjusting the scroll bar each time. It looks awful and is slow. Answer: Unmanage the widget, add the text and then manage it again. 6. Lists ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 16) How do I best put a new set of items into a list? Answer: Set the new list count and list by XtSetArgs and install them by XtSetValues. XmString list[SIZE]; int list_size; XtSetArg (args[n], XmNitemCount, list_size); n++; XtSetArg (args[n], XmNitems, list); n++; XtSetValues (w, args, n); Each time the list is reset by this the old contents are freed by the widget and the new supplied list is copied. Do *not* free the old list of items yourself as this would result in the space being freed twice. It is not necessary to remove the items one at a time, nor to "zero" out the list first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 17) Can I get a bitmap to show in a list item like I can in a Label? I want to place a bitmap along with some noraml text in my list items. Answer: No. The workaround is to define your font containing the icons you want. Then you can create a fontlist containing your icon font and the font you want the text in, and then make your items multi-segment XmStrings where the first segment contains the code of the icon you want with a charset that matches the icon font in your fontlist and the second segment with a charset matching the text font. 7. Menus ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 18) What can I put inside a menu bar? Answer: You can only put cascade buttons in menu bars. No pushbuttons, toggle buttons or gadgets are allowed. When you create a pulldown menu with parent a menu bar, its real parent is a shell widget. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 19) Can I have a cascade button without a submenu in a pulldown menu? Answer: Yes you can. A cascade button has an activate callback which is called when you click on it and it doesn't have a submenu. It can have a mnemonic, but keyboard traversal using the arrow keys in the menu will skip over it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 20) Should I have a cascade button without a submenu in a pulldown menu? Answer: No. This is forbidden by the style guide. Technically you can do it (see previous question) but if you do it will not be Motif style compliant. This is unlikely to change - if a "button" is important enough to be in a pulldown menu bar with no pulldown, it should be a button elsewhere. 8. Keyboard traversal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 21) How can I direct the keyboard input to a particular widget? Answer: In Motif 1.1 call XmProcessTraversal(target, XmTRAVERSE_CURRENT). In Motif 1.0 call the undocumented _XmGrabTheFocus(target). Do not use the X or Xt calls such as XtSetKeyboardFocus since this bypasses the Motif traversal layer and can cause it to get confused. This can lead to odd keyboard behaviour elsewhere in your application. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 22) How can I have a modal dialog which has to be answered before the application can continue? Answer: The answer depends on whether you are using the Motif window manager mwm or not. If you are, there is a simple solution. If not (or you don't know whether you are or not), you have to use a slightly harder method. Test for this by XmIsMotifWMRunning. The window manager mwm knows how to control event passing to dialog widgets declared as modal. If the dialog is set to application modal, then no interaction with the rest of the application can occur until the dialog is destroyed or unmanaged. This can be done through one of the callbacks of the dialog: block_dialog(parent) Widget parent; { Arg args[2]; XtSetArg(args[0], XmNmessageString, XmStringCreateLtoR("....", charset)); XtSetArg(args[1], XmNdialogStyle, XmDIALOG_APPLICATION_MODAL); dialog = XmCreateMessageDialog(parent, NULL, args, 2); XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNokCallback, responseCB, NULL); XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNcancelCallback, responseCB, NULL); XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNhelpCallback, responseCB, NULL); XtManageChild(dialog); } void responseCB(w, client_data, reason) Widget w; caddr_t client_data; XmAnyCallbackStruct *reason; { int why = reason->reason; XtUnmanageChild(w); /* if you won't use it again */ XtDestroyWidget(XtParent(w)); switch (why) { case XmCR_OK: /* process ok action */ break; case XmCR_CANCEL: /* process cancel action */ break; case XmCR_HELP: /* process help action */ break; } } Without using mwm, the basic version goes like this: You have to set an Xt grab to the dialog and run your own event processing loop. This loop finishes when the user invokes a callback from a button press. The boolean `keep_grab' is passed to the callback as client data which sets it to false when the callback is executed. Boolean keep_grab = True; XEvent event; Arg args[1]; XtSetArg(args[0], XmNmesssageString, ...); dialog = XmCreateMessageDialog(parent, NULL, args, 1); XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNokCallback, responseCB, &keep_grab); XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNcancelCallback, responseCB, &keep_grab); XtAddCallback(dialog, XmNhelpCallback, responseCB, &keep_grab); XtManageChild(dialog); XtAddGrab(XtParent(dialog), True, False); while (keep_grab || XtPending()) { XtNextEvent(&event); XtDispatchEvent(&event); } The "client_data" for the function (in each case) is &keep_grab. The function sets this to False and unmanages the dialog before continuing to process the callback. void responseCB(w, keep_grab, reason) Widget w; Boolean *keep_grab; XmAnyCallbackStruct *reason; { int why = reason->reason; *keep_grab = False; XtRemoveGrab(XtParent(w)); XtUnmanageChild(w); /* If you don't want to reuse it */ XtDestroyWidget(XtParent(w)); switch (why) { case XmCR_OK: /* process ok action */ break; case XmCR_CANCEL: /* process cancel action */ break; case XmCR_HELP: /* process help action */ break; } } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Memory and Speed Subject: 23) Why does my application grow in size? Answer: Motif 1.0 has many memory leaks, particularly in XmString manipulation. Switch to Motif 1.1. Answer: The Intrinsics have a memory leak in accelerator table management, and Motif uses this heavily. Avoid this by mapping/unmapping widgets rather than creating/destroying them, or get X11R4 fix-15/16/17. Answer: The server may grow in size due to its own memory leaks. Switch to a later server. Answer: You are responsible for garbage collection in `C'. Some common cases where a piece of memory becomes garbage are a. Memory is allocated for a character string by Motif in XmStringGetLtoR(). After using the string, XtFree() it. b. If you have set the label in a label, pushbutton, etc widget, free it after calling XtSetValues() or the widget creation routine by XmStringFree(). c. If you have set text in a text widget, reclaim the string afterwards - the text widget makes its own copy. d. If you have set the strings in a list widget, reclaim the space. The list widget makes its own copy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 24) Why does my application take a long time to start up? Answer: If you have a large .Xdefaults, time may be spent reading and parsing it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 25) My application is running too slowly. How can I speed it up? Answer: Use the R4 rather than R3 server. It is much faster. Answer: The standard memory allocator is not well tuned to Motif, and can degrade performance. Use a better allocator. e.g. with SCO Unix, link with libmalloc.a; use the allocator from GNU emacs; use the allocator from Perl. Answer: Avoid lots of widget creation and destruction. It fragments memory and slows everything down. Popup/popdown, manage/unmanage instead. Answer: Get more memory - your application, the server and the Operating System may be spending a lot of time being swapped. Answer: If you are doing much XmString work yourself, such as heavy use of XmStringCompare, speed may deteriorate due to the large amount of internal conversions and malloc'ing. Try using XmStringByteCompare if appropriate or ordinary Ascii strings if you can. 10. XmString ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 26) How can I get the Ascii text out of an XmString? Answer: To get the first line of text from a string created left-to-right char *str; XmString xmstr; /* stuff to create xmstr */ ... /* set str to point to the text */ XmStringGetLtoR(xmstr, XmSTRING_DEFAULT_CHARSET, &str); /* use the string */ ... /* and reclaim space */ XtFree(str); ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 27) When can XmStrings used as resources be freed? Answer: The policy OSF have been trying to enforce is that if you set an XmString or XmStringTable resource, the application is responsible for freeing the XmStrings used because the widget makes a copy. If you get an XmString resource, then the application must free the value gotten. If you get an XmStringTable, then the application should NOT free the value gotten. If the application wants to manipulate it, it should make a copy first. This policy appears to be implemented progressively, so may be less true for Motif 1.0 than 1.1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 28) Why doesn't XmStringGetNextSegment() work properly? Answer: The documentation in Motif 1.0 is in error. Instead of XmStringGetnextSegment(context, ...) XmStringContext * context; it should be XmStringGetnextSegment(context, ...) XmStringContext context; i.e. with no indirection. 11. Dialogs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 29) How do I stop my dialog disappearing when I press the help button? Answer: Bulletin board has the resource autoUnmanage which defaults to True. This unmanages the widget when any button child is activated - including the help button. Set this to False to stop it disappearing. Note that you then have to unmanage the bulletin board yourself when any other button is activated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 30) How do I make my own dialog? I want a dialog with my own set of buttons that stretch and shrink like the ones in e.g. PromptDialog and its own contents. Answer: Start off with say a PromptDialog. Unmanage the buttons you don't want or manage the Apply button if you want another. Unmanage the other bits of the selection box you don't want. You can add another WorkArea child to the selection box for any extra stuff you want. /* Copyright 1990, Kee Hinckley and Brian Holt Hawthorne */ /* Permission granted for any use, provided this copyright */ /* notice is maintained. */ /* Create a dialog box */ argcount = setArgs(&args, XmNautoUnmanage, False, NULL); SomeDialog = XmCreatePromptDialog(mainShell, "someDialog", args, argcount); /* Now get rid of the things we don't want */ child = XmSelectionBoxGetChild(SomeDialog, XmDIALOG_SELECTION_LABEL); XtUnmanageChild(child); child = XmSelectionBoxGetChild(SomeDialog, XmDIALOG_TEXT); XtUnmanageChild(child); /* set the callbacks, and make sure the buttons we want are there */ child = XmSelectionBoxGetChild(SomeDialog, XmDIALOG_OK_BUTTON); XtAddCallback(child, XmNactivateCallback, callSomeFunc, someArg); XtAddCallback(child, XmNactivateCallback, unManage, SomeDialog); XtManageChild(child); child = XmSelectionBoxGetChild(SomeDialog, XmDIALOG_APPLY_BUTTON); XtAddCallback(child, XmNactivateCallback, callSomeFunc, someOtherArg); XtManageChild(child); child = XmSelectionBoxGetChild(SomeDialog, XmDIALOG_CANCEL_BUTTON); XtAddCallback(child, XmNactivateCallback, dialogUnmanage, SomeDialog); XtManageChild(child); /* Add a new work area. This can be any manager. */ child = XmCreateForm(SomeDialog, "someForm", NULL, 0); XtManageChild(child); /* and fill it up... */ something = doYourStuff(child); 12. Miscellaneous ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 31) What is libPW.a and do I need it? My manual says I need to link in libPW.a to use the File Selection Box. I can't find it on my system. Answer: The libPW.a is the Programers Workbench library which is an ATT product not included in Berkeley based systems, hence it is not found in SunOS or Ultrix, but is found on HP-UX (a Berkeley/ATT hybrid which chose ATT in this case). It contains the regex(3) routines. Some systems which don't have these in the libc.a need to link with -lPW. Some systems which have the regex(3) routines in there also have the libPW.a. If you have regex(3) in libc, and it works, don't link with libPW. If you don't have regex(3) in libc, and you don't have a libPW, then check some sites on the net for public domain replacements (several exist), or call your vendor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 32) How can tell I if the user has selected the "Close" item on the system menu attached to the top-level shell? I need to do some clean up before exiting. Answer: void FinalCleanupCB(w, client_data, call_data) Widget w; caddr_t client_data, call_data; { /* tidy up stuff here */ ... /* exit if you want to */ exit (0); } main() { Atom wm_delete_window; ... XtRealizeWidget(toplevel); ... wm_delete_window = XmInternAtom(XtDisplay(toplevel), "WM_DELETE_WINDOW", False); XmAddWMProtocolCallback(toplevel, wm_delete_window, FinalCleanupCB, NULL); XtMainLoop(); } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 33) Is there a C++ binding for Motif? Answer: The university of Lowell has a C++ binding. The software is available on any system running X11R3. Currently it is available for both the GNU's C++ compiler g++ v 1.37.1 and the AT&T C++ v 2.0 translator. The software is available through either ftp or a 9 track reel magnetic tape for $250. A license must be purchased first. For additional information and license forms contact : University of Lowell Graphics Research Laboratory/Motif Computer Science Department One University Avenue Lowell, MA 01854 attn : Fran Ward (phone 508-934-3628) Answer: WWL is a library which defines C++ classes around X Toolkit Widgets. It is intended to simplify the task of C++ code writers when using the Toolkit by providing them with C++ objects, methods, type checking and several utility functions and classes. WWL has been tested under SunOs4.0.3 on sun3 and sun4, HPUX version 6.5 and 7.0 and Ultrix 4.0 on DECstation 3100 and 5000. It is expected to work on most other UNIX systems without too many problems. WWL is distributed as a tar file with all the source, documentation and example. The file is available using anonymous ftp from expo.lcs.mit.edu (18.30.0.212 contrib/WWL-1.0.tar.Z lri.lri.fr (129.175.15.1) pub/WWL-1.0.tar.Z ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 34)+ Is there a Common Lisp binding for Motif? Answer: Try CLM. This includes a toolkit demon (in C) that takes a widget description (with callbacks), and forks a new process for each Motif application (which can be just a single menu, or whatever). Lisp can then continue running, with a separate lightweight lisp process handling the connection & callbacks. In North America & net environs, CLM-2.0beta is available from expo.lcs.mit.edu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 35) Why does an augment translation appear to act as replace? When I use either augment or override translations in .Xdefaults it seems to act as replace in both Motif 1.0 and 1.1 Answer: By default, the translation table is NULL. If there is nothing specified (either in resource file, or in args), the widget's Initialize finds: Oh, there is NULL in translations, lets use our default ones. If, however, the translations have become non-NULL, the default translations are NOT used at all. Thus, using #augment, #override or a new table has identical effect: defines the new translations. The only way you can augment/override Motif's default translations is AFTER Initialize, using XtSetValues. Note, however, that Motif managers do play with translation tables as well ... so that results are not always easy to predict. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 36)* What MIT patches do I use, and when do I use fix-osf? Answer: The Motif 1.1.0 tape contains MIT patches 1-14. Apply these and any others you can get. If your MIT patch level only goes up to fix-16, you also need to apply fix-osf. Fix-osf was an emergency patch for a problem that existed when the Motif 1.1 tape was cut, The MIT fix-17 completely superseded osf-fix, so if you have applied fix-17 do not apply fix-osf. The 1.1.1 tape contains MIT fixes 15-18, as well as an OSF-developed fix that deals with a subtle bug in the Selection mechanism of the Intrinsics. Most people will have fix-15 to 18 by now; if you don't have them: Back out fix-osf if you have applied it Apply fix-15 to 18 Apply fix-osf-1.1.1 The Selection fix was submitted to MIT, who came up with a diferent fix. It will not be made into an R4 fix but should be in R5. The MIT fix was posted to motif-talk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 37) I tried to make shared libraries on a Sun, and got the message "ld.so: Undefined symbol: __XtInherit" when executing UIL. What did I do? Answer: There is a problem in shared library build when you compare a function variable to a routine name, but don't call the routine. Either, you can build the Xt library nonshared, or you can put a reference to XtToolkitInitialize in the UIL main program (or even include a module that references it). The routine doesn't even have to be called; it just has to be there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 38) How can I set a multiline label in .Xdefaults? Answer: *Label*labelString: Here0s0he2640abel Gives a four line label, using the escape sequence \n for a newline. ---------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 39) How do you "grey" out a widget so that it cannot be activated? Answer: Use XtSetSensitive(widget, False). Do not set the XmNsensitive resource directly yourself (by XtSetvalues) since the widget may need to talk to parents first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 40) What is causing the messages "unknown keysym osfDown..."? It happens when I run an application under Motif 1.1 Answer: You have to copy (or append) lib/Xm/XKeysymDB into /usr/lib/X11. The file is not copyrighted. It is not clear how to fix the problem if you can't do this. The error comes from Xt translation table parsing and can't be fixed in Motif. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 41) Why doesn't the Help callback work on some widgets? Answer: If you press the help key the help callback of the widget with the keyboard focus is called (not the one containing the mouse). You can't get the help callback of a non-keyboard-selectable widget called. To get `context sensitive' help on these, you have to find the mouse, associate its position with a widget and then do the help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 42)+ What's wrong with the Motif 1.0 File Selection Box? I can't set the directory, change the directory or get the file mask to work. Answer: The 1.0 File Selection Box is broken, and these don't work. They weren't fixed until Motif 1.04. Switch to Motif 1.1 where it changed a lot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 43)+ What is the motif-talk mailing list? Answer: The motif-talk mailing list is only for those who have purchased a Motif source code license. You can be placed on this list by emailing to motif-talk- request. 13. Acknowledgements This list was compiled using questions and answers posed to comp.windows.x.motif. Some extracts were also taken from FAQs of comp.windows.x. To all who contributed one way or the other, thanks! I haven't given individual references, but you may recognise contributions. If I have mangled them too much, let me know. That's all folks! +----------------------+---+ Jan Newmarch, Information Science and Engineering, University of Canberra, PO Box 1, Belconnen, Act 2616 Australia. Tel: (Aust) 6-2522422. Fax: (Aust) 6-2522999 ACSnet: jan@ise.canberra.edu.au ARPA: jan%ise.canberra.edu.au@uunet.uu.net UUCP: {uunet,ukc}!munnari!ise.canberra.edu.au!jan JANET: jan%au.edu.canberra.ise@EAN-RELAY +--------------------------+ Local Variables: mode: outline outline-regexp: "Subject: +[0-9]+)" eval: (hide-body) End: