Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!caen!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!uunet!oceania!sdd
From: oceania!sdd (Steve Dakin)
Subject: Re: Drawing direct to a dialog window...
Message-ID: <1991May16.170121.7022@oceania.UUCP>
Sender: sdd@oceania.UUCP
Organization: Oceania Healthcare Systems
References: <1991May15.131300.9898@umiami.ir.miami.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 May 91 17:01:21 GMT

In article <1991May15.131300.9898@umiami.ir.miami.edu>  
dweisman@umiami.ir.miami.edu (Ordinary Man) writes:
> 
> 	Is it safe/recommended to draw to a dialog window as if it was a  
window? 
> I mean I have no userItems in my dialog; I just set the port to the dialog 
> after I create it and draw all sorts of things in it as if it was a window. 
> No problems. I even utilize the ModalDialog's filter function to do some 
> realtime 
> animation in the dialog. No problems still. Is this bad? Also then, what are 
> userItem's good for then? Why not just draw everything straight to the port? 
> (naive question, I know, but just want to get everything out in the open). 
> 

I do this all the time.  The only drawback (I have found) is those durn update  
events.  I use a filter proc to handle all the updates.  In order to handle the  
high volume of dialogs that I use and all the drawing that is associated with  
each one, I wrote a function whose primary purpose is to draw the graphics  
(lines, etc.) for each dialog box.  Inside the filter proc I use, under the  
updateEvt event, I call this routine to have the text drawn.  It's a little bit  
of a kludge, but it works quite well and I only have to use one filter proc and  
manage one routine for all the drawing (yes, this routine does get quite large  
after a while, but only a small portion of it is executed each time through).
User Items didn't provide enough functionality for what I wanted so I went for  
this method instead.

Woul someone who is more familiar with User Items want to expand on them?

--
+-----------------------------------+
|            Steve Dakin            |
|     oceania!sdd@uunet.uu.net      |
|            (NeXT mail)            |
| tread lighty so others may follow |
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-- 
+-----------------------------------+
|            Steve Dakin            |
|     oceania!sdd@uunet.uu.net      |
|            (NeXT mail)            |