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From: rothberg@polya.Stanford.EDU (Edward Rothberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Changing complicated Dialogs into Windows (TechNote 203)
Message-ID: <4209@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 1 Oct 88 01:44:50 GMT
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 33


I've just finished reading what TechNote 203, "Managerial Abuse" has to
say about the Dialog Manager.  While I agree with its message, that
the Dialog Manager is meant for simple dialogs and anything the least
bit complicated should be done with the Window Manager, I can't seem to
figure out how to apply it.  I use ResEdit for resource creation and
editing.  As it is right now, I find it extremely cumbersome to put
just a few controls in a window.  For me, it involves a number of
iterations of:
    Start ResEdit
    Put the control at a certain coordinate
    Quit ResEdit
    Start LightSpeed C
    Try program
    See how far control is from where you want it
    Quit LightSpeed C
    Return to ResEdit
    ...
I couldn't imagine doing this for a large number of controls (i.e.
a complicated Dialog which should be done with the Window Manager).
What I'm wondering is: what am I doing wrong?  Is there an easier
way to do this that I don't know about?  ResEdit allows me to easily
preview what a dialog will look like, so I can fine tune it without
exiting ResEdit.  I can't see how to do this with a Window.

I realize that this is probably easy to do using Rez in MPW, since
it's within the environment.  I also realize that it would be
easier if I were using MultiFinder (with $800 more of memory).
What I'm wondering is if there's a non-painful way to do it using
ResEdit and UniFinder.

Ed Rothberg
rothberg@polya.stanford.edu