Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU!kit
From: kit@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Chris D. Peterson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: (none)
Message-ID: <9001091856.AA10010@expo.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 9 Jan 90 18:56:11 GMT
References: <900109063047.22e00127@CCC.NMFECC.GOV>
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
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> Is there some standard way of getting a widget name and/or classname?

To get the widget name use:

XtName(widget);

There is no convience routine to return the class name of a widget, since the
class names do not change dynamically it is not clear to me why you would
ever need to query a widget about its class name unless you are writing
a User Interface Mangager, or a Class Browser.  Therefore the only way to
get the class name of a widget is to look into its "private" structure.

> Is dotting into the core widget structure sufficient (ie could the
> core widget change in future releases?)

The core widget structure is defined in the Xt Specification, and it would take
a change to the Specification to modify it, I think you can count on it not
changing.  Although looking into these internal Xt structures from an
application is considered bad form, since it sort of breaks the abstraction
barrier. 

						Chris D. Peterson     
						MIT X Consortium 

Net:	 kit@expo.lcs.mit.edu
Phone:   (617) 253 - 9608	
Address: MIT - Room NE43-213