[comp.windows.x] Looking for better Form widget

bjaspan@athena.mit.edu (Barr3y Jaspan) (01/10/90)

I have finally given up completely on the Athena form widget, and have
decided to use a replacement.  What I would like is one that is based on
the TeX concept of boxes and glue, like the C++ Interviews form object. 
Does anyone have such a widget, or in fact any general layout widget
that can do useful things (that also works with the R4 Athena widgets)? 
If so, I'd like to use it; if not, I will be forced to learn how to
write constraint widgets myself.

Barry Jaspan, MIT-Project Athena
bjaspan@athena.mit.edu

davidh@dent.Berkeley.EDU (David S. Harrison) (01/11/90)

Recently, some notes were posted to this newsgroup about the lack of
alternate geometry managers for the Athena Widget set.  I have written
a row/column based geometry management widget that I have used
extensively in my toolkit applications.  I have revised the widget
slightly to make it run under X11R4.  A short description is given
below:

Table - Geometry Management Widget for the X Toolkit

Table is a composite widget designed to manage the size and location
of its children.  The widget uses an array model to simplify the
arrangement of child widgets.  Widgets are placed at row and column
locations in a variable sized array.  Widgets may span more than one
row or column.  The array automatically expands or contracts as
needed.  There are options to control justification and place size
restrictions on rows or columns in the array.  The widget is directly
derived from the core and composite widgets provided by the X Toolkit
and can be used with any widget set.  It has been tested using the
Athena widget set.

Source for the Table widget is available through anonymous ftp to
shambhala.Berkeley.EDU (128.32.132.54).  Instructions are given below:

	% ftp shambhala.Berkeley.EDU
	Name: anonymous
	Password: <anything non-null>
	ftp> cd pub
	ftp> binary
	ftp> get Table.tar.Z
	ftp> quit
	% uncompress Table.tar.Z
	% tar xf Table.tar

Those without ftp access can obtain the source for the Table widget
using a mail archive system I have installed on dent.Berkeley.EDU
(courtesy of Brian Reid at Digital).  An example is given below:

	To: ucbvax!dent!archive-server
	Subject: send programs Table.shar.01 Table.shar.02

The archive server will send you these files as time and load
permits.  They are standard shell archives that can be unpacked
by running them through /bin/sh (in order).  If you would like
to know more about the mail server, send a message with a subject
of "help".

After unpacking the files, you will find a README file in the directory
that contains installation instructions.

			David Harrison
			UC Berkeley Electronics Research Lab
			(davidh@ic.Berkeley.EDU, ...!ucbvax!ucbcad!davidh)