76200.2050@compuserve.COM (Joseph Pistritto) (08/29/89)
I will be writing a window manager to emulate using X to emulate an
older process control system console (which used function keys for all its
operations). I will be using the mouse/trackball as well. The system will
run under HP/UX 6.5 with the HP release of Xwindows. Is there a good
prototype window manager lying around somewhere to learn how window managers
work? In particular, I will be needing to do non-standard things, like
implement in the window manager, controls on the number of different windows
allowed to be accessed, etc.
Also, under our older system, we had one task which processed all key
input, and several tasks managing the display. Now, under X, we need a
different task for each type of window, yet a majority of the keyboard
processing will be identical for all the different kinds of windows. Is
there any clean way that anyone has tried to handle a similar problem,
without duplicating the keyfunction code in each window task?
-jcp-
jcp@brl.mil
76200.2050@compuserve.com
news@sq.sq.com (08/30/89)
If you want "to learn how window managers work", I'd suggest the book "Xlib Programming Manual" (Adrian Nye, O'Reilly & Associates, ISBN 0-937175-26-9; you can order from the publisher by phone at 617-527-1392). It has a whole chapter on how window managers work, and contains a complete but minimal window manager as examples of how key operations work. The source to this window manager is available for free by anonymous ftp or by UUCP from uunet and probably other places by now. Ian Darwin ian@sq.com