rlh2@ukc.ac.uk (Richard Hesketh) (11/05/90)
I have written a user interface builder for Xt applications called "dirt" and
(for anybody interested 8-) I am making the first public Alpha release
available via ftp and have placed the source on expo.lcs.mit.edu (18.30.0.212)
in the contrib directory, under:
contrib/dirt.README
contrib/dirt.ps.Z
contrib/dirt.tar.Z
An extract from the README follows:
******************
dirt.tar.Z contains the Alpha.1 release of my X user interface builder.
The file dirt.ps.Z contains just a PostScript copy of the Dirt User Manual.
This builder allows the interactive creation and rapid prototyping of X user
interfaces using the X Toolkit and a number of Widget Sets. Dirt generates
"Wc - Widget Creation" resource files and this distribution also includes the
Widget Creation Library (version 1.04, with the exception of the demos and
Mri/Ari source code) with the kind permission of its author David E. Smyth.
Dirt does not contain a UI programming language and therefore has certain
"dynamic" limitations compared with other user interface systems. However it
has the advantage that objects are simple to create and manipulate using
direct manipulation techniques often found in modern drawing editors.
The use of "Wc" allows some UI dynamics to be specified interactively and
makes dirt slightly more than a UI Layout Editor.
Dirt requires X11 Release 4 with all 18 published MIT patches installed (i.e.
it will not work without the patched Xt Intrinsics).
Currently Dirt supports the Athena Widget Set, my (Xukc) Widget Set and the 2-D
HP Widget Set. In future releases I plan to support both the Motif(TM) and
OPEN LOOK(TM) Widget Sets (Xt Intrinsics allowing). Addition of new widget
classes is straightforward and typically only requires an additional entry in
an internal table (see ./Dirt/dirt_editor/DOC/add_classes.txt).
****************
I am making this publically available and freely copyable (see copyright.h in
the source for full details) so that I can get feedback on how good or bad
this builder really is. As this is the first public release I would like to
hear of any problems people have building dirt and the Xukc widget set under
different architectures / OS's. Dirt has been built and tested under the
following architectures:
SPARCstation - Sun OS 4.0.3
DECstation 3100 - Ultrix 3.0
Sun 3 - Sun OS 4.0.3
VAXstation - Ultrix 3.0
Any comments, moans, bug reports or ideas for extensions can be emailed
directly to me. I hope someone finds this builder useful! As an aside this
version of Dirt was built using itself 8-)
Richard Hesketh : rlh2@ukc.ac.uk
Computing Officer, Computing Lab., University of Kent at Canterbury,
Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 227 764000 ext 7620/7590 Fax: +44 227 762811