• Brad Beveridge <brad clear.net.nz> Jan 17 2003
• Burton Radons <loth users.sourceforge.net> Jan 17 2003
• Ilya Minkov <midiclub 8ung.at> Feb 13 2003
• Theodore Reed <rizen surreality.us> Jan 17 2003
• Theodore Reed <rizen surreality.us> Feb 14 2003
• "Charles Sanders" <sanders-consulting comcast.net> Sep 04 2003

Hi, where can I find information on the goals of DIG?  At the moment it 
is just a wrapper for WIN32 graphics calls right? Are there plans to 
make it a cross-platform library?  Is it possible?  I figure that 
porting DIG to gnome or kde (doubt this as it is C++?) or pure X so that 
it can be used with Win32 & Linux might be a good way to learn D.
Any comments, suggestions, links, etc :)

Cheers
Brad

Brad Beveridge wrote:
 Hi, where can I find information on the goals of DIG?  At the moment it 
 is just a wrapper for WIN32 graphics calls right? Are there plans to 
 make it a cross-platform library?  Is it possible?  I figure that 
 porting DIG to gnome or kde (doubt this as it is C++?) or pure X so that 
 it can be used with Win32 & Linux might be a good way to learn D.
 Any comments, suggestions, links, etc :)


It's intended to become portable; I fully expect that API changes will 
be needed to bring them together.  I don't think I use any newer DMD 
features in the library, although the lack of a GC will eventually cause 
problems.

If you want to try it, you should start by commenting everything out but 
for the bare bones: Control, Frame, and Label.  Then comment stuff out 
from there (much utility code for Control, Font).  You can create 
environment-specific code by using version:

     version (Gnome)
     {
         /* Your code. */
     }
     else version (Win32)
     {
         /* My original code. */
     }

Then add "-version=Gnome" to your compile flags.

I don't forsee any big problems, it's just a lot of work.

wxWindows has a valuable experience of creating a real cross-platform 
GUI libary. Its goal is to be as rich as possible, and when possible to 
interface the native widgets directly. It supports:
  - Win32 natively;
  - Unix thorough GTK+;
  - Unix through Motif/Lesstif;
  - MacOS natively;
  - more is promised.

Bisically, it provides a superset of OS widgets, and the rest gets 
emulated where not natively available.
http://www.wxwindows.org/

Similar idea, plus it shows how to make a non-bloated GUI library:
http://www.fltk.org/

Another interesting project is OpenAmulet:
http://www.openip.org/oa_overview.html
which fails to be native to any system, but implements some *very* 
interesting features, which would give *any* GUI libarary a lot of 
additional value. Definately worth a look.

And finally, there are lots of cross-platform C libraries. Maybe some 
can be chosen as a back-end to DIG, because GTK+ is not necessarily the 
best for all systems.
http://www.atai.org/guitool/
I'll take a thorough look at them later and make a list of usable ones.

Has a decision been made, whether DIG should develop towards mega-safe 
and warm bloatware (Delphi) or a fat-free library (FLTK)? I really can't 
say what i'd favor.

-i.

Burton Radons wrote:
 Brad Beveridge wrote:
 
 Hi, where can I find information on the goals of DIG?  At the moment 
 it is just a wrapper for WIN32 graphics calls right? Are there plans 
 to make it a cross-platform library?  Is it possible?  I figure that 
 porting DIG to gnome or kde (doubt this as it is C++?) or pure X so 
 that it can be used with Win32 & Linux might be a good way to learn D.
 Any comments, suggestions, links, etc :)


 
 It's intended to become portable; I fully expect that API changes will 
 be needed to bring them together.  I don't think I use any newer DMD 
 features in the library, although the lack of a GC will eventually cause 
 problems.
 
 If you want to try it, you should start by commenting everything out but 
 for the bare bones: Control, Frame, and Label.  Then comment stuff out 
 from there (much utility code for Control, Font).  You can create 
 environment-specific code by using version:
 
     version (Gnome)
     {
         /* Your code. */
     }
     else version (Win32)
     {
         /* My original code. */
     }
 
 Then add "-version=Gnome" to your compile flags.
 
 I don't forsee any big problems, it's just a lot of work.
 

On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 15:10:39 -0800
Burton Radons <loth users.sourceforge.net> wrote:

 Brad Beveridge wrote:
 Hi, where can I find information on the goals of DIG?  At the moment
 it is just a wrapper for WIN32 graphics calls right? Are there plans
 to make it a cross-platform library?  Is it possible?  I figure that
 
 porting DIG to gnome or kde (doubt this as it is C++?) or pure X so
 that it can be used with Win32 & Linux might be a good way to learn
 D. Any comments, suggestions, links, etc :)


 It's intended to become portable; I fully expect that API changes will


I looked at the source to maybe add some basic GTK functionality and I'm
pretty sure there will be API changes needed. I think the sooner this is
done, the better for all concerned. I might be able to help out with
such a project (But I will *not* be working with GTK 1.x) if I could
figure out how to manage to compile D on linux.

-- 
Theodore Reed (rizen/bancus)       -==-       http://www.surreality.us/
~OpenPGP Signed/Encrypted Mail Preferred; Finger me for my public key!~

"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do
not." -- Thomas Jefferson 

On Fri, 14 Feb 2003 02:33:41 +0100
Ilya Minkov <midiclub 8ung.at> wrote:

 wxWindows has a valuable experience of creating a real cross-platform 
 GUI libary. Its goal is to be as rich as possible, and when possible
 to interface the native widgets directly. It supports:
   - Win32 natively;
   - Unix thorough GTK+;
   - Unix through Motif/Lesstif;
   - MacOS natively;
   - more is promised.


If you go to http://wxnet.sf.net/ you'll find a project to make
.NET/Mono bindings for wxWindows. In order to more easily accomplish
this, they have a C wrapper library, which is then wrapped by wxnet.

Perhaps we cauld use this C wrapper library to facilitate a D wrapper?

-- 
Theodore Reed (rizen/bancus)       -==-       http://www.surreality.us/
~OpenPGP Signed/Encrypted Mail Preferred; Finger me for my public key!~

"I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his
own way." -- Robert Frost 

Id be really intereseted this and will lend a hand if needed, I've used
wxWindows alot and like it.

Charles
"Theodore Reed" <rizen surreality.us> wrote in message
news:20030214075030.6caa337d.rizen surreality.us...
 On Fri, 14 Feb 2003 02:33:41 +0100
 Ilya Minkov <midiclub 8ung.at> wrote:

 wxWindows has a valuable experience of creating a real cross-platform
 GUI libary. Its goal is to be as rich as possible, and when possible
 to interface the native widgets directly. It supports:
   - Win32 natively;
   - Unix thorough GTK+;
   - Unix through Motif/Lesstif;
   - MacOS natively;
   - more is promised.


 If you go to http://wxnet.sf.net/ you'll find a project to make
 .NET/Mono bindings for wxWindows. In order to more easily accomplish
 this, they have a C wrapper library, which is then wrapped by wxnet.

 Perhaps we cauld use this C wrapper library to facilitate a D wrapper?

 -- 
 Theodore Reed (rizen/bancus)       -==-       http://www.surreality.us/
 ~OpenPGP Signed/Encrypted Mail Preferred; Finger me for my public key!~

 "I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his
 own way." -- Robert Frost