Re: Multiple documents

["Chris Garrett" <garrett91 hotmail com>]

Hi,

Thank you for this.  I have now got a basic MDI working with separate 
windows for each view of each document.  It still needs a lot of work, but I 
am very happy with the basic functionality I have.

Thank you all for your time and suggestions!

Chris.


>From: Patrice St-Gelais <patrice.st-gelais@oricom.ca>
>To: Chris Garrett <garrett91@hotmail.com>,gtk-app-devel-list@gnome.org
>Subject: Re: Multiple documents
>Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 22:44:19 +0000
>
>Hi,
>
>I've developped something similar for an heightfield editor.
>
>I chose a multiple window interface a la GIMP because I didn't want to
>repeat the menus and the toolbox for each document.
>
>My layout contains a menu bar at the top and a toolbox at left.
>Document windows are "top level" and stacked at the immediate right of
>the toolbox and bottom of the menubar.  A document window contains the
>pixmap display and a GL preview, with some scale / rotate / translate
>controls.
>
>Documents are stored in a linked list.
>
>Coordinating multiple instances of document windows with one instance of
>the menubar and the toolbox was actually a challenge. The toolbox is
>used for editing, and there are some changes that need to be committed
>or rolled back.  I had the choice of using modal dialogs, or carefully
>managing the state of the document windows.  This means, for instance,
>automatically committing or rolling back changes when the focused
>document changes, or when the user hides the current document, or when
>the user chooses another tool. I'm not sure if the result is always
>consistent - users will tell, but it's usable.
>
>The coordination is made by using pointers of pointers as callback data.
>  I mean:  callbacks from the toolbox are defined on a class of
>documents, not on a particular document.  I put the current document
>pointer in a "bucket", whose pointer is linked to the callback.  I must
>swap the content of the bucket when the focused window change.
>
>About structures, I wanted independency between the interface and the
>logic of the application.  I also wanted to separate the generic part of
>the application (managing the common structures between a whole range of
>applications I could want to develop in the future...) from the
>particular application I wanted to develop.
>
>So my structures are grossly:
>--- An application, which manages
>------ a list of document types (file types), which describe
>--------- the individual documents
>
>There are generic open / create / save / undo-redo ... methods linked to
>the document type class (function pointers).  The generic fucntions call
>specific ones, depending on the file type (other function pointers).
>
>I have a generic document structure with things like the filename and
>the undo / redo stack.
>
>I'm not sure I've made the best choices, naturally. It was a trial and
>error adventure.  I had a lot to learn about GTK, GDK, glib, even C, a
>few years ago.
>
>I think MDI with GTK is a domain which could benefit from some "best
>practices" advice, or some tutorial fostering standardization, if it
>doesn't exist yet.
>
>I used GTK 1.2.x, I haven't translated the software to GTK 2.x yet.
>Choices could have been different with the latter, I don't know.
>
>My code can be downloaded from here, if you are curious, and there is a 
>screenshot:
>
>http://www.oricom.ca/patrice.st-gelais/geomorph_en.html
>
>Unfortunately, there is no technical documentation, except a lot of C 
>comments.
>
>[src/app contains the generic application structure, src/hf contains the 
>code for managing heightfields, src/app/thisappinit.c fills the generic 
>structure with data and functions related to hf management - this is the 
>link].
>
>Best regards,
>Patrice St-Gelais
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
>Chris Garrett a écrit:
> > Hi,
> >
> > That is pretty much the way I thought I would have to do it.  However, I
> > am experiencing some confusion about how to ensure that callbacks from
> > the canvas end up resulting in changes on the correct image.  I havent
> > written any code for multiple documents yet, since I am still thinking
> > about the design of the structures etc.
> >
> > I also need to consider a way for multiple views of the same document to
> > be updated whenever changes are made...  I think the structs will have a
> > lot of links in them so it is easy to pull out the ones needed in any
> > given circumstance!
> >
> > Is there any chance you could point me in the direction of your code so
> > I can see how the callbacks are working?  This is the area I am having
> > difficulty with (probably because I am still new to GTK).  I am making a
> > pixel-based drawing program myself, but I dont intend it to compete with
> > the GIMP - it would have more of a focus on image creation rather than
> > image manipulation.
> >
> > As far as the type of MDI I aim to use, it will be pretty-much like the
> > GIMP in style - ie. no tabs and no WiW.  Ideology aside, I find WiW
> > claustrophopic and I am not 100% sure that tabs are suitable for images.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Chris.
> >
> >
> >> From: Jim Parker <hopeye@cfl.rr.com>
> >> To: Chris Garrett <garrett91@hotmail.com>
> >> CC: gtk-app-devel-list@gnome.org
> >> Subject: Re: Multiple documents
> >> Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 15:00:19 -0400
> >>
> >> G'Day !
> >>
> >> I do not know if this is the best way, but I am using a linked list of
> >> struts, with each strut containing the information needed by each
> >> document (BTW I'm doing a vector drawing program).
> >>
> >> Works well for small numbers of documents, never tested for large sets
> >> ...
> >>
> >> cheers,
> >> Jim Parker
> >>
> >>
> >> On 2003.08.25 14:22 Chris Garrett wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi all,
> >>>
> >>> Is there a standard / recommended way to write an application that
> >>> can open more than one document at a time, and that allows more than
> >>> one view of each document (ala GIMP)?
> >>>
> >>> If so, is there a nice, small, simple example I can look at to get
> >>> started?  The source code to the GIMP is too large for my tired brain
> >>> at the moment :o(
> >>>
> >>> BTW, I am using GTK2.2
> >>>
> >>> Best regards,
> >>>
> >>> Chris.
> >>>
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>
>
>
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