Re: Unsupportable ATK interfaces??

[Niall Power - Sun Microsystems Ireland - Desktop Engineer <Niall Power sun com>]

Hi Bill,

Currently I am looking at the following approach after feedback from Peter 
and Padraig:
AtkInterfaces that aren't going to be implemented/relevant will just be 
ignored so iface->function_name  function pointer will be a NULL *. 
If the data returned is to be trivial or meaningless then why bother 
even writing code for it?

One point of concern about the GtkClist widget is that it was a common
sight in Gtk+1.2/Gnome1.4 applications: This will be an issue when
existing 1.4 gnome applications are to be ported to use the Gtk+2.0 API.
Since it's not absolutely necessary many component owners might not bother
reimplementing GtkClist's as GtkTree's

Thanks,

Niall

> Subject: Re: Unsupportable ATK interfaces??
> To: peter korn sun com
> Cc: Niall Power sun com, gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-MD5: pxu1AjlaA0D9MciiTbVw3A==

> One point worth remembering is that GtkCList is deprecated officially.  There 
doesn't seem 
> to be a "simple" replacement, GtkTreeView is the "replacement" to my 
understanding.
> 
> If the interface is "unimplementable" because, for instance, there are no 
"selections" 
> then the simple answer for "is_column_selected" is, always return FALSE ;-)  I 
don't see 
> any need to return info to the effect that the method is unimplemented in that 
case - it 
> *is* implemented, technically speaking.
> 
> In those cases where an interface is relevant/theoretically applies, but the 
underlying 
> widget does not give enough info to implement the method, we may have to make 
harder 
> decisions (log bugs against the widget, or return "do-nothing" implementations 
of those 
> methods).  
> 
> Finally, I think that the only methods that can be unimplementable in the full 
sense of 
> the word are those that purpose to change the state of the widget/AtkObject : 
thus, the 
> "set" methods.  "Get" methods can always return something, even if that 
something is less 
> than optimal/less than fully descriptive of the underlying widget.  I think we 
should do 
> our best but not worry too much about a few holes in the support for 
deprecated widgets.
> 
> -Bill
> 
> ------
> Bill Haneman x19279
> Gnome Accessibility / Batik SVG Toolkit
> Sun Microsystems Ireland 
> 

-------------------------------------------
 <O       Niall Power
 ( \      Sun Microsystems Ltd - Ireland
  X       Desktop Engineer. +353-1-8199097
8===D     niall power ireland sun com
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