Re: gnome-print and GnomeCanvas

[Ben Collins-Sussman <bsussman inso com>]

Kevin Pearcey <kevp@nipltd.com> writes:

> While I;ve not read the print docs, if its true then its a shame that
> the canvas does not do this. One of the best things about the Risc OS
> system was that to make any application print you required about 10
> lines of code. It used the exact code you would use in redrawing
> a windows content as it would to print, so you don't have to 
> duplicate drawing code for printing...
> 

This thought has also crossed my mind.  It's great that somebody has
identified and begun to address the need for a unified GNOME printing
architecture.  But why not take a hint from Win32 or Mac?  Both of
those OS's have a single, virtualized drawing API for both screen and
printer.  (Win32 has GDI, Mac has Quickdraw.)  Apps written for these
OS's never require any printing code; they just "redisplay" themselves
into a printing context, and they're done.

At a minimum, I'm surprised that the gnome-print architecture doesn't
use the same API as GnomeCanvas.  The GnomeCanvas was designed with a
lovely postscript-like drawing API.  Why must gnome-print implement a
yet *another* lovely postscript-like API?  Why aren't they the same?

I shouldn't complain.  I'm thankful for both, and I should keep my
mouth shut unless I'm willing to fix the problem myself.  :)