Re: no joy...

[Gary Kline <kline thought org>]

On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 11:22:54AM -0700, Michael Torrie wrote:
> Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:22:54 -0700
> From: Michael Torrie <torriem gmail com>
> Subject: Re: no joy...
> To: Gtk-app <gtk-app-devel-list gnome org>
>
> Let's keep the e-mails on the list, please.  You can CC both me and the
> list if you'd like, but replying just to the list is sufficient and I
> will see it as will any number of other people that want to help.

        sorry!  i hit 'r' rather than 'g'; i  am adjusting to  a new
        mini-kybd am keep hitting wrong keys.
> On 12/22/2011 01:03 AM, Gary Kline wrote:
> > > > and fopen some file and display the text in the buffer.  The   
> > > > question remains: how? what am i missing to display some
> > > > miscellaneous words in the text window?
> >
> >
> > you're right.  i do not want to type anything into the text file.
> > instead, i want to fork gvim and use thaat to type into.  it     
> > seems likely to work if i can have buttons in the textfile.
>
> Buttons in the textfile?  I know you don't want to type anything in a
> text file.  What in the example I showed you was typing in a text file?
>
> Not quite sure what you are trying to do with vim, but if I understand
> it at all, what you are describing is not using fopen (as you stated
> before).  popen maybe.  If you'd clearly communicate what you are trying
> to do that would help greatly.  Since you don't seem to understand GTK+
> that well, perhaps you should communicate your needs without using GTK+
> terms and objects.  In other words, instead of trying to describe how
> you would do it with your understanding of GTK+, just describe what you
> want in overall, non-GTK+ terms.
>
> So with that in mind what I understand you need is to be able to
> interactively run vim, be able to send vim keystrokes, and display it's
> output in a window.  Is this correct?  If not, then nothing I say will
> be of any help to you in this e-mail.
>
> My gut feeling is that you are barking up the wrong tree.  What you are
> trying to do is possible in plain GTK+ but it's not a matter of simply
> writing text to a TextView.  You need to implement a Linux PTY (pseudo
> terminal) that vim can run in, and then implement some form of terminal
> emulation.


        i am reallty not doing anything that arcane.  the nutshell
        of it is that in 

        "while (!done loop)"

        gvim [ or another editor that can use abbreviations ]
        creates a series of text files.  1 to some N.  what it
        written to  each file is then read aloud via espeak -f;
        this application is an attempt to help those who are speech
        impaired or mute and have a small laptop.  i have been
        smallish gadgets that lack a keyboard.   

        my app is not targeted at people who would use the device
        that has a touchscreen [plus hard drive + batteries].  I'
        tried one of these things in 2003 and a later model in '09.  
        my disability is fairly pronounced, but i could barely lift
        this box.  i believe you could even play games on it.
        for me, the screen was not that easy to press.  i prefer an
        actual keyboard.  

        if i'm talking to people or a person i am hard to understand
        without a few weeks of getting used to my speech patterns;
        with a shell script that i put together in 20 minutes, i
        could type onto my EEE-900A and the computer would be my
        voice.  i have been in touch with the people who are
        developing the "$100 laptop" that is being used globally.
        they said: sure, create a gui app that can be used by the
        physically disabled or deaf.  

        this morning, i got gvim to spawn a Konsole; espeak  echos
        what i typed.  but while the display button (with other
        buttons) can find something i typed earlier, there is no 
        way to close the display window.  i need some means  of 
        putting buttons on the display window.
+
> If you want to run an external command like vim (which requires a PTY)
> and drive it from GTK+, you really ought to look at the "vte" widget
> (http://developer.gnome.org/vte/).  This implements a complete terminal
> emulator and PTY handling in a GTK+ widget.  You can use it to run vim
> (directly), and send it keystrokes and have it displayed in a window.
> You can use the vte_feed_child() method call to feed vim keystrokes.
> The output of course is automatically displayed in the window.

        i may try this if i use kate.  kate has some vi-like-isms.
        nobody added the abbreviations to kate.   --then again, back
        in 1996 i bought a book "XLIB BY EXAMPLE".  I used that for
        months before learning XAW.  I gave up on my 'game' after 
        10k lines.  in some ways, gtk is useable that the Athena
        toolkit.  it's nothing i can pick up after 9 or so years.

> > two things: the zetcode examples`seem to work better in the windows
> > world than in linux.  i have already tried some of their examples.
>
> I highly doubt that the examples work better in windows than Linux.
> You've tried the examples and what happened?

        in my 11.10 ubunto, the makefile for one zetcode did not
        build the top menu bar.  the two buttons below were there.
        either i'm missing some gtk package, or something else is
        broken.  [?]


> > also, i am getting closer to doing what i am trying t o do. how
> > close? dunno.
>
> Since I don't really know what you are trying to do I'll take your word
> for it.
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-- 
 Gary Kline  kline thought org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
           Journey Toward the Dawn, E-Book: http://www.thought.org
          The 8.57a release of Jottings: http://jottings.thought.org
             Twenty-five years of service to the Unix community.