Re: [gtk-list] Pixmaps in gtk

[jchrr HRZ Uni-Bielefeld DE]

Hi !

> I've been working on a high-level, C++ -based, windowing API similar
> in goals to GTK. However, unlike GTK it's been written to use entirely
> pixmaps, which potentially means it would be both much prettier than
> GTK's relatively old-fashioned Motif-like interface and potentially more
> configurable. Perhaps it would be a nice idea to write the GTK to
> use pixmaps, or at least allow the option of using them? The prettier
> the interface the more likely people are to use and develop for the GTK,
> and I would prefer to help develop on an existing project rather than
> write a toolkit from scratch.

One part of this is already solved: GTK allows to use a bitmap as a 
"background" of a widget, a good example for this is gnome's raft, if you
uncomment the stuff in "raftrc".

But I think you want to do more: For example a check-button: paint a 
mechanical switch in a paint-program, maybe with an led showing the state
(on/off), in the on and off position, but keep the background transparent.
Now, if the widget has to be drawn, it paints one of the two pixmaps.

This can't currently be done with gtk, because the widget-drawing code is
part of the widget code itself. But there are plans (at least in the TODO), to
support GTKStyles: The widget code contains only the widget-logics (reacting
in signals), and it calls a "GTKStyle.widgetname_draw" function to finally
draw it. One Style could use this pixmap-method, and it could look quite cool.

Note to scwm and gtk authors: A common "style-module" format would be cool ! 
What do you think about compiling the style into a shareable library, and
use the ld-lib functions to link the correct style-module on runtime ?

			Jens Ch. Restemeier