Realizing windows.

[Paul Braman <aeon tampabay rr com>]

I brought up this question a while back and have been looking through many
GTK+ programs to see how people deal with the issue...

What is the difference between realizing a window (widget) and showing it?
...and when do you do which?

My conclusion follows, so please correct me if I am wrong:

    Realizing a widget can be done *after* it is created but *before* it
    is shown.  In a complex window, you can build the window ahead of time
    and realize it (thus allowing the application to figure out how to
    position widgets in the window).  When you finally *need* it, you just
    "show" it and it pops up on the screen...faster than if you have to
    build the window right after, say, a button press.

While this is a generality, it seems logical enough to prove a distinction
between when you would realize and show a widget.  If you are building the
main/first window of an application, you don't need to realize it because
that's not going to do anything.  (Okay, it *does* something, but you
don't really *gain* anything from that procedure like you would if you
realized a complex widget ahead of time.)

...am I way off base, or does this seem logical enough?


Paul Braman
aeon@tampabay.rr.com