Aligning widgets adjacent to a drawing area...

["David J. Singer" <doc deadvirgins org uk>]

I have an hbox divided into two side-by-side sections.  In the left
section I have a vertical list of gtk text entry boxes (serving as 
editable text labels) and in the right section I have a drawing area.

What I'd like to do is to be able to draw "waveforms" or "traces" in the
drawing area that line up with the text entry boxes (which form the 
labels for each trace).  

To get a rough idea of the sort of effect I'm after (although I should 
stress this is *not* what I'm trying to do as this is not using text
boxes for the labels) take a look at:
http://www.ind.uni-stuttgart.de/Content/HardwareDesignLab/vsim_small.gif

In order to draw the "traces" on the right, I need to know the exact 
size of the text widgets.  I can use gtk_widget_set_size_request() to 
force the size of the text box, but I'm worried that decorations and 
spacings and possible user resource file will make this value unreliable to 
use.

What's the correct way to do this sort of thing?

-- 
David J. Singer
doc deadvirgins org uk
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana"