Re: Multiple documents interfaces

[muppet <scott asofyet org>]

On Saturday, January 3, 2004, at 01:07 PM, Tor-björn Claesson wrote:

> Hello,
> I'm writing, using perl2-gtk, a clone of the program manager from 
> windows 3.1, and to do this I
> need to use a multiple documents interface.
> While googling I have found a number of sources claiming that Gtk2 
> doesn't support MDI-windows, so
> I will have to write something that does.
> Since I'm new to GUI-programming, I would appreciate any suggestions 
> about how to do this and
> pointers to relevant information.


the win3.1 program manager was really a grid-layout icon list container 
in several windows.  so far as i know, the GtkTreeView does not support 
such a mode, and the one you see in nautilus is actually custom code 
atop the GnomeCanvas.  you should be able to re-create something like 
that with Gnome2::Canvas (which doesn't have any Gnome dependencies, 
mind you), but other people may have other suggestions.


concerning the window-in-window multiple document interface --- GTK+ 
does not do this.  basically, it's not a toolkit's job to manage 
windows, it is a window manager's job.  you may have seen java and 
qt/kde programs using window-in-window MDI, but you'll also notice that 
the child window frames are not managed by your window manager and 
therefore look and act differently; this inconsistency is not good.

besides, even microsoft is moving away from window-in-window MDI, and 
it was their idea.  don't use it.  it's an abomination.  multiple 
toplevel windows, properly grouped, will solve the same problem.


--
"that's it! you're a genius!"  "yes.  that's what i think.  do you 
think i deserve a raise?"
        - dialogue from 'Godzilla versus Mothra', 1964