[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Thread Index]

[XaraXtreme-dev] Re: MDI style

On 01/09/06, Gerry Iles <GerryI@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

It looks to me like we are not actually handling the wxView/frame
connection as wx intends.

CCamView::OnCreate is creating a frame with wxGetApp().CreateChildFrame(
pDoc, this ) but storing the pointer in its own member variable rather
than in the wxView baseclass member (presumably via wxView::SetFrame).
Why it works better in wxGTK than in wxMac is presumably down to the
underlying implementation but "fixing" this may get it working well
enough for now...


I agree on all counts.

I am not quite sure what is the simplest fix at this stage - I would
be tempted to eliminate the "own member variable" (or carefully
document what is going on), and use the SetFrame/GetFrame mechanism.
Indeed depending on what the "frame" constructor does, we might not
even need to call SetFrame(); however, it would be unwise to take all
this action for the sake of one platform.

Ben


From: owner-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
On 01/09/06, Phil Martin <phil@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Phil Martin wrote:
> Did I say "MFC-style"? I meant "MDI-style".
>
> In the long run we probably don't really want XaraLX to have MDI-style
> windows on the Mac because that's not the Mac way of doing things. So
> the question is, should we persist with trying to get the MDI-style
> working for now, so that we can make other parts of the program more
> stable or should we change to a different window layout now, which
> will undoubtedly introduce a new layer of Mac-only bugs.

I fear that MFC does have a certain amount to do with it. Speaking
concisely, I think that we should only try to get MDI working if you
want one parent window/many independent document windows; in other
words a "Tools" palette or panel. Chlor
http://sourceforge.net/projects/chlor/ does this, and it is an
effective way of using Cocoa.

We don't have many users at the moment, but I suspect that when we do,
they will request a tabbed interface, once that will probably be not
dissimilar to the wxGTK document handing. It might be an idea to leap
frog over the other possibilities and either move to, or bolt-on, that
interface.

If this is impractical (or not what you want) then we will probably
have to eliminate the Parent-Child coupling and have the document
windows all Parents (or all Children, I am not sure which is the
better way) in which each has a full set of toolbars and tools, and
does drawing in a client area. There aren't many precedents for such a
Mac application, and Xara Xtreme (to give it its new name) might even
have a claim to be the first commercial quality one, when it is
finished; but you might want to have a look at wxMud - though I have
not been able to get it to link on the Mac.

I can't really propose a roadmap here, and I will re-iterate that now
we have a build system we should be thinking about getting the Xara
Xtreme (Mac) in front of artists, and would  tentatively propose
therefore, doing the least (smallest) thing that could plausibly work
http://c2.com/xp/DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork.html , which
may well be to press on with the Mac style (Parent/Child) MDI in the
short term with a view to replacing it, after some thought, with an
interface style determined by Gaddesden Place. I suspect that this
will need an architectural decision at some point and it might be good
at this point to concentrate on collecting information to help that.