[GUI] Mission Statement + Widgets

[David Sankel]

--- Axel Simon <A.Simon@ukc.ac.uk> wrote:
> As Simon said, we want to have a spec that is
> implementable. The only 
> way to ensure this is to propose some functionality,
> implement it on all 
> backends mentioned in the document and then mark it
> as stable when 
> it worked out for all backends. That is the only
> reason I included the 
> list of backends. If there is no one to write a
> binding to Qt right now, 
> then Qt has to be removed from the list.

IMHO, there need not be a list of backends supported
to make a feature stable.  Simply one.  Since we are
working with Turing Machines here, we know that, in
general, if it works for one backend it is possible to
implement it for all backends.

I suggest pushing our efforts toward creating the
standard and a single working implementation.  Once
this is complete, independant organizations
(msft/fsf/consulting companies) would be willing to
put resources into supporting and implementing the
standard in their own framework.  This is what I mean
by more bang for the buck.

> That doesn't preclude writing a binding to backends
> not in the list. But 
> such an effort will not influence the spec anymore.
> So if there are people 
> out there who are willing to write backends for
> other platforms: now is 
> the time to add them to the report.

In accordance with my opinion above, there would only
need to be one platform on the spec.

> >   I think that sound api should be of low priority
> > (aside from the simple windows asterix like sounds
> > when a dialogue pops up).
>  I put sound and printing at the very bottom of the
> list which should mean 
> they have a low priority. I can remove them if other
> people think this is 
> out of scope but I sense that this effort is nothing
> that has a definite 
> end but can go on for quite a long time.

I suggest removing sound and printing from the list. 
Once CGA 1.0 is released, they can be added in for a
1.1 release.  I would like to have it specified
exactly what is needed for a 1.0 release and date
estimations.  I'm going to be working full time on
this.

> >   I would suggest putting aside the MDI SDI
> questions
> > for now, and work on defining a widget set.
>  But we need to know how to set up a main window
> before we put any widgets 
> in it, don't we? I can imagine that once we are past
> this stage, adding 
> widgets will be quick and simple.

No, a MainWindow is different than a Window.  One can
add menus and various widgets to a Window.  It can act
as a simple SDI.

A MainWindow is a window with special requirements
such as a menu bar, MDI requirements for a mac and SDI
reqirements for Windows/Linux.

Since a MainWindow is built upon a Window, we ought to
define window first and the widgets it may support,
like the ones I mentioned.

David J. Sankel