my undeveloped GtkFlowLayout (was Re: Parbox)

[David Benson <daveb idealab com>]

I am designing a widget like this but I haven't made a 
web-page for it or anything.  It's called GtkFlowLayout
so far, but I might even rename it yet.


However I threw what I've done so far up on the
web so others can comment on the source-- it doesn't even
_begin_ to compile so far, but the .h file is semiformed.
	http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dbenson/gtkflowlayout/

The idea is I've introduced a new type-- a 
GtkFlowElement which is either:
	- GtkFlowElementStyle -- changing the parse state
	- GtkFlowElementRenderable -- specifies and draws
	       itself as a bunch of rectangular objects.
	       (What TeX calls "glue" I invert and call
	       padding.. I intend to minimize the paragraphs
	       by some function on their spacing v. their
	       ideal spacing.)

These are both GtkObjects in the current design.

Then a GtkFlowLayout makes a scrollable window
of the GtkFlowElements.  (Future horizons:  editable flow layouts)
Then wrappers are written to parse GtkFlowElement lists
from various standard file formats.

I want to, and mean to, but probably can't, tackle this alone.
Anyone who wants to help or discuss is welcome.

- Dave Benson
  



On Wed, 20 Oct 1999, Hans Petter Jansson wrote:

> Good evening.
> 
> I'm wondering if there's any such thing as a "parbox" container widget, a la
> TeX parboxes, out there. That is, a box that packs its children in a flowing
> manner - left->right then top->bottom (configurable?).
> 
> If not, I'm wondering if it would be technically possible (not too slow using
> the GTK widget paradigm) to make such a container holding possibly a
> tremendous number of children - words in a text processor, pixmaps in a
> file/picture browser, misc. widgets in a programmer interface, etc.
> 
> The background for this question/suggestion is that I've made a specialized
> XML editor for a customer of ours. The code is GPL, but not much use in its
> current form, I'm afraid. Working under tight deadlines is such a drag.
> 
> So, I'm reimplementing it as a more generic XML editor - not just a
> bread-and-butter editor, I know those exist - but one that's more aimed at
> non-technical users. Frontend with pluggable tag rendering functions,
> scriptable output backend (for TeX, HTML, etc) and probably, for the future,
> a centralized database. I already have some of the parts, and I've mapped a
> great deal of the work required.
> 
> As I said, I want to implement this in a generic way, and that means putting
> as much code as possible in reusable GTK widgets.
> 
> So what it boils down to is, I need some hints.
> 
> 1) Does a parbox-like container widget exist, or is someone working on it?
> 
> 2) If it does not, would it be feasible to make one in the manner outlined
>    above?
> 
> 3) Would it accomplish something useful, or would it be better to just make a
>    specialized "XML editor widget"?
> 
> -- 
> Hans Petter K. Jansson, programmer              Simplemente Soluciones
> hpj@simplemente.net                            http://simplemente.net/
> Nicolás San Juan #239                              Tel: +52 5 639 1261
> Col. Del Valle CP. 03100, México D.F, Mexico       Fax: +52 5 639 4860
> 
> 
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