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FDESIGN

Section: Forms Library (1L)
Updated: February 1998
Index

NAME

fdesign - Forms Library User Interface Designer

SYNOPSIS

fdesign[-xformoptions] [-options] [files]

DESCRIPTION

fdesignis a GUI builder that helps the construction of graphical user interfacein a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) way by allowingthe user to directly manipulate various objects, such as buttons,sliders and menus etc. Once a satisfactory UI is constructed,the user can save the composed interface into an external filecontaining some program code. When compiled, linked with theForms Library,and executed, the generated codewould, at run time (or print time for PostScript output), construct the exact same interfaces as those seen withinfdesign.

A variety of output language is possible via externalfilters. As of this writing, C, perl, ada95, Fortran, pascal, and PostScript output filters are known to exist.

OPTIONS

fdesignaccepts all standard Forms Librarycommand line options as well as the following:

-help: Prints a brief summary of all command line options. This optiondoes not require a connection to the X server.
-version: Prints the current version offdesignand exits.
-geometry geom: Specifies the prefered size and location of main working area in whichthe UI is to be constructed.
-convert fdfile-list: This option prevents fdesignfrom attempting to make a connection to the X server. The file listfollowing this flag is converted to C code directly.
-unit pixel|point|mm|cp|cmm: selects the unit of measure for object geometries. For non-pixel unit,the interface created is screen resolution independent and may bedesirable for many applications. Note that for typical screens,point(about 1/72 inch) andmmmay be too coarse and subject to round-off errors. Usecp(centi-point, 100th of a point) andcmm(centi-mm) instead.
-altformat: selects an alternative format for the generated C code whereglobal variables are used for the UI components.
-main: requests the output of main program template.
-callback: requests the output of callback function template.
-compensate: requests the emission of font/server resolution variationcompensation code.
-I headerfile: uses an alternative header file instead of the defaultforms.h in the output C code.
-lax: requests relaxed C syntax checking.
-ps: This option specifies that instead of emitting the c codefor the user interface, PostScript code should be emitted.
-ada: This option requests ada95 code output
-perl: This option requests perl code output.
-fortran: This option requests Fortran code output.
-pascal: This option requests pascal code output.
-nocode: suppresses the output of UI code. Only the .fd file is written.

The most useful Forms Librarycommand line options are

-display host:dpy: This option specifies the X server to connect.
-flversion: This option prints the version string of theForms Library,with which fdesign was build.
-name appname: This option specifies the application name under which resourcesare to be obtained, instead of the executable name.appnameshould not contain . or *.fdesign.

RESOURCES

The program understands all of theForms Library'sresource names and classes as well as the following

control.geometry (class Control.Geometry): specifies the geometry of the control panel. Currently the size is ignored.
unit (Unit): specifies the default unit of measure. Default is pixel.
attributes.geometry (class Attributes.Geometry): specifies the geometry of the object attributes panel. Currently the size is ignored.
align.geometry (class Align.Geometry): specifies the geometry of the object align panel. Currently the size is ignored.
xformsHeader (class XFormsHeader): specifies the header filename generated in the output C code.Default is forms.h
filter (class Filter): specifies post-processing filter (an external executable name).
language (class Language): specifies target language name.

Among the standard Forms Libraryresources, the following are most useful

xform.fontsize (class XFORM.FontSize): specifies the font size used for most object labels.
xform.pupfontsize (class XFORM.PupFontSize): specifies the font size used in pop-up menus.
xform.browserFontSize (class XFORM.BrowserFontSize): specifies the font size used for the text inside a browser.

AUTHOR

HOME PAGE

http://bloch.phys.uwm.edu/xforms http://bragg.phys.uwm.edu/xforms

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