[Top][All Lists]
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Display server and window interaction
From: |
Pascal Bourguignon |
Subject: |
Re: Display server and window interaction |
Date: |
Fri, 12 Apr 2002 07:15:45 +0200 (CEST) |
> Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 16:40:12 -0600
> From: Adam Fedor <address@hidden>
>
> Fred Kiefer wrote:
> > With the new split of the back end functionality a new class
> > GSDisplayServer was introduced. As we may in principle have a lot of
> > those, we must find the correct one for a given window, before we send
> > it any window operation. This happens mostly in the NSWindow.m file and
>
>
> I'd actually argue to opposite. There are very few, if any, reasons to
> have more than one display server per application. Perhaps a groupware
> application might find this useful (although having a non-graphic server
> talking to separate GUI frontends via DO would probably work better).
> OSX and OpenStep don't even have a provision for this.
>
> I think I should just make GSDisplayServer a singleton and have a static
> variable "GSApplicationDisplayServer" hold the id to it.
Quite on the contrary, there are all the reasons to have several
displays and more than on for any application. I currently have three
computers on my desk, and with all X applications, I can put various
windows on any and all of their displays. Actually, with emacs, I can
even do it dynamically, and open a new window with :
M-x make-frame-on-display RET triton:0.0 RET
and then use the screen of my laptop while working on my
workstation. Why would you want to prevent me to do that with GNUstep
applications?
It's even so well designed that there are as many insertion point as
there are displays (input devices), and therefore I can easily type
with my QWERTY keyboard of my workstation text in English and at the
same time, type with my AZERTY keyboard of my laptop same text in
French. Yes, I have two hands, and two hemispheres... ;-) Ok, perhaps
I don't do it at the same time, but I don't see any reason why one
could not configure his software to run and interface with any
hardware one happen to have on his network. Let's avoid "The network
is the computer." be only dead words.
The GNUstep API allow for several screens. Why not allow the passing
of several -display host:D.S options to any GNUstep application and
thus have the possibility to map NSWindows onto X windows on any
screen whatever the X server. We already have a "pointer" to a
window, just make it a little bigger and point to a X server too.
For OPENSTEP, while it did not handle several -NXHost, at least it
accepted one like -display of simple X applications, and while this
was not a feature directly implemented by the AppKit, it would have
been trivial for any Application to connect to several DPS servers and
have windows on them. As trivial as it is with X.
And if it really was VERY few reasons, if there was only ONE
application that would profit of it, say, like an application to
display flights departures and arrival on fifty screens in an airport,
I think it would be a great improvement over the actual state of the
art and BSOD generaly displayed on these screens. Think of the
millions of travelers who would thank you to allow us to know when and
where their planes will leave or arrive!
--
__Pascal_Bourguignon__ (o_ Software patents are endangering
() ASCII ribbon against html email //\ the computer industry all around
/\ and Microsoft attachments. V_/ the world http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/
1962:DO20I=1.100 2001:my($f)=`fortune`; http://petition.eurolinux.org/
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GCS/IT d? s++:++(+++)>++ a C+++ UB+++L++++$S+X++++>$ P- L+++ E++ W++
N++ o-- K- w------ O- M++$ V PS+E++ Y++ PGP++ t+ 5? X+ R !tv b++(+)
DI+++ D++ G++ e+++ h+(++) r? y---? UF++++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------