FDESIGN(1L) Forms Library FDESIGN(1L)NAMEfdesign - Forms Library User Interface Designer
SYNOPSISfdesign [-xformoptions] [-options] [files]
DESCRIPTIONfdesign is a GUI builder that helps the construction of
graphical user interface in a WYSIWYG (what you see is
what you get) way by allowing the user to directly manipu
late 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 file contain
ing some program code. When compiled, linked with the
Forms Library, and executed, the generated code would, at
run time (or print time for PostScript output), construct
the exact same interfaces as those seen within fdesign.
A variety of output language is possible via external fil
ters. As of this writing, C, perl, ada95, Fortran, pas
cal, and PostScript output filters are known to exist.
OPTIONSfdesign accepts all standard Forms Library command line
options as well as the following:
-help Prints a brief summary of all command line options.
This option does not require a connection to the X
server.
-version
Prints the current version of fdesign and exits.
-geometry geom
Specifies the prefered size and location of main
working area in which the UI is to be constructed.
-convert fdfile-list
This option prevents fdesign from attempting to make
a connection to the X server. The file list follow
ing 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 be desirable for many
applications. Note that for typical screens, point
(about 1/72 inch) and mm may be too coarse and sub
ject to round-off errors. Use cp (centi-point, 100th
of a point) and cmm (centi-mm) instead.
-altformat
selects an alternative format for the generated C
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code where global variables are used for the UI com
ponents.
-main requests the output of main program template.
-callback
requests the output of callback function template.
-compensate
requests the emission of font/server resolution
variation compensation code.
-I headerfile
uses an alternative header file instead of the
default forms.h in the output C code.
-lax requests relaxed C syntax checking.
-ps This option specifies that instead of emitting the c
code for 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 Library command line options are
-display host:dpy
This option specifies the X server to connect.
-flversion
This option prints the version string of the Forms
Library, with which fdesign was build.
-name appname
This option specifies the application name under
which resources are to be obtained, instead of the
executable name. appname should not contain . or
*. fdesign.
RESOURCES
The program understands all of the Forms Library's
resource names and classes as well as the following
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control.geometry (class Control.Geometry)
specifies the geometry of the control panel. Cur
rently 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 exe
cutable name).
language (class Language)
specifies target language name.
Among the standard Forms Library resources, 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.
SEE ALSOxforms(5), fd2ps(1L)AUTHOR
Copyright (c) 1996-98 T.C. Zhao (zhao@bloch.phys.uwm.edu)
and Mark Overmars (markov@cs.ruu.nl)
HOME PAGE
http://bloch.phys.uwm.edu/xforms
http://bragg.phys.uwm.edu/xforms
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