VMS Help UIL, Using UIL *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX) |
Using the User Interface Language (UIL) on VAX VMS is somewhat different from using most VAX VMS compiled languages. First, you describe a user interface by creating a UIL module with one of the editors available on VAX VMS (such as the VAX Language-Sensitive Editor), and you store this interface description in a file (called a UIL specification file). The default file type for a UIL specification file is .UIL. Next, you create the application program that uses this interface to invoke the application's functions. Your application must include Motif Resource Manager (MRM) routines to retrieve information from the compiled UIL module. If, for example, the file INTERFACE.UIL contains your UIL module and APPLICATION.C contains your application, the steps you follow to create and use an interface are as follows: 1. Create the specification in file INTERFACE.UIL. 2. Compile the specification with the UIL compiler, as follows: $ UIL/LIST INTERFACE This DCL command creates a User Interface Description (UID) file named INTERFACE.UID and a listing file named INTERFACE.LIS. 3. Create and compile the application program in file APPLICATION.C. 4. Link the application program APPLICATION.OBJ using the VMS Linker. 5. Run the application, using the following command: $ RUN APPLICATION The User Interface Description (UID) file, INTERFACE.UID, is read directly by the application and is NOT linked as part of the application. As a result, you can change the interface and recompile it with UIL compiler. To rerun the application with the new interface, you do NOT have to recompile or relink the application. The "VMS DECwindows Guide to Applications Programming" completely describes how to create a UIL module and how your application extracts information from the UIL module to build its interface. The MRM routines are fully described in the "VMS DECwindows Toolkit Routines Reference Manual".
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