Glossary

An Explanation of commonly used terms in X-Designer.

X-Designer window

The main window of X-Designer, and is what you see on starting the tool.

design area

The area which shows the hierarchical structure of your design. This is the main canvas of X-Designer, located to the bottom and right of the X-Designer WINDOW, and is bounded by a pair of scrollbars.

design hierarchy

The hierarchy of widgets shown in the DESIGN AREA. The hierarchy represents the structure of your interface component.

currently selected widget

The most recently selected widget in the DESIGN AREA; it is shown highlighted, normally by inverse video.

design window

The instantiation of the window you are designing in the DESIGN AREA: it is the "live" representation of your DESIGN HIERARCHY; The DESIGN WINDOW will give you the look and feel of the interface when running in your application.

widget palette

The list of widget icons to the left of the DESIGN AREA used for selecting items from the OSF/Motif widget set to insert into your design.

shell icon

The shell icon is located at the top left of the WIDGET PALETTE. Your DESIGN HIERARCHY must always have a shell icon at the root.

widget name

The name given to a widget by which it will be known to the X window system. Resources for the widget will be described in X resource files using this name. A WIDGET NAME can be entered using the field provided for this purpose, located below the main menu at the top of the X-Designer WINDOW.

variable name

The name given to a widget to allow it to be accessed from application code. A VARIABLE NAME can be entered using the field provided for this purpose, located below the main menu at the top of the X-Designer WINDOW.

window holding area

A list of the individual dialog components within your current design. The WINDOW HOLDING AREA is located below the Help button at the top of the X-Designer WINDOW, and to the right of the WIDGET NAME and VARIABLE NAME fields. The WINDOW HOLDING AREA contains a list of SHELL ICONS, one per dialog component in your design.

active window

The window or dialog component which is currently selected from the WINDOW HOLDING AREA.

resource panel

Any of the forms used to set resources for a widget.

Microsoft Windows compliant

When X-Designer is running in Microsoft Windows mode, the aim is to produce a design which is Microsoft / Microsoft Windows compliant so that the design will look the same on Microsoft Windows. X-Designer checks the design for Microsoft Windows compliance and restricts those actions which are not compliant or displays a warning message.

Microsoft Windows mode

X-Designer can be run in this mode by using the -windows command line switch or setting an application resource. Your design is then checked for WINDOWS COMPLIANCE to enable you to create a design which can be used on Microsoft Windows.

See also: