Path: news.gsfc.nasa.gov!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!ames!hookup!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
From: ksall@cen.com (Ken Sall)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.motif,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: Motif FAQ (Part 2 of 9)
Supersedes: <motif-faq/part2_808593962@rtfm.mit.edu>
Followup-To: poster
Date: 24 Aug 1995 14:14:47 GMT
Organization: none
Lines: 1242
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
Distribution: inet
Expires: 7 Oct 1995 14:10:38 GMT
Message-ID: <motif-faq/part2_809273438@rtfm.mit.edu>
References: <motif-faq/part1_809273438@rtfm.mit.edu>
Reply-To: ksall@cen.com (Ken Sall)
NNTP-Posting-Host: bloom-picayune.mit.edu
Keywords: FAQ question answer
X-Last-Updated: 1995/08/07
Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Xref: news.gsfc.nasa.gov comp.windows.x.motif:29797 comp.answers:13765 news.answers:46237
Archive-name: motif-faq/part2
Last-modified: AUGUST 7, 1995
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Organization: Century Computing, Inc. <URL: http://www.cen.com/>
Version: 4.7
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Sept 94]
Answer:
NOTE: This info dates back to a Nov. '93 conference.
Most of the words should be credited to the lecturer,
Nicholas J. Aiuto (nick@ps.quotron.com) of Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Any mistakes or inaccuracies are mine, however.
I would appreciate updates and corrections...ksall@cen.com
COSE is Common Open Software Environment, a major interoperability effort
started by HP, Sun, Novell/UNIX System Labs (USL), IBM, and SCO, with over 70
other companies pledging their support. The COSE announcement was made in
March, 1993 and a "COSE CDE Conference" was held in San Jose in October, 1993.
CDE is the Common Desktop Environment component of COSE. CDE is "a
specification for components and services to give the UNIX desktop common and
consistent capabilities like those found in other widely used environments
(Mac, Windows)." [from class notes] CDE is not public domain; it will be
provided by major vendors, possibly at extra cost as unbundled s/w
approximately mid 1994. CDE will be based on Motif 1.2 and X11R5, although
Motif 2.0 and X11R6 are expected around the same time. (CDE will be ported to
Motif 2.0 eventually.)
A CD-ROM was distributed at the October, 1993 conference, but this was "alpha"
s/w, strictly for evaluation purposes, not for development.
Another COSE/CDE Snapshot CD-ROM was released in April '94, available for HP,
IBM, Novell, and Sun platforms.
Overview
--------
Standards are to be defined in these areas:
- desktop
- networking
- objects
- graphics
- system management
CDE Functional Groups:
High Level:
- Desktop Management
- Productivity Tools
Low Level:
- GUI Display and Printing
- Application Integration
- "Guidelines": a 100+ pg. checklist which is a superset of Motif's
CDE Desktop Management
----------------------
- Login Manager: like xdm
- Session Manager: saving state based on ICCCM and HP's VUE [vuesession]
- Workspace Manager: virtual screens; rooms; virtual win mgr
- Front Panel: object and window management; access to favorite apps
- File Manager: icon drag and drop
- Application Manager
- Style Manager: configure Session Mgr (colors, fonts, HOME session)
Productivity Tools
------------------
- Text Editor: based on XmText widget; not very fancy
- Icon Editor: color pixmaps; based on HP's vueicon; need 16 icons per app
- Help Viewer: can access app help without running application
- Mailer and Calendar: can talk to each other
- Terminal Emulator: improvement on xterm
- Calculator
- Create "Action": something you tell your system to do and associate with
a specific icon (e.g., starting a favorite app); can also
tag a specific command line and add to your desktop
GUI Display and Printing
------------------------
- Motif 1.2 with extras, X11R5
- New widgets (subclasses of similar widgets to be in Motif 2.0):
o ComboBox
o SpinButton
- dtksh: windowing Korn shell, a robust UNIX shell interface to X, Xlib, and
Xm
- Application Builder: port of Sun's DevGuide [not yet available]
- X Print Server and X Server Print Extension
Application Integration
-----------------------
- Data Interchange
o Drag and Drop (DND): based on Motif 1.2 with improvements
o Bento container format:
"Japanese lunchbox"
compartmented container developed by Apple;
stores compound document on disk;
apps can find audio compartment, for example
100-page document describes Bento
- ToolTalk
o messaging/IPC facility developed by Sun
o CDE message sets (sample msgsd: iconify yourself, close down, etc.)
- Actions
o define what can be done with files or arbitrary data (e.g., audio)
- Data Typing
o define data classes for objects (e.g., PS file, C source code)
Guidelines
----------
- Common Fonts (about 16): proportional, monospaced, with or without serif
- Internationalization (I18N) compliance
- Client/Server
o Network execution model
o end user model
o system admin model: facilitates easy installation of new
CDE-compliant apps
o ISV model
- Certification Checklist: 100 pages; superset of Motif 1.2 Certif. Checklist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Feb 95]
Answer: The COSE FAQ is located at:
http://proper.com:70/0/faqs-link/common-faqs/faqs/cde-cose-faq or
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/cde-cose-faq/faq.html
There is also a newsgroup called news:alt.windows.cde
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Dec 94]
A. Kristen Knotts <uunet!osf.org!kjk> writes:
PST stands for Pre-structured Technology. This is a new process, which
evolved from the 1993 COSE (Common Open Software Environment) initiative, used
by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) to procure and deliver technology to the
industry more quickly than the existing Request For Technology (RFT) process.
For more information on OSF and its acronyms (e.g., PST, RFT, RFC), contact
OSF Direct (direct@osf.org) or literature-request@osf.org.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Dec 94]
A. In response to some questions from Marc Prokop (prokop@acri.fr), Elizabeth
Connolly of Open Software Foundation wrote:
You're correct that CDE (1.0) was developed on Motif 1.2. You're also
correct that OSF included in Motif 2.0 several extensions to Motif 1.2 that
were made by the CDE 1.0 implementors. Despite OSF's inclusion of these
extensions, OSF is not involved in CDE 1.0 development.
As you may know, OSF has a new process, called the Pre-Structured
Technology (PST) process, for joint development projects. Further
evolution of both CDE and Motif (that is, beyond CDE 1.0 and Motif 2.0)
is expected to be handled under this process. In fact, a group of
companies is at work now on a PST proposal for submission to the OSF Board
of Directors. Such a PST would provide for management of the
"compatibility" between Motif and CDE.
You could acquire more information about CDE 1.0 by querying one of
the companies involved in CDE 1.0 (HP, IBM, Novell, and Sunsoft.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: The *specification* for Motif is no longer controlled by OSF, but by
X/Open. This does not affect the *implementation*. The implementation is
still in the hands of OSF, and will not be released into the public domain.
So no, the OSF source code will still only be available to those who buy a
source code license from OSF.
The specification does not include UIL or obsolete features (ie 1.0 bugs in
design), but these will continue to be supported by the OSF code.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: June 95]
A. DCE is an acronym for "Distributed Computing Environment". OSF maintains
an extensive WWW page concerning DCE at:
http://www.osf.org/dce/index.html
E-mail: dce-support-admin@osf.org
Telephone: +1 617 621 8990
On May 22, 1995, a Warranty Patch for Release 1.1 of the OSF Distributed
Environment (DCE) was announced. On that same date, a draft of the OSF DCE 1.2
Contents Overview Request For Comment (RFC) document (RFC 63.1) was also made
available.
DCE is defined in "The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing"
(http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/) by Denis Howe <dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk>:
(DCE) An architecture consisting of standard programming interfaces,
conventions and server functionalities (eg. naming, distributed file system,
remote procedure call) for distributing applications transparently across
networks of heterogeneous computers. DCE is promoted and controlled by the
Open Software Foundation (OSF).
Kristen Knotts <uunet!osf.org!kjk> wrote:
NEWTON, MA, November 1, 1994 -- The Open Software Foundation today announced
the general availability of Release 1.1 of the Distributed Computing
Environment (DCE). This release includes,
- Major new enhancements to system administration, including a consolidated
interface for administration throughout DCE, plus a capability allowing for
the remote start-up and shut-down of remote services;
- Enhancements to security, including a Generic Security Service API (GSSAPI)
which allows non-RPC based systems to take advantage of DCE security, extended
registry attributes allowing various proprietary systems to be registered in
the DCE security registry, as well as security delegation and auditing
capabilities;
- Enhancements to internationalization which include standardized POSIX and
X/Open interfaces and provide character code set interoperability and
- General performance enhancements.
Contact: Jane Smeloff, Open Software Foundation, (617) 621-8997
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: June 95]
A. Kristen Knotts <kjk@osf.org> posted the following message about the OSF
Research Institute's WebWare on 25 May 1995. However, the URL mentioned in the
message should be either:
http://www.osf.org/www/ - Interoperability Program (WWW), or
http://www.osf.org/RI/ - Research Institute
Kristen wrote:
To: OSF.Service.Subscribers:;@osf.org
Subject: OSF Announces Web Software -- FREE for Non-Commercial Use
Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 16:04:44 -0400
From: Kristen Knotts <kjk@osf.org>
To: OSF Service Subscribers
From: The Open Software Foundation
OSF Research Institute Announces
WebWare Advanced Technology Program
Web Software FREE for Non-Commercial Use
The Open Software Foundation Research Institute announced on April 26, 1995 a
new licensing model that provides free software under its WebWare Advanced
Technology Program for research, evaluation and internal use.
"The University of Illinois pioneered an Internet-based licensing paradigm
that makes innovative software available free of charge for research,
evaluation and internal use, via anonymous ftp (file transfer protocol)," said
Dr. Ira Goldstein, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist of OSF. "This
paradigm has contributed to the extremely rapid dissemination of technology on
the World-Wide Web (WWW), with the Research Institute adopting this approach
for its contributions to Web technology."
Currently, the following technologies are available:
* DCE Web -- Based on the OSF DCE technology, this research prototype uses the
WWW interface to provide companies, departments and other organizations with
secure, efficient distribution of documents. It permits authentication of all
requests, encryption of transmitted data, and control over access to documents
based on the individual and group identities of the requester. The DCE Web
also offers an efficient name service to facilitate the location of documents
in a dynamic environment. An OSF DCE license is needed to access this
technology.
* WebMail -- Research prototype that provides electronic mail functionality
from within the Web environment for seamless integration with other Web
documents. Functionality includes: retrieve, delete, reply, compose, forward,
save, index by subject, sender and date as well as write-access.
* Ariadne -- Research prototype that provides a simple- to- modify browser for
the WWW. It offers two extensions: a "back channel" that allows remote
control through TCP from anywhere on the Internet; and a graphical history
tree that shows the documents which have been viewed during the current
session.
* OreO -- Research prototype that makes it easier to build specific agents for
transactions with the WWW, allowing them to be used in a pipeline anywhere
between a traditional Web client (or browser like Ariadne or commercial
browsers such as NetScape or Mosaic) and a real server.
* Group Server -- Research prototype that supports cooperative authoring
activities. Based primarily on the use of CGI scripts for exiting Web servers
(HTTP daemons), it builds on top of the existing authentication protocols to
provide access controls appropriate for a group authoring environment.
Software code for the Research Institute's WebWare technologies is available
for research, evaluation and internal use. The code can be acquired by
accessing the RI web, URL http://riwww.osf.org/. Redistribution rights for
each technology require a Commercial License which can be obtained from OSF.
Future technology advances to enhance personal, group and enterprise-wide use
of the Web are under development.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: You cannot. Motif source is not publically available. However, see
"Has anyone done a public domain Motif lookalike?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: May 95]
Answer: OSF has produced a list of which of the example programs can be
distributed. Call OSF Direct for a copy of it. Most of the example programs
have been freed from distribution limitations so should be available.
Source code posted to comp.sources.x often uses Motif.
In addition, many Motif programs are available via anonymous ftp from
ftp.x.org. The following are listed alphabetically by author. (See the
"BOOKS" topic.)
If you don't understand the URL notation below, see 'What is an URL?' subject.
Thomas Berlages's book:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/berlage.motif.tar.Z
Dan Heller's book:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/OReilly/motif/examples.tar.Z
Donald L. McMinds's book:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/mastering.motif.tar.Z and
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/master.1.2.tar.Z
Jan Newmarch's book:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/newmarch.tar.Z
Jerry Smith's book:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/smith.ooxt.tar.Z
Doug Young's source code for the current editions of his several books:
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/book_examples/young.cxx.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/book_examples/young2.motif.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/book_examples/young.debug.tar.Z
Doug Young's examples for OLDER editions of his books:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/young.cxx.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/young.motif.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/young.motif2.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/young.tar.Z
Examples appearing in "The X Resource" (by O'Reilly and Associates) appear
organized by issue in the directory:
ftp://ora.com/pub/examples/xresource or:
ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/oreilly/xresource
Examples from O'Reilly and Associates books can be found in subdirectories of:
ftp://ora.com/pub/examples/xbook or:
ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/oreilly/xbook
Also from a list maintained by: qizeng@acsu.buffalo.edu (Qi Y. Zeng) FTP sites
for X/MOTIF source code examples:
ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/books/brain.motif.tar.Z
ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/books/pwm-examples.tar.Z
Marshall Brain's Motif tutorials can be found at:
http://www.iftech.com/
Thanks to Steve Swanson <swany@math.lsa.umich.edu>, the following code
examples correspond to Programming with Motif, Keith D. Gregory, Springer-
Verlag, 1992, which apparently is more suited for Motif/X beginners.
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/pwm-xmpl.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Oct 94]
Answer: The specification is available (AES), and the validation suite can be
bought, but no-one has taken up the challenge. There are some commercial
lookalikes (Looking Glass and Neuron Data), but no workalikes.
Applications that follow the Style Guide might be certified Motif-compliant
through the checklist process, even though they're not using OSF/Motif
binaries.
Tcl/Tk is available for ftp from allspice.berkeley.edu, and although
implemented without Xt, has a "strict Motif" mode.
Strom Sytems (18666 Redmond Way o-2118, Redmond, WA 98052-6725) have a Simple
Toolkit for X-Windows (sic) that appears to follow the Style Guide even though
it doesn't quite look like Motif.
MOOLIT is a USL product that can be runtime switched between the Sun Open Look
and Motif appearance. It is based on OLIT 4i.
Interviews is a C++ based product with appearance similar to Motif. A ftp-
able version is on interviews.stanford.edu. A commercial version is available
as InterViews Plus.
Simon J. Lyall (simon@darkmere.midland.co.nz) reported about a package called:
Xu-lib & Widget Set- a library & widget set to "emulate" the look&feel and the
programming interface of OSF/Motif. Contact the author Udo Baumgart
(U.BAUMGART@ldb.han.de) for details.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: Yes, and they quite often post answers too. But they may not respond
to *your* problem because they have other things to do as well. This
newsgroup is not run by OSF, and has no formal connection with OSF. OSF is a
member-driven company. The membership (and anyone can be a member) provides
the primary input for future development of Motif.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: They have a checklist and a certification process which you can
request from them. Ask for the Level One Certification Checklist. The
process is one of self-certification. It tests only the appearance and
behavior of the application against Motif style. The product will also be put
in the OSF reference listing. There's a one-time fee of $250. According to
the master license agreement, you can't use any OSF identifying mark unless
you have done a certification.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: The motif-talk mailing list is only for those who have purchased a
Motif source code license. You can be placed on this list by emailing to
motif-talk-request@osf.org, citing your Company name and source license
number.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: The Motif 1.1.0 tape contains MIT patches 1-14. Apply these and any
others you can get. If your MIT patch level only goes up to fix-16, you also
need to apply fix-osf. Fix-osf was an emergency patch for a problem that
existed when the Motif 1.1 tape was cut, The MIT fix-17 completely superseded
osf-fix, so if you have applied fix-17 do not apply fix-osf. The 1.1.1 tape
contains MIT fixes 15-18, as well as an OSF-developed fix that deals with a
subtle bug in the Selection mechanism of the Intrinsics. Most people will
have fix-15 to 18 by now; if you don't have them:
Back out fix-osf if you have applied it
Apply fix-15 to 18
Apply fix-osf-1.1.1
The Selection fix was submitted to MIT, who came up with a different fix. It
will not be made into an R4 fix but should be in R5. The MIT fix was posted to
motif-talk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: Motif 1.1.X is only intended to be built with X11R4. Motif 1.2.X is
for X11R5. however, Motif 1.1.4 has been set to also work with X11R5.
For Motif 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 you will need to compile Xlib and Xt with a
MOTIFBC flag set to YES (page 8, section 3.3 of the R5 release notes), or
you'll also have a link problem (LowerCase) and a fatal run time problem
(XContext manager). If your applications come up with "Unknown keysym name:
osfActivate" errors, check the variable ProjectRoot. The name
/$PROJECTROOT/lib/XKeysymDB will have been wired into your Xlib.
In Motif 1.1.0, XtCallCallback uses NULL as the first argument instead of a
widget ID. This was ok under R4, but must be changed in the source for R5. It
was changed by OSF from Motif 1.1.1 onward.
Mrm won't work at all (can't link since it uses an X private variable that has
disappeared in R5). There is an MIT patch that may fix this??
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: October 93]
Answer: The macro XmVERSION gives you the version number. The macro
XmREVISION gives you the major revision number. The macro XmVersion combines
these e.g. a value of 1002 is Motif 1.2.
To find the minor revision number is not easy. From Motif 1.1.3 onwards, try
this:
'strings `which mwm` | grep OSF'.
to get the full version number e.g. 1.1.3.
In Motif 1.2, the macro XmUPDATE_LEVEL was added to give the minor revision
number.
+ ( above also known as the patch level). + In addition there was a macro
string added, XmVERSION_STRING which has all + the above info in a char
string.
+ grepping through a strings of libXm.a for OSF can also sometime give +
something useful.
Version X11R6 is due out in spring of 1994 (april 15?)
thanks to hops@x.co.uk Mike Hopkirk
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(WWW)?
[Last modified: Feb 95]
Answer: An automatically generated HTML version of this Motif FAQ can be found
at WWW URL:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/motif-faq/top.html
For a searchable version of the Motif FAQ and other FAQs (via WAIS), see:
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/cgi-bin/faqwais
The WAIS search is great way to find a topic which may appear in several FAQs
(Motif, X, Xt, Widget FAQ, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: July 95]
Answer:
CAUTION: THIS QUESTION WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED IN THIS FORM.
Instead, I've created "MW3: Motif on the World Wide Web".
( http://www.cen.com/mw3/ ). See the next subject!
Thanks to Sonja Kowalewski for several updates.
See http://www.x.org/
for the X Consortium welcome document (which contains links to getting X
source code, intro to the X Consortium, X Technical Conference, the public ftp
file server (ftp.x.org), and more.
See http://www.nads.de/EXUG/EXUG.html
for the EXUG (European X User Group) home page.
See http://www.osf.org/
for the OSF Home Page.
See http://www.osf.org/general/members.html
for links to several OSF Sponsor and Member Web Servers.
See http://www.osf.org/motif/list_features.html
for a "Complete list of 2.0 features".
See http://www.osf.org/membserv/
OSF End User Forum and OSF Member Services.
See http://www.osf.org/motif/MotifFAQ.html
for "OSF ANSWERS FREQUENTLY-ASKED OSF/MOTIF(R) QUESTIONS", including OSF/Motif
Release 2.0 Questions, OSF/Motif Licensing. and OSF/Motif and the Common
Desktop Environment.
See http://www.osf.org/RI/
for the OSF Research Institute home page.
See http://www.let.rug.nl/FWF/
for the Free Widget Foundation (FWF) Home Page.
See http://www.ora.com/
for O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Home Page
See http://freedom.lm.com/freedom.html
for Freedom Software ("Everything under the Sun regarding Motif").
See http://freedom.lm.com/review.html
for Freedom Software's page with links to a review of Motif builders, list of
Motif interface builders, commerical widgets, etc.
See http://www.nads.de/EXUG/FAQ.html
EXUG's FAQ list (X, Xt, Widgets, Motif, InterViews, Fresco, etc.)
See file://134.130.161.30/arc/pub/unix/html/motifcorner.html
for Harry's Motif Programming Corner (tips and tricks, including code).
See http://www.wri.com/~cwikla/widget/
for John L. Cwikla's Widget FAQ Home Page (Composite Widgets, Non-Composite
Widgets, Motif 1.1 Compatible, Motif 1.2 Compatible, Athena Compatible, FWF
Widget Set, By Author, Shareware Widgets, Commercial Widgets).
See http://www.wri.com/~cwikla/xlopedia/
for Xlopedia (by John L. Cwikla) to become the "definitive source on X
information."
See http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/bam/www/toolnames.html
for Brad A. Myers' `User Interface Software Tools' list (which is not limited
to Motif tools).
See http://www.eit.com/software/winterp/winterp.html
for WINTERP 2.0 Home Page (Niels Mayer).
See http://www.ics.com/
for information about products sold by Integrated Computer Solutions.
Included are product descriptions and lots of Frequently Asked questions (and
answers!).
See
http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Computers/Operating_Systems/Windowing_Systems/X_Window_System/Motif/
for a collection of links to Motif info (including some of the above).
See http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Dave/X_lecture/X_lecture.html
for David Marshall's Motif tutorial with source code and illustrations.
See http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~jacs/wxwin.html
for wxWindows information (toolkit for platform-independent GUI programming in
C++).
See http://landru.unx.com/ and http://landru.unx.com/DD/advisor/index.shtml
for _The X Advisor_, a new monthly magazine published both on the Web and as a
periodical. (The online Web subscription is free.)
See http://landru.unx.com/DD/advisor/docs/bib/Xbibliography.ps or
ftp://landru.unx.com/pub/TXA/Xbibliography.ps.Z
for the X Bibliography.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Aug 95]
Answer: On March 31, 1995, Ken Sall announced a Web page called:
"MW3: Motif on the World Wide Web"
http://www.cen.com/mw3/
MW3 is a meta reference intended to connect you to a wealth of resources for
Motif and X Window System development. MW3 presently contains over 270 links!
The current Table of Contents follows:
FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
Widgets, Toolkits, Libraries, and GUIs
Organizations
Non-Commercial Applications and Shareware (Aug 4)
Multimedia (Aug 4)
Commercial Products and Vendors
Publications and References
Code Examples and Tutorials
Tips and Pointers
Security (Aug 4)
Internationalization (Aug 4)
Usenet Newsgroups
Conferences
Personal Home Pages
MW3 is updated roughly once a week; the "Last updated" timestamp appears at
the top of the page. There is also a feedback form for submitting corrections
and suggestions for additions.
The MW3 home page has received nearly 20,000 accesses from over 60 countries
in its first 4 months of existence. Our Top Ten list of level one domains (in
terms of accesses as determined by Kevin Hughes' "getstats" program) as of
August 5, 1995 is:
US Commercial (.com)
US Educational (.edu)
(numerical domains)
Network (.net)
United Kingdom (.uk)
US Government (.gov)
Germany (.de)
Canada (.ca)
Australia (.au)
France (.fr)
NEW! ***
You can now register to receive e-mail when MW3 is updated! Just visit the
page and follow the directions. Thanks to Netmind (http://www.netmind.com/)
for "URL-minder: Your Own Personal Web Robot!" (http://www.netmind.com/URL-
minder/URL-minder.html).
If you haven't visited MW3, you're missing an invaluable supplement to the
Motif FAQ. If you have been there (done that :-), stop by often because we're
always adding to it.
Both MW3 and the Motif FAQ are sponsored by Century Computing, Inc.
http://www.cen.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Aug 95]
Answer: NOTE: For the most current version of this list, see:
http://www.cen.com/mw3/people.html
This subject provides an opportunity for me to thank some of you for your
invaluable contributions (direct or indirect) to this FAQ and, at the same
time, to make it easy for the X and Motif community to contact you.
Contributions and corrections appreciated. It is also a way to keep a current
contact list for some of you who have moved to other companies.
Requirements for inclusion in this list:
(a) have at least 2 contributions in the Motif, X, or Xt FAQ; or
work directly for OSF or the X Consortium;
(b) have your own home page (not just their company's home page);
(c) submit the following info in this 4-line format:
First_name Last_name
Your_home_page_URL
mailto:email_address
which FAQ your name/address appears (Motif, X, or Xt)
NOTE: Be sure to put "For Motif FAQ" as your email
subject. Send it to ksall@cen.com mailto:ksall@cen.com
X and Motif developer home pages listed in alphabetical order by last name:
David Brooks http://www.x.org/people/dbrooks/ mailto:dbrooks@x.org
John L. Cwikla http://www.wri.com:80/~cwikla/ mailto:cwikla@wri.com
Daniel Dardailler http://www.x.org:80/people/daniel/ mailto:daniel@x.org
Kaleb S. Keithley http://www.x.org/people/kaleb/kaleb.html mailto:kaleb@x.org
Ken Lee http://www.rahul.net/kenton/ mailto:kenton@rahul.net
Jan Newmarch http://pandonia.canberra.edu.au/ mailto:jan@ise.canberra.edu.au
Doug Rand http://reality.sgi.com/employees/drand/ mailto:drand@sgi.com
Ralph R. Swick http://www.x.org/people/swick.html mailto:swick@x.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Aug 95]
Answer: Thanks to Matthew Freedman (mattf@cac.washington.edu) and
intasoft@cix.compulink.co.u for updates to the URLs mentioned in this answer.
If you can't find things in the places listed below, check MW3
(http://www.cen.com/mw3/) which is updated more frequently than is this FAQ.
Also see the question "Is there a help system or Motif hypertext system
available?"
Ken Sall (ksall@cen.com) writes: The HTML (HyperText Markup Language) widget
is part of the NCSA Mosaic source code available from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu. Look
in the directory:
ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Unix/source/Mosaic-src/libhtmlw/
or, more generally, look for the files HTML.c, HTML.h, HTMLP.h, etc. in your
"libhtmlw" subdirectory of the Mosaic source.
For (old) documentation, see
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/htmlwidget.html.
However, Matthew M. Freedman (mattf@cac.washington.edu) pointed out the
document is out of date: "One important thing to know is that the on-line
documentation for the Mosaic html widget is out of synch with the source code.
I e-mailed NCSA about this in May, but they seem to have ignored the report.
The one that I wasted half a day because of is HTMLSetText(). The on-line docs
list four arguments, but in fact there are seven. I have no idea what the
extra three undocumented parameters are used for, I just plugged in NULL's and
it works. The other error I noticed is that they document a "page" field in
WbAnchorCallbackData, but it does not actually exist. Also, at least for me,
after I call HTMLSetText() the first time, the widget remains blank. I have to
lower and raise the window for it to be drawn. Anybody know what is wrong? I
guess will probably just spoof an expose in my code."
For information on using Mosaic by remote control, see
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/XMosaic/CCI/cci-spec.html
and
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/remote-control.html
Here are more details from ah627@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Samuel Effah):
To the numerous request for the NCSA HTML widget information.
Everything not already copyrighted by CERN is copyrighted by NCSA (including
the contents of the libhtmlw, libnet, libXmx, and src directories, but not
including the contents of libdtm, which is entirely public domain). ...
* The UI grants you (hereafter, Licensee) a license to use the Software *
* for academic, research and internal business purposes only, without a *
* fee. Licensee may distribute the binary and source code (if released) *
* to third parties provided that the copyright notice and this statement *
* appears on all copies and that no charge is associated with such *
* copies. *
* *
( you can read more about the copyright in the Mosaic source code ).
Documentation on the HTML widget can be located at:
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/htmlwidget.html
( it's on the older version, I think Mosaic1.x )
For starters, you can compile directory Mosaic2.4/libhtmlw for the widget.
Using: To create widget:
htlmWid = XtCreateManagedWidget( "htlmWid",
htmlWidgetClass, parent,
htlmArgs,
XtNumber( htlmArgs ));
Callback for anchors:
XtAddCallback(htlmWid, WbNanchorCallback, htmlRef, NULL);
where htmlRef() looks like:
static void htmlRef(widget, client_data, call_data) Widget widget; XtPointer
client_data; WbAnchorCallbackData* call_data; {
buffer = readHTMLFile( call_data->href );
XtVaSetValues( widget, WbNtext, buffer, NULL ); }
where readHTMLFile() is
char * readHTMLFile( in_file ) char *in_flie; {
/* function to read a file and return its content, given
the file's name */ }
I think this is enough to start you off.
Thanks to: Samuel Effah
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Mar 95]
Answer: The X Bibliography, originally maintained by Ken Lee (
http://www.rahul.net/kenton/ ), is now maintained by the editor of "The X
Journal" ( http://landru.unx.com/SIGS/TXJ/docs/txjhome.html ) Steve Mikes,
uunet.uu.net!topgun!smikes. Steve regularly posts to comp.windows.x and
ba.windows.x a list of reference books and articles on X and X programming.
The X FAQ from comp.windows.x reproduces part of this list.
The complete X bibliography is available from these directory URLs:
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/docs/ (several suffixes)
http://landru.unx.com/SIGS/TXJ/docs/bib/ (several suffixes)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: May 95]
Answer: See http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Dave/X_lecture/X_lecture.html
for a hypertext Motif tutorial (by David Marshall) with source code and
illustrations.
Marshall Brain at brain@adm.csc.ncsu.edu posted a set of simple and useful
Motif tutorials at http://www.iftech.com/ .
Jan Borchers <job@ira.uka.de> writes about his Xmtutor:
A free version of "Xmtutor", a menu-driven Motif application that contains an
interactive tutorial about programming with Motif with many executable
examples, is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, in:
/pub/X11/programming/xmtutor-1.3a/. (Thanks to Thomas Madeya
<madeya@ira.uka.de> for the update.)
Xmtutor is very useful to learn Motif easier than with a book, and it is a
convenient Quick Reference and resource-settings testbed for Motif application
developers.
It has been tested on SUN Sparcs (SunOS 4.1) and DEC Alphas (OSF/1 1.3a), but
should be working OK on most other Unix / X11R4/R5 / Motif 1.1/1.2 systems.
The demo version contains all the information to get you started with Motif,
and upon registration, which costs 49 DM, you get the complete tutorial,
describing all widgets, other topics such as inter-client communication,
Compound Strings, etc., as well as a formatted TeX file of the tutorial to
print out, which gives you a complete book about Motif.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Aug 95]
Answer:
NOTE: This answer is always "under construction". If you are the
author of, or an avid fan of, a book not listed here, send mail
to ksall@cen.com. Corrections especially regarding new editions
and ISBN's would be greatly appreciated. Anyone have ISBNs on
the Motif 2.0 editions of the Prentice Hall books?
Most of these books can be purchased at a discount from:
libHiTech.a, The Exclusive Electronic Computer Book Club
http://www.mordor.com/libhitech/
For Motif 2.0, see also the subject "Where can I find Motif 2.0
documentation?" as Prentice Hall has published the Motif 2.0 documentation.
Please send ksall@cen.com the ISBNs if you know them. Thanks!
First, we present the official books from OSF. Then we include an alphabetical
listing of selected books. (See the following question for Xt and Xlib books.)
The "official" OSF/Motif books are:
OSF/Motif Programmers Guide, Prentice-Hall ISBN 13-640525-8 (Motif 1.0), ISBN
0-13-640681-5 (Motif 1.1), ISBN 0-13-643107-0 (Motif 1.2) (NB: This makes use
of the demo programs that you get with a Motif source license. The programs
are not included and may or may not be available on your system.)
OSF/Motif Programmers Reference Manual, Prentice-Hall ISBN 13-640517-17 (Motif
1.0), ISBN 0-13-640616-5 (Motif 1.1), ISBN 0-13-643115-1 (Motif 1.2) You will
need this for the system calls.
OSF/Motif Style Guide, Prentice-Hall 13-640491-X (Motif 1.0), ISBN 0-13-
640673-4 (Motif 1.1), ISBN 13-643123-2 (Motif 1.2) You will need this to get
some idea of how to write programs with the correct `look and feel'.
Next is an alphabetical listing (by author) of a number of essential books not
by OSF but in wide use. I will attempt to keep this list current if the
authors (or their readers) send me updates as new editions become available.
Barkakati, Nabajyoti, X Window System Programming, SAMS. ISBN 0-672-22750-9.
This contains a section on Motif.
Berlage, Thomas Berlage, OSF/Motif: Concepts and Programming, Addison-Wesley,
UK, 1991. ISBN 0-201-55792-4.
Ferguson, Paula & Brennan, David, Motif Reference Manual, Volume 6B, O'Reilly
& Associates, 1st Edition June 1993, 920 pages, ISBN: 1-56592-038-4. "Dan
Heller's Motif Programming Manual [Volume 6A, below] has long been considered
the most authoritative and insightful work on Motif. Now, with the addition of
this companion reference manual, programmers can dispense completely with the
original OSF documentation. In addition to covering the entire Motif toolkit,
this book also covers OSF's "User Interface Language" or UIL, and the Motif
Resource Manager (MRM) functions used to tie together applications with user
interfaces defined in UIL."
Flanagan, David, Motif Tools: Streamlined GUI Design and Programming with the
Xmt Library, O'Reilly & Associates, 1st Edition August 1994, 1024 pages, ISBN:
1-56592-044-9. "Motif Tools and the Xmt programming library that accompanies
it on CD-ROM offer resources to empower Motif programmers and dramatically
speed up application development with the X Toolkit and Motif. The Xmt
library contains nine custom widgets and over 250 convenience routines that
handle many tricky aspects of GUI programming. The Layout widget, for example,
is an incredibly flexible manager widget that makes the confusing and awkward
Motif Form widget a thing of the past. And a single Menu widget will create an
entire pulldown menu system for your application by reading a special menu
description from a resource file or your C code. Other features of the library
dramatically simplify the use of Motif XmStrings, automate the transfer of
data between the fields of an application's data structures and the widgets of
its dialog boxes, and make it possible to automatically create a widget
hierarchy completely described in a resource file."
Heller, Dan, Ferguson, Paula M. & Brennan, David, Motif Programming Manual,
Volume 6A, O'Reilly & Associates, 2nd Edition February 1994, ISBN: 1-56592-
016-3. "The Motif Programming Manual describes how to write applications
using the Motif toolkit from the Open Software Foundation (OSF). The book goes
into detail on every Motif widget class, with useful examples that will help
programmers to develop their own code. Anyone doing Motif programming who
doesn't want to have to figure it out on their own needs this book." Although
updated for Motif 1.2, it is still usable with Motif 1.1.
Johnson, Eric F. and Kevin Reichard, Power Programming Motif, second edition,
MIS: Press, New York, NY, 1993. ISBN 1-55828-322-6.
Johnson, Eric F. and Kevin Reichard, Professional Graphics Programming in the
X Window System, MIS: Press, New York, NY, 1993. ISBN 1-55828-255-6. This
book covers difficult topics such as combining non-default visuals and color
overlay planes with Motif applications.
Kimball, Paul E., The X Toolkit Cookbook, Prentice Hall, 1995. ISBN 0-13-
973132-6. Covers the Toolkit in detail and also covers Motif & Athena widgets;
good chapter on inter-client communication and working with other toolkits.
Discussion of X11R6 features. Code examples in
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/pk/pkimball/cookbook/. Submitted by
raju@BooBoo.wes.army.mil (Raju Kala).
Newmarch, Jan, The X Window System and Motif - A Fast Track Approach.
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-53931-4. As the long-time maintainer of this Motif
FAQ, Jan's book is bound to contain unusual and useful insights.
O'Reilly and Associates publishes an entire series of books concerning
different aspects of the X Window System, including a number of books about
Motif, as well as books on Xlib, Xt, and PEX. In this FAQ, we list O'Reilly
books by the authors' names. For a summary of all of O'Reilly's X11 series,
see:
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/docs/Xbibliography.OReilly
As of this writing, however, the above list was somewhat out-dated.
Therefore, telnet to gopher.ora.com, login as "gopher", select "Detailed
Product Descriptions", and then select from the menu. WWW users can open this
URL:
gopher://gopher.ora.com/11/descriptions/
Sebern, Mark "Building OSF/Motif Applications: A Practical Introduction". The
ISBN is 0-13-122409-3. Prentice-Hall. The book uses a large, realistic Motif
application (a program to make slides for presentations) to demonstrate the
use of Motif features. Both UIL and toolkit calls are discussed, though UIL is
featured, both in the examples and in a reference chapter.
Smith, Jerry, Designing X Clients with Xt/Motif, ISBN 1-55860-255-0 Morgan
Kaufmann Publishers This adopts a higher-level approach to many of the objects
that commonly occur in Motif but are not in the Motif API.
Young, Douglas, "Object-Oriented Programming with C++ and OSF/Motif", Prentice
Hall, 1992. ISBN 0-13-630252-1. Source code is
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/book_examples/young.cxx.tar.Z
Young, Douglas, "The X Window System: Programming and Applications with Xt,
Motif Edition", Prentice Hall, 1994. ISBN 0-13-123803-5. This is the classic
tutorial from 1989 updated for Motif 1.2. Source code is
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/book_examples/young2.motif.tar.Z
Young, Douglas, "Motif Debugging and Performance Tuning", Prentice Hall, 1995.
ISBN 0-13-147984-9. Source code is
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/book_examples/young.debug.tar.Z
If you want to learn about UIL, one source is the "Motif Programmers's Guide"
from Prentice-Hall. However, excellent UIL coverage appears in the O'Reilly
and Associates books "Motif Programming Manual, Volume 6A" by Dan Heller and
Paula M. Ferguson and in "Motif Reference Manual, Volume 6B" by Paula M.
Perguson with UIL Material by David Brennan. (Yes, 6A and 6B were worth the
wait!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Feb 95]
Answer: You will also need books and references on Xt and Xlib, such as:
Asente, Paul J., and Swick, Ralph R., X Window System Toolkit, The Complete
Programmer's Guide and Specification, Digital Press, 1990. The Xt bible. A
treasury of information, excellent and invaluable. Distributed by Digital
Press, ISBN 1-55558-051-3, Digital Press order number EY-E757E-DP; and by
Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-972191-6.
Cutler, Ellie, Gilly Daniel, and O'Reilly, Tim, The X Window System in a
Nutshell, O'Reilly & Associates, 2nd Edition April 1992, 424 pages, ISBN: 1-
56592-017-1. A quick reference guide to Xlib functions datatypes and events,
Xt functions and datatypes, and the standard X clients. The second edition is
expanded and covers X11R4 and X11R5.
Flanagan, David, Programmer's Supplement for R5 of the X Window System,
O'Reilly & Associates, 1991, ISBN: 0-937175-86-2. A programmer's guide to all
the new features in X11R5, with reference pages for the new functions.
[NOTE: Out-of-print; material incorporated in recent editions of Volumes 1, 2,
4 and 5. X11R6 supplement is in the works.]
Flanagan, David, Editor, X Toolkit Intrinsics Reference Manual, Volume 5,
O'Reilly & Associates, 3rd Edition April 1992, 916 pages, ISBN: 1-56592-007-4.
"The X Toolkit Intrinsics Reference Manual is a complete programmer's
reference for the X Toolkit. It provides reference pages for each of the Xt
functions as well as the widget classes defined by Xt and the Athena widgets.
This volume is based on Xt documentation from the X Consortium and has been
re-edited, reorganized, and expanded... The third edition of Volume 5 has
been completely revised. In addition to covering Release 4 and Release 5 of X,
all the man pages have been completely rewritten for clarity and ease of use,
and new examples and descriptions have been added throughout the book."
Mui, Linda and Pearce, Eric, X Window System Administrator's Guide, Volume 8,
O'Reilly & Associates, 1st Edition October 1992, CD-ROM Released May 1993,
ISBN: 1-56592-052-X (with CD-ROM) "This book is the first and only book
devoted to the issues of system administration for X and X-based networks,
written not just for UNIX system administrators but for anyone faced with the
job of administering X (including those running X on stand-alone
workstations)..." A book for X system administrators, covering XDM, security,
font management, X terminals, building X, etc. Available with a CD-ROM
containing the complete X source code.
Nye, Adrian, Xlib Programming Manual, Volume 1, O'Reilly and Associates, 3rd
Edition July 1992, 824 pages, ISBN: 1-56592-002-3. "Updated to cover X11
Release 5, the Xlib Programming Manual is a complete guide to programming the
X library (Xlib), the lowest level of programming interface to X. It includes
introductions to internationalization, device-independent color, font service,
and scalable fonts. Includes chapters on: X Window System concepts, A simple
client application, Window attributes, The graphics context, Graphics in
practice, Color, Events, Interclient communication, Internationalization, The
Resource Manager, A complete client application, Window management, and Other
programming techniques."
Nye, Adrian, Editor, Xlib Reference Manual, Volume 2, O'Reilly & Associates,
3rd Edition June 1992, ISBN 1-56592-006-6. Contains reference pages, derived
from the MIT specification, for all Xlib functions. The third edition covers
X11R4 and X11R5, including all the new internationalization and Xcms (Color
Management System) functions.
Nye, Adrian & O'Reilly, Tim, X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual, Motif
Edition, Volume 4M, O'Reilly and Associates, 2nd Edition August 1992, 674
pages, ISBN: 1-56592-013-9. "Volume 4 is a complete guide to programming with
the X Toolkit Intrinsics, the library of C language routines that facilitates
the design of user interfaces with reusable components called widgets. It
provides concepts and examples that show how to use the various X Toolkit
routines. The first few chapters are devoted to using widgets; the remainder
of the book covers the more complex task of writing new widgets. Volume 4 is
available in two editions. The Motif Edition uses the Motif 1.2 widget set in
examples, and covers X11 Release 5."
Quercia, Valerie & O'Reilly, Tim, X Window System User's Guide, Motif Edition,
Volume 3M, O'Reilly and Associates, 2nd Edition January 1993, 956 pages, ISBN:
1-56592-015-5. "The X Window System User's Guide, Motif Edition orients the
new user to window system concepts and provides detailed tutorials for many
client programs, including the xterm terminal emulator and the window manager.
Building on this basic knowledge, later chapters explain how to customize the
X environment and provide sample configurations. This alternative edition of
the User's Guide highlights the Motif window manager, for users of the Motif
graphical user interface. Revised for Motif 1.2 and X11 Release 5."
Scheifler, Robert W., and Gettys, James, X Window System, The Complete
Reference to Xlib, X Protocl, ICCCM, XLFD. Digital Press, 1992. The Xlib
bible. Third edition covers X11R5. ISBN 1-55558-088-2, Digital Press order
number EY-J802E-DP.
For those interested in PHIGS and PEXlib, O'Reilly & Associates also publishes
several books on these topics. See:
gopher://gopher.ora.com/11/descriptions/prox
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: Feb 95]
Answer: Check the X FAQ at:
ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/faqs/FAQ or
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/x-faq/top.html
Also O'Reilly and Associates have a mini-FAQ regarding their plans for X11
Release 6 books:
http://nearnet.gnn.com/gnn/bus/ora/news/r6.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Last modified: June 95]
Answer: In June, 1995, Steve Mikes announced a new monthly periodical called
"The X Advisor" which appears both in (thick!) magazine format and on-line via
the Web. The subtitle from the Web page calls this "The Definitive Journal For
X Window System Professionals (X11, Motif, Common Desktop Environment and
Related GUI Technologies)." The first issue contains about 6 features, 20
columns, and 15 departments. You may subscribe to either format from the WWW
pages. See these URLs:
http://landru.unx.com/
http://landru.unx.com/DD/index.shtml
http://landru.unx.com/DD/advisor/index.shtml (especially)
http://landru.unx.com/DD/advisor/docs/jun95/v1n1TOC.shtml
NOTE: If you read this FAQ prior to June 8th, the official launching date of
"The X Advisor", many of links may not be ready.
"The X Journal" is published bimonthly by SIGS Publications, 212-274-0640.
Editorial information: editors%topgun@uunet.uu.net, editors@unx.com. The WWW
URL for "TXJ ONLINE" (probably no longer valid) is:
http://landru.unx.com/SIGS/TXJ/docs/txjhome.html
"The X Resource: A Practical Journal of the X Window System" is published
quarterly by O'Reilly and Associates, 800-998-9938. Editorial information:
Paula Ferguson (paula@ora.com). In addition to the valuable articles which
appear in regular issues, the January issue of each year (issues 1, 5, 9, 13,
etc.) contains the proceedings of the Annual X Technical Conference (from
1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively) sponsored by the X Consortium. An
on-line Table of Contents per issue can be accessed via gopher. Telnet to
gopher.ora.com, login as "gopher", select "Detailed Product Descriptions", and
then "X Resource". Alternatively, the WWW URL is:
gopher://gopher.ora.com/11/descriptions/xres/
Source code examples published in "The X Resource" appear organized by issue
in the directory:
ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/examples/xresource/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer: mwm is a window manager. Motif itself is made up of four parts: a
User-Interface Guideline, an API toolkit of `C' routines which helps in the
building of applications which conform to the Guideline, the window manager
mwm, and a language UIL which is designed to ease user interface development.
In general mwm will run an application built with any X-windows API, and in
general an application built using the Motif toolkit will run under any window
manager.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF PART TWO