---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Third Party GUI Enhancements SunFLASH Vol 33 #15 September 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article consists of three product announcements from comp.newprod that deal with enhancements to GUI toolkits. -johnj ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Graphical Software Technology Announces New Widgets XRT/graph Version 2 is released. Xv++, A C++ interface for Sun's XView Open Look toolkit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Graphical Software Technology Announces New Widgets From: baker@gst.UU.NET (Roxanne Baker) Newsgroups: comp.newprod Date: 12 Aug 91 22:34:26 GMT Graphical Software Technology Introduces New Product For Building Graphical User Interfaces Hermosa Beach, Calif., July 22, 1991 -- Graphical Software Technology today announced the availability of Xtra XWidgets(tm), a comprehensive widget set for building graphical user interfaces for the X Window System(tm). Xtra XWidgets is a library of application-level widgets which conform to X Toolkit Intrinsic standards. The standard set of widgets provided with Motif and Open Look support only the most basic components, such as buttons and scroll bars. With the Xtra XWidget library, an extensive collection of higher level widgets is available. Since the Xtra XWidgets are called just like the Motif or Open Look widgets, they can easily be incorporated into standard X11 applications. The Xtra XWidgets library: - Eliminates programmer's need to learn the complex Xlib function calls - Provides a significant improvement in development productivity - Supports rapid prototyping of user interfaces - Promotes application user interfaces that are easier to use - Supports more interactive applications - Supports use of Xtra XWidgets in existing X Windows applications - Supports both Open Look and Motif - Conforms to the OSF and UI style guides - Is available on a wide variety of hardware platforms - Supports applications which are portable across all X Window System environments Xtra XWidgets provide a functionally rich set of tools that allow you to build application user interfaces quickly and effectively. Because all resources of each widget can be specified or modified at runtime, user interfaces can be more dynamic. This makes the interface more responsive to the user, resulting in applications which are truly easy to use. Features common to all widgets include: - Full functionality -- highly tunable - Professional visual design - Callbacks - Internal data resources defaults which simplify call interface - Documentation in UNIX/X Windows standard format The widgets available in the Xtra XWidgets Core Library are: - Bar Graph* - Stacked Bar Graph* - Line Graph* - Pie Chart* - Hypertext - X-Y Plots - Tables - Help Facility - Icons - Images Those marked with an asterisk are available in the initial release; the others will be in a second release available later this year. Xtra XWidgets are designed to integrate with other products that support user interface design through screen painting. There are a number of screen painters available from third party vendors. In general, screen painters allow the interface designer to "lay out" the interface on the screen without writing any code. The painter generates the C code necessary to perform the widget calls. This C code is linked with your application. Because most of these products support user-defined widgets, they can be used in conjunction with Xtra XWidgets. No special system configuration is required to use the Xtra XWidgets library, beyond that which is used to support a Motif or Open Look software environment. The X Window System, release 3 or higher, and either Motif or the Open Look Intrinsics Toolkit (OLIT) are required. Xtra XWidgets are implemented in C. The Motif version of Xtra XWidgets is compatible with Motif Version 1.0 and Motif Version 1.1. It is supported on the following platforms: - IBM Risc System/6000 with AIX, version 3.1 or higher - HP/Apollo Model 9000 Series 300/400/700/800 with HP/UX, version 7.0 or higher - INTERACTIVE Unix for 386 version 2.0 or higher The OLIT version of Xtra XWidgets is compatible with OLIT Version 2.0, and is supported on the following platforms: - All Sun-4 Sparcstations with SunOS version 4.1 or higher - AT&T 6386 System V UNIX Release 3.2.2 or higher Xtra XWidgets is currently being verified on other platforms. Call for availability. Pricing for single user workstations is $795. Discounts for multiuser network configurations are available. Xtra XWidgets is a trademark of Graphical Software Technology. X Window System, OSF/Motif, and Open Look are trademarks of their respective companies. For further information, please email your mailing address to: gst!info@uunet.uu.net. Graphical Software Technology 1559 E Pacific Coast Highway Suite 300 Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 213-328-9338 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: XRT/graph Version 2 is released. Newsgroups: comp.newprod From: sun.com!suncan!klg!greg TORONTO, ON, July 29, 1991...KL Group Inc. announced today the release of XRT/graph(TM) for XView Version 2. XRT/graph extends the X Windows developer's toolkit with a graphics object which provides two-dimensional plots, bar charts and pie charts. Developers programming with Sun Microsystems's XView toolkit can use XRT/graph to enhance their application's Graphical User Interface (GUI). Developers manipulate XRT/graph objects through the same programming mechanism used by all other XView objects (such as buttons, menus and scrollbars.) In addition to improved performance, Version 2 provides several new features including stacking bar charts, encapsulated PostScript output, C++ bindings and a network-site license-server. Version 2 also includes an updated release of Builder, the XRT/graph prototyping and development tool. Using Builder, developers manipulate over 120 graph attributes to interactively design graph descriptions. Builder is used to save the graph description and generate C code for use in the application. Builder can be used in conjunction with Sun's DevGuide. XRT/graph provides full programmatic control of graph attributes including: line colors, fill colors and patterns; line thickness; point styles and colors; header, footer and legend text and fonts; graph size and positioning; axis controls including minimum, maximum, numbering, ticking, origin, titles, labels and precision; window background and foreground colors; and double-buffering. KL Group will announce the release of XRT/graph for OSF/Motif, and XRT/graph for OLIT later this year. An XRT/graph development license for Sun-4 (SPARC) lists at US $1795 and includes the Builder application. There are no run-time fees for distributing applications built with XRT/graph. XRT/graph for XView Version 2 is shipping now. XRT/graph is sold directly by KL Group in North America and through resellers worldwide. XRT/ and XRT/graph are trademarks of KL Group Inc. Sun-4, and XView are trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc. The X Window System is a trademark of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation. Contact: Greg Kiessling, KL Group Inc. 134 Adelaide Street East. Suite 204, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5C 1K9 Phone: (416) 594-1026 x 22 Fax: (416) 594-1919 Email: sun.com!suncan!klg!greg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Xv++, A C++ interface for Sun's XView Open Look toolkit. Newsgroups: comp.newprod Keywords: C++ Xv++ Xview X11 Sun GUI OpenLook Date: 15 Aug 91 13:31:15 GMT Organization: Interface Engineering, Stevenage, Herts. Interface Engineering release Xv++ 2.0 -------------------------------------- Xv++ is a library of classes providing a C++ Application Programmer's Interface (API) to Sun's XView Open Look toolkit. Applications derive from Xv++ base classes with notification and events handled by virtual functions. The product includes source, examples, manual and prototype Xv++ code generator for use with Sun's OpenWindows Developers Guide. For programmers now using a C++ environment, the Xv++ "wrapper" classes provide a complete replacement API to XView. The C++ constructor/destructors do the job of xv_create() and xv_destroy(). Set() and get() member functions retain the familiar attribute/value call style, with the same XView attribute names. The C++ class library runs over a standard, unmodified XView toolkit. Price: $295 for site source licence Contact: Interface Engineering, 109, Collenswood Road, Stevenage, Herts, SG2 9HA, United Kingdom. Tel: (+44) 438 350689 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.