Re: [XForms] skin packages for XForms?

[Todd Denniston]

Jens Thoms Toerring wrote, On 03/18/2010 05:32 PM:
> Hi Alessandro,
> 
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 03:21:13PM +0100, alessandro basili wrote:
>> I'm using XForms since a couple of years and in my group there
>> hasn't been a real interest in changing the aspect of the interfaces
>> because a lot of efforts have been put into consistency and
>> simplicity.
>>
>> I'm just wondering whether in the community there are people who
>> have worked out an easy way to modify aspect parameters in order to
>> have a nicer appearance.
> 
> I am not aware that there would be any code out there that would
> allow to do "skinning" of a XForms application, at least no sup-
> port is built into XForms (and it would probably be rather dif-
> ficult to achieve that given the way it was written, long before
> anybody came up with the idea of "skinning"), sorry.
> 
> The only thing you can do is change the border width using the
> '-bw' option, and, of course, some aspects can be configured
> via resource settings.
> 
> But perhaps someone else has some god ideas how something like
> "skinning" can be achieved...
>                                 Best regards, Jens

I have not done XForms in a while, but here is something done with a theme that 
worked with motif a
few years ago (before they added themes), which might work with XForms.

Of course if my memory serves me, many of those resources may be *tif specific, 
but perhaps it gives
you ideas.

http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/man/man7/X.7.html
"-xrm resourcestring
    This option specifies a resource name and value to override any defaults. 
It is also very useful
for setting resources that don't have explicit command line arguments. "

have fun.

#######################
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 09:40:44 -0500 (EST)
From: Rick Scott <address@hidden>
Subject: Nedit theme....
To: address@hidden
Well I grabbed the Aluminum theme from themes.org and applied it to nedit. This
is with no modifications to LessTif, no modifications to nedit, and no
modifications to the Aluminum theme. I simply did the following....

./nedit \
-xrm "*backgroundPixmap: /home/rwscott/Aluminium/kfmbg.xpm" \
-xrm "*XmList.backgroundPixmap: XmUNSPECIFIED_PIXMAP" \
-xrm "*XmList.background: gray73" \
-xrm "*Text.backgroundPixmap: XmUNSPECIFIED_PIXMAP" \
-xrm "*Text.background: gray73" \
-xrm "*XmText.backgroundPixmap: XmUNSPECIFIED_PIXMAP" \
-xrm "*XmText.background: gray73" \
-xrm "*XmTextField.backgroundPixmap: XmUNSPECIFIED_PIXMAP" \
-xrm "*XmTextField.background: gray73" \
-xrm "*XmPushButtonGadget.highlightThickness: 0" \
-xrm "*XmPushButton.highlightThickness: 0" \
-xrm "*XmToggleButton.highlightThickness: 0" \
-xrm "*XmToggleButtonGadget.highlightThickness: 0" \
-xrm "*fileMenu.labelType: XmPIXMAP" \
-xrm "*fileMenu.labelPixmap: /home/rwscott/Aluminium/close.xpm" \
-xrm "*exit.labelType: XmPIXMAP" \
-xrm "*exit.labelPixmap: /home/rwscott/Aluminium/exit.xpm" \
-xrm "*cascadePixmap: /home/rwscott/Aluminium/mini-go.xpm" \
userCmds.c

Now I didn't have to specify this on the command line, I simply created an
AluminumNedit command. Of course I could do the same thing using the
RESOURCE_MANAGER property, man xrdb for those that don't know what that is, an
application defaults file in any number of locations, and so on. I could have
it apply to a specific instance of nedit, or all. Most of the resources will
apply to every Motif app.

I'm not saying the pixmaps are appropriate, and I couldn't figure out how to
grab an image with a menu posted, to show that you can even change the menu
buttons, and the cascade pixmap.

Anyway, I've had enough of this. Maybe this will give someone else some
motivation to do something similar, but better. Anyone that says Motif is not
customizible is simply wrong, and too damn lazy to learn. The problem is that
it is _too_ customizable to the average person to comprehend.

Nuff said.....
#####################



-- 
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter