Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncrlnk!wright!odin!adatta
From: adatta@odin.wright.edu (Amitava Datta)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Window Managers and Client Menus
Keywords: Window Managers, Client Menus
Message-ID: <672@thor.wright.EDU>
Date: 25 Sep 89 00:11:45 GMT
References: <653@thor.wright.EDU> <291@auto-trol.UUCP>
Sender: news@wright.EDU
Lines: 41

marbru@auto-trol.UUCP (Martin Brunecky) writes...

>>If you are building an X client and don't quite like the Xt support
>>for creating popup menus you may want to consider the following:
>>
>>  Why not have the X window manager display and manage menus for clients?
>>  (Of course, the window manager would need to inform the X client when
>>  a menu item gets selected)

> I vote NO !
> Pretty soon, somebody else would like the Window Manager to do this,
> taht and even more. 

Seriously, I don't think that's a reasonable arguement against any
extension to software in general. If there are deficiencies in a
system we must always be ready to extend the functionality by some
means. I have suggested one way of making all menus look and feel the
same regardless of which WM and client you are using using mechanisms
available in X. If anybody comes up with a better solution to this
problem we should go for that. (Please don't ask everybody to use the
same toolkit since that most likely will not be accepted).

> After a little while we'll have Window Managers
> that do everything in the world, but nothing RIGHT.

In such user interface issues what is RIGHT for you may be DEAD WRONG
for another user. That is precisely the reason why you can choose from 
a wide variety of X WMs. And of course if you don't like any of them
you can write one on your own (or get GWM and program it in lisp).

What I have suggested is a "mechanism" not a "policy".

> Let the Window Manager do it's job, and don't try it to do more than 
> that. And if you are having problems with creating cascaded menus
> of your own, just wait till the toolkits mature to make it easy.

You missed the point completely. I don't have any problems in creating
menus. 


Amitava Datta (adatta@cs.wright.edu)