🚀 go-pugleaf

tytgat@esat.kuleuven.ac.be (John Tytgat) writes:

>In article <4897@svin09.info.win.tue.nl> wsinda@info.win.tue.nl writes:
>>* Grouping icons
>Very good idea.  But maybe we can have a look at the way Draw stores grouped
>objects.  I think we can adopt the same way, something like : [...]
>
>As in Draw, group of icons can be nested.  However, there are certain
>consequences if we are using this approach : the icon numbering could be the
>order of apperance in the list of Icon object definitions.  And this puts a
>restriction on grouping/ungrouping because this action can change the order
>of the icon object definition block.
>This restriction does not apply for the programmer because (s)he only needs
>to remake the #define file but that's no solution for the user.

Doing icon grouping as in !Draw has the advantage that it enforces a proper
nesting (if two groups have objects in common, then one group must be a part of 
the other). However, in Draw files, objects are self-contained (except for
font handles, I think); all data needed to render an object can be found inside 
the definition block. IMO, it would be best to split the Indirected Data tables
and attach the data for each icon to the icon definition block. 

A consequence is that you are limited in how icons overlap: if icon A overlaps 
icon B, then all icons in the same group as A overlap B. But I think that's not 
a big restriction.

Another (logical) consequence is that you have to hide the icon numbers from
the programmer; if the grouping changes, then the order of the icon definitions 
in the file may change completely; hence icon numbers are very "unstable", and 
the programmer should only refer to icons by their names.

>What about defining the menu format in the Glass file ?

Looking at Olaf Krumnow's proposal, it wouldn't be much of a problem to define 
it. But, as Tim Browse wrote in his original posting, it's best to start with
a minimal definition, and extend the format when someone is seriously thinking
of writing a program (i.e. a Glass editor) that actually uses the extension.

Dick