Re: How to make a window visible ?

[Pete French]

> If it's not a patch program, that is, if this program needs some event
> input from the  user interacting with it's GUI,  then whatever the way
> the program  is launched,  you'll be better  off with  a NSApplication
> instance and an event loop.

Unfortunately its not a program I am writing from scratch (the piece of code
I posted is a short example of what I am trying to do). We have several
pieces of code which assume a graphics interface of the type

open_window()
draw_in_window()
close_window()

The most obvious example is the OpenStep/NeXTStep port of gnuplot, or
also the port of xmame. It dont really get a choice in this, I have to
create windows programatically :-(

> Now, supposing  you just need to have  a modal loop and  then exit the
> program,  then   this  can  be   done  without  any  problem   in  the
> applicationDidFinishLaunching: method. Just  run your modal loop here,
> then [NSApp terminate].

Thats an interesting thought- though I would have to somehow redefine the
programs exiting "main()" and then call that again from within the
appDidFinishLaunching method (plus find a way of getting at argv and argc)

> Even  if your  program  had no  GUI,  you could  still  be better  off
> starting a  NSApplication instance, for  example, to manage  as events

I agree 100% - and when I write from scratch thats what I do. But I cant
do that in this situation because its an existingpiece of code that I am trying
to port.

What I am trying to do should also work, however, and it almost does. I
just cannot find a way to flush my drawing output to the screen! I have found
that I can draw into the NSview, and if I then drag the window off screen and
back on again then the drawing appears.

Benn working my way down through what the modal run for a panel does, but
I cant find the place where the panel is flushed to the screen. Panels
work without a run loop being created, so I know its possible somehow...

cheers,

-bat.