Re: GNUstep on MS Windows

[Jeff Teunissen]

"Pascal J.Bourguignon" wrote:
> 
> Helge Hess writes:
> > a) cross-CPU, like NeXTstep for i386, SPARC, HP and m68k
> > b) cross-OS, like X11 on Windows, Linux and MacOSX
> > c) cross-UI, like SWT using gtk+ on Linux and Win-UI on Windows
> >
> > IMHO GNUstep/AppKit on Windows is pretty useless. OpenStep is the wrong
> > technology to do option c) above. It can do a) and b), but a) doesn't
> > solve the Windows issue and b) provides little value.
> 
> What  do you  mean exactly  by  "GNUstep/AppKit on  Windows is  pretty
> useless"?
> 
> I thought that it was clear that an implementation of the OpenStep API
> on MS-Window would open markets to GNUstep and MacOSX developers, this
> would not be useless.
> 
> Why do you think that "OpenStep is the wrong technology to do option c)"?
> 
> It seems  to me that it has  been designed and a  sufficient number of
> implementation have been made to implement this cross-UI. OpenStep ran
> on Solaris, and on MS-Windows-NT, and  now runs on MacOSX and on Linux
> or other unix with GNUstep.

OpenStep for Solaris looked exactly like OPENSTEP for Mach, except that the
NeXT logo was replaced by the Sun logo. It was NOT a cross-UI system.

OPENSTEP Enterprise for Windows NT also looked like OPENSTEP for Mach,
except for a few things:

1. The main menu was drawn on all windows that could become main.
2. Named colors (controlColor, etc.) were drawn from the Windows registry,
   so they would change based on the color scheme in use.
3. User font selection (NSUserFont, etc.) was drawn from the Windows
   registry, with the same effect.
4. Menu separators were used (you could create them on Mach, but they were
   silently ignored).
5. NSComboBox worked (not present on OPENSTEP/Mach or OpenStep/Solaris).
6. NSScrollView didn't just look different, it was A DIFFERENT CLASS.
7. Open/Save panels used the common file dialog, making accessory views
   impossible.

As far as I know, this list is _exhaustive_. OPENSTEP Enterprise used DPS
for display at the "widget" level, not GDI calls.

> I guess  that you're saying that  since GNUstep is  drawing itself its
> widgets, it can't provide cross-UI.

No version of OpenStep has done so. Wouldn't you say that means something?

> But it seems  to me that the drawing code  is rather well encapsulated
> (in a  few drawing methods of  a little number  of graphical classes),
> and  that it should  be possible  to either  fork a  theme, or  to use
> MS-Windows widgets to do the actual drawing.

The former is reasonable. The latter is not.

-- 
| Jeff Teunissen  -=-  Pres., Dusk To Dawn Computing  -=-  deek @ d2dc.net
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