Re: [DotGNU]flexible for users, or flexible for developers? (was Re: User Interfaces)

[Rhys Weatherley]

> An example would be the ubiquitous picklist  where the user is expected to
> pick one (and only one) item from a list of options.  Off the top of my head,
> this could be implemented in a GUI as a dropdown, dial, radio button list,
> or scrollbox with one highlight allowed.  Adding in portability
> concerns, one could implement it in curses as emulation of the above.
> To go to an extreme, if one is using a block-based terminal (e.g. 3270),
> the best way to implement is as a numbered menu where the user enters
> the number of the appropriate choice.

Be careful.  Geoworks has patent 5,327,529 on something
that uses a generic description of a UI and then renders
it differently on different platforms.  Precisely what
you are talking about here.  And they are known to wield
this patent pretty heavily.

I've been trying for 2 years to find sufficient prior
art to knock this one over.  It exists, but finding the
references for it is very hard.  It's safer to avoid it
for now.

Formats like glade describe the widget controls themselves
rather than the purpose, and can slip past the patent as
there is prior art for such formats: Windows .rc files,
Apple resources, and X/Motif UIL.  But the more "purpose"
you mix in, the more difficult things become.

Cheers,

Rhys.