 |
Index for
Section 5X |
|
 |
Alphabetical
listing for W |
|
 |
Bottom of
page |
|
WML(5X)
OSF/Motif
NAME
WML - The widget meta-language file format for creating uil compilers
DESCRIPTION
The widget meta-language facility (WML) is used to generate the components
of the user interface language (UIL) compiler that can change depending on
the widget set. Using WML you can add support in UIL for new widgets to
the 1/Motif widget set or for a totally new widget set.
FILE FORMAT
WML files are ASCII files that you can modify with any standard text
editor. They are accessed in the tools/wml directory by WML. By convention
WML files have the suffix .wml. The Motif widget set is described in the
motif.wml file. This is also the default WML file when using the WML
facility.
When adding new widgets or changing widget characteristics, you should
start with a copy of the motif.wml file. If you are creating a new widget
set for use with UIL, you should start from scratch. In either case the
motif.wml file is a good example of WML syntax, and you should familiarize
yourself with it before writing your own WML file.
WML files have a simple syntax, similar in structure to UIL. It is made up
of the following elements:
· Comments
· Data Type Definitions
· Character Set Definitions
· Enumeration Set Definitions
· Control List Definitions
· Class Definitions
· Child Definitions
· Resource Definitions
You can use space, tabs, or newlines anywhere in the syntax, as long as you
do not split up keywords or strings, except that comments end at a newline.
The order of elements is not important to the syntax.
This description uses the following additional conventions to describe the
syntax of the widget meta-language:
[ ]
Indicates optional elements.
... Indicates where an element of syntax can be repeated.
| Indicates a choice among multiple items.
Comments
You can include comments in the WML file. Comments have the following
syntax:
[any.element]!any.comment
Comments begin with an exclamation point and extend to the end of the line.
A comment can begin on a line by itself or follow any part of another
element. A comment does not change the meaning of any other element. For
example:
!This is a comment
! that spans two lines.
DataType !This is a comment following code.
Data Type Definitions
Data type definitions register all the resource data types used in the
file. You must register all the data types used in your WML file. Data
type definitions have the following syntax:
DataType
any.datatype[{ InternalLiteral = internal.name |
DocName = "string";[...]}];
[...]
A data type definition begins with the keyword DataType. Following the
DataType keyword is a list of data types that can be further modified with:
InternalLiteral
This forces the value of the internal symbol table literal definition
of the data type name. This modifier is only used to get around symbol
table definitions hard coded into the UIL compiler. It should rarely be
used.
DocName
which gives an arbitrary string for use in the documentation. This
string is meant to supply a different name for the data type for use in
the documentation, or a single name for the data type if the data type
has aliases.
For example:
DataType OddNumber {DocName="OddNumber";};
NewString;
Character Set Definitions
Character set definitions register the Motif Toolkit name and other
information for the character set names used in UIL. Character set
definitions have the following syntax:
CharacterSet
any.character.set
{[FontListElementTag | XmStringCharsetName]="string";
[Alias = "string" ...; |
Direction =[LeftToRight | RightToLeft]; |
ParseDirection =[LeftToRight | RightToLeft]; |
CharacterSize =[OneByte | TwoByte];]
[...]};
[...]
A character set definition begins with the keyword CharacterSet. Following
the CharacterSet keyword is a list of character sets that can be further
modified with:
FontListElementTag | XmStringCharsetName
Specifies the name of the character set, which will become the
character set component of a compound string segment created using this
character set. This modifier is required.
Alias
Specifies one or more aliases for the character set name. Each alias
can be used within UIL to refer to the same character set.
Direction
Specifies the direction of a compound string segment created using this
character set. The default is LeftToRight.
ParseDirection
Specifies the direction in which an input string is parsed when a
compound string segment is created using this character set. The
default is whatever Direction is specified.
CharacterSize
Specifies the number of bytes in each character of a compound string
segment created using this character set. The default is OneByte.
For example:
CharacterSet
iso_latin1
{ XmStringCharsetName = "ISO8859-1";
Alias = "ISOLatin1"; };
iso_hebrew_lr
{ XmStringCharsetName = "ISO8859-8";
Alias = "iso_latin8_lr";
Direction = RightToLeft;
ParseDirection = LeftToRight; };
ksc_korean
{ XmStringCharsetName = "KSC5601.1987-0";
CharacterSize = TwoByte; };
Enumeration Set Definitions
Enumeration set definitions register the named constants used in the Motif
Toolkit to specify some resource values. Enumeration set definitions have
the following syntax:
EnumerationSet
resource.name : resource.type
{ enum.value.name ; [...] } ;
An enumeration set definition begins with the keyword EnumerationSet. For
each enumeration set defined, the name and type of the resource are listed.
The resource name is the Motif Toolkit resource name, with the beginning
XmN removed and with the initial letter capitalized. For example, the name
of the Motif Toolkit resource XmNrowColumnType is RowColumnType. The
resource type is the data type for the resource; for most resources, this
is integer. Following the resource name and type is a list of names of
enumeration values that can be used as settings for the resource. These
names are the same as those in the Motif Toolkit.
For example:
EnumerationSet
RowColumnType: integer
{ XmWORK_AREA; XmMENU_BAR; XmMENU_POPUP;
XmMENU_PULLDOWN; XmMENU_OPTION; };
Control List Definitions
Control list definitions assign a name to groups of controls. You can use
these control lists later in class definitions to simplify the structure of
your WML file. Control list definitions have the following syntax:
ControlList
any.control.list[{any.control; [...]}];
A control list definition starts with the ControlList keyword. Following
the ControlList keyword are any number of control list definitions.
Control list definitions are made up of a control list name followed by the
set of controls it represents. For example:
ControlList
Buttons {PushButton;
RadioButton;
CascadeButton;
NewCascadebutton;};
Each control specified in the control list must be defined as a class in
the file.
Class Definitions
Class definitions describe a particular widget class including its position
in the class hierarchy, toolkit convenience function, resources, and
controls. There should be one class definition for each widget or gadget
in the widget set you want to support in UIL. Class definitions have the
following syntax:
Class class.name : MetaClass | Widget | Gadget
[{[
SuperClass = class.name; |
ParentClass = parent.class.name; |
InternalLiteral = internal.name; |
Alias = alias; |
ConvenienceFunction = convenience.function; |
WidgetClass = widget.class; |
DocName = "string"; |
DialogClass = True | False; |
Resources { any.resource.name [{
Default = new.default.value; |
Exclude = True |
False;
[...]} ];
[...]}; |
Controls { any.control.name; [...] };
Children { any.child.name; [...] };
[...]
]}];
Class definitions start with the Class keyword. For each class defined, the
name of the class and whether the class is a metaclass, widget, or gadget
is listed. Each class definition can be further modified with the following
keywords:
SuperClass
This indicates the name of the parent class. Only the root of the
hierarchy does not specify a SuperClass.
ParentClass
This indicates the name of the widgets automatically created parent
class if one exists. This allows resources for that automatically
created class to be used in instances of this class. For example,
XmBulletinBoardDialog creates both an XmBulletinBoard and an
XmDialogShell. To access the resources of the XmDialogShell parent
class it must be specified here.
InternalLiteral
This forces the value of the internal symbol table literal definition
of the class name. This modifier is only used to get around symbol
table definitions hard coded into the UIL compiler. It should rarely be
used.
Alias
This indicates alternate names for the class for use in a UIL
specification.
ConvenienceFunction
This indicates the name of the creation convenience function for this
class. All widget and gadget classes must have a ConvenienceFunction.
WidgetClass
This indicates the associated widget class of gadget type classes.
Presently, nothing is done with this value.
DocName
This defines an arbitrary string for use in the documentation.
Presently, nothing is done with this value.
DialogClass
This indicates whether the class is a dialog class. Presently, nothing
is done with this value.
Resources
This lists the resources of the widget class. This keyword can be
further modified with:
Default
This specifies a new default value for this resource. Resource
default values are usually set in the resource definition. If an
inherited resource's default value is changed by the class, the new
default value should be noted here.
Exclude
This specifies whether an inherited resource should be excluded
from the resource list of the class. Exclude is False by default.
Children
This lists the names of the automatically created children of this
class, so that those children can be accessed in the UIL file.
Controls
This lists the controls that the widget class allows. The controls can
be other classes or a control list from the control list definition.
The example below uses the examples from the data type definitions and
control list definitions above.
Class
TopLevelWidget : MetaClass
{
Resources
{
XtbNfirstResource;
XtbNsecondResource;
};
};
NewWidget : Widget
{
SuperClass = TopLevelWidget;
ConvenienceFunction =
XtbCreateNewWidget;
Resources
{
XtbNnewResource;
XtbNfirstResource
{Default="XtbNEW_VALUE";};
XtbNsecondResource
{Exclude=True;};
};
Controls
{
NewWidget;
Buttons;
};
};
Child Definitions
Child definitions register the classes of automatically created children.
Automatically created children are referenced elsewhere in a uil file using
the Children keyword within a class definition. Child definitions have the
following syntax:
Child
child.name : class.name;
[...]
The child.name argument is the name of the automatically created child and
class.name is the name of the class of that child.
Resource Definitions
Resource definitions describe a particular resource including its type, and
default value. There should be a resource definition for each new resource
referenced in the class definitions. Resource definitions have the
following syntax:
Resource
resource.name : Argument | Reason | Constraint
| SubResource
[{[
Type = type ; |
ResourceLiteral = resource.literal ; |
InternalLiteral = internal.name; |
Alias = alias ; |
Related = related ; |
Default = default ; |
DocName = doc.name ; ]
[...]}]
[...]
Resource definitions start with the Resource keyword. For each resource
definition, the name of the resource and whether the resource is an
argument, reason, constraint, or subresource is listed.
Argument
Indicates a standard resource.
Reason
Indicates a callback resource.
Constraint
Indicates a constraint resource.
SubResource
Presently, nothing is done with this value.
The resource definition can be further modified with the following
keywords:
Type
This indicates the data type of the resource. It must be listed in the
data type definition.
ResourceLiteral
This indicates the keyword used in the UIL file to reference the
resource. In Motif, the resource name is the same as the
ResourceLiteral.
InternalLiteral
which forces the value of the internal symbol table literal definition
of the resource name. This modifier is only used to get around symbol
table definitions hard coded into the UIL compiler. It should rarely be
used.
Alias
This indicates alternate names for the resource for use in a UIL
specification.
Related
This is a special purpose field that allows resources that act as a
counter for the current resources to be related to the resource. UIL
automatically sets the value of this related resource to the number of
items in the compiled instance of type resource.name.
Default
This indicates the default value of the resource.
DocName
This defines an arbitrary string for use in the documentation.
Presently, nothing is done with this value.
The example below uses the examples from the data type definitions, control
list definitions and class definitions above.
Resource
XtbNfirstResource : Argument
{ Type = OddNumber;
Default = "XtbOLD_VALUE";};
XtbNsecondResource : Argument
{ Type = NewString;
Default = "XtbNEW_STRING"; };
XtbNnewResource : Argument
{ Type = OddNumber;
Default = "XtbODD_NUMBER"; };
|
Index for
Section 5X |
|
|
Alphabetical
listing for W |
|
 |
Top of
page |
|