This book explains how to use the RapidApp™ application builder, a component of the Developer Magic™ Application Development Environment for developing applications to run on Silicon Graphics® workstations. This integrated development environment provides tools for rapid application development.
This book contains the following chapters:
Chapter 1, “RapidApp Tour,” provides a tutorial to demonstrate the basic use of RapidApp.
Chapter 2, “RapidApp Basics,” provides an overview of RapidApp and describes how to set up your working environment.
Chapter 3, “Interface Design,” describes the process of designing the interface to your application.
Chapter 4, “Application Development,”describes the process of developing an application.
Chapter 5, “Code Creation and Management,” describes how to create and generate code using RapidApp, as well as giving details about RapidApp's approach to code management.
Chapter 6, “Advanced Topics,”provides detailed information about working with RapidApp's advanced features, such as choosing the right containers for your interface, using dialogs, and creating menus.
Chapter 7, “VkEZ Library,” provides details about the VkEZ library and its EZ convenience functions.
Chapter 8, “Component Libraries,” describes how to create libraries of reusable components for RapidApp.
Chapter 9, “Example Applications,” provides some example applications created with RapidApp.
Appendix A, “RapidApp Reference,”is a reference to RapidApp's menus and palettes.
Appendix B, “RapidApp Makefile Conventions,” documents the format of the Makefile the RapidApp generates.
Appendix C, “Frequently Asked Questions and Tips,” is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers about RapidApp operation.
Appendix D, “Source Code for the Calculator Application,”shows the source code for the calculator application developed in Chapter 1 and throughout the book.
Because RapidApp covers many areas of application development and integrates with several Developer Magic tools and libraries, there are many topics with which you should be somewhat familiar to use RapidApp to its fullest capacity. For more information on these topics, consult the references provided in “Suggested Reading.”
This guide assumes that you are familiar with C++ and object-oriented programming. It also assumes that you have some knowledge of the IRIS IM™ toolkit, the Silicon Graphics port of the industry-standard OSF/Motif® interface toolkit.
Applications you develop should follow the Silicon Graphics guidelines for application interface design and should integrate into the Indigo Magic™ Desktop environment. In many places, RapidApp does this for you automatically. However, this guide assumes that you are familiar with these guidelines.
RapidApp links into other Developer Magic tools for building, analyzing, and debugging your application. This guide assumes that you know the basic purpose of these tools, but does not require in-depth knowledge of their use. The more you know about these tools, the quicker you can develop applications with RapidApp.
Some of the components that RapidApp allows you to incorporate in your application require knowledge of specific Silicon Graphics development libraries such as OpenGL™ and Open Inventor™. This guide assumes that you are already familiar with the underlying libraries if you decide to use these components.
RapidApp generates C++ code, and this guide assumes that you are familiar with C++ and object-oriented programming. The following manuals provide reference information about the Silicon Graphics implementation of the C++ language. These books are available online on the IRIS InSight™ SGI_Developer bookshelf:
C++ Language System Overview contains an overview of newer language features of C++. Most of the extensions take the form of removing restrictions on what can be expressed in C++.
C++ Language System Product Reference Manual contains a general description of the C++ language.
C++ Programming Guide describes how to use the Silicon Graphics C++ compiler environment.
C++ Language System Library discusses the iostream support in the C++ library and describes a data-type complex that provides the basic facilities for using complex arithmetic in C++.
The C++ classes generated by RapidApp are based on the IRIS ViewKit™ interface toolkit. This guide describes the features of IRIS ViewKit that you need to use the generated classes. If you want more information on IRIS ViewKit, you can consult the following book available online on the IRIS InSight SGI_Developer bookshelf:
IRIS ViewKit Programmer's Guide provides detailed information about IRIS ViewKit class structure, features provided by the classes, and IRIS ViewKit programming techniques.
The following book describes the general approach used by the IRIS ViewKit library:
Young, Doug. Object-Oriented Programming with C++ and OSF/Motif. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1992.
The actual user interfaces generated by RapidApp use the IRIS IM™ toolkit, the Silicon Graphics port of the industry-standard OSF/Motif interface toolkit. This guide assumes that you are familiar with the IRIS IM and Xt toolkits. For more information on IRIS IM, OSF/Motif, and Xt, you can consult the following books available online on the IRIS InSight SGI_Developer bookshelf:
OSF/Motif Programmer's Guide, Revision 1.2 is a guide to programming the various components of the OSF/Motif environment: the toolkit, window manager, and user interface language. Also available in printed form from Silicon Graphics and in bookstores: Open Software Foundation. OSF/Motif Programmer's Guide, Revision 1.2. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1992.
OSF/Motif Programmer's Reference, Revision 1.2 documents the OSF/Motif commands and functions. Also available in printed form from Silicon Graphics and in bookstores: Open Software Foundation. OSF/Motif Programmer's Reference, Revision 1.2. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1992.
IRIS IM Programming Notes describes the additional functionality provided by IRIS IM beyond that provided by OSF/Motif, as well as advice for Xt and Xlib programmers about programming in the Silicon Graphics X environment, including how to work with nondefault visuals.
The X Window System, Volume 4: X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual describes how to write X Window System™ programs using the Xt Intrinsics library. Also available in printed form from Silicon Graphics and in bookstores: Nye, Adrian and Tim O'Reilly. The X Window System, Volume 4: X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual, OSF/Motif 1.2 Edition for X11, Release 5. Sebastopol: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1992.
RapidApp provides significant support for following Silicon Graphics guidelines for application interface design and for automatically integrating your application with the Indigo Magic Desktop environment. For more information on following the Silicon Graphics interface style guidelines and integrating into the Indigo Magic Desktop environment, consult the following books available online on the IRIS InSight SGI_Developer bookshelf:
Indigo Magic User Interface Guidelines contains recommended guidelines to help you design products that are consistent with other Silicon Graphics applications and that integrate seamlessly into the Indigo Magic Desktop environment.
Indigo Magic Desktop Integration Guide is a companion to the Indigo Magic User Interface Guidelines that explains how to integrate applications into the Indigo Magic Desktop environment.
Software Packager User's Guide describes how use Software Packager, a graphical tool for packaging software for installation on Silicon Graphics workstations. Products packaged with Software Packager can be installed with Software Manager, an Indigo Magic Desktop utility for installing software.
RapidApp links into other Developer Magic tools for building, analyzing, and debugging your application. For more information on these tools, consult the following book, available online on the IRIS InSight SGI_Developer bookshelf:
Developer Magic: ProDev WorkShop Overview gives you broad exposure to the ProDev WorkShop tools as well as pointers to the documentation for getting detailed information.
The following books, available online on the IRIS InSight SGI_Developer bookshelf, describe specific Silicon Graphics development libraries underlying some specific components that you can incorporate in your application:
The Inventor Mentor introduces graphics programmers and application developers to Open Inventor, an object-oriented 3D toolkit. Also available in printed form from Silicon Graphics and in bookstores: Wernecke, Josie. The Inventor Mentor: Programming Object-Oriented 3D Graphics with Open Inventor, Release 2. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1992.
OpenGL Programming Guide describes how to use OpenGL, allows you to create interactive programs that produce color images of moving three-dimensional objects. Also available in printed form from Silicon Graphics and in bookstores: Neider, Jackie, Tom Davis, and Mason Woo. OpenGL Programming Guide. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994.
Also there are several books available commercially that you might find useful in learning IRIS IM (OSF/Motif) and Xt programming techniques, including:
Young, Doug. The X Window System, Programming and Applications with Xt, OSF/Motif Edition, Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1994.
George, Alistair. Advanced Motif Programming. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1994.
These style conventions are used in this guide:
Boldfaced text indicates that a term is an option flag, a data type, a keyword, a function, or an X resource.
Italics indicates that a term is a filename, a button name, a variable, an IRIX command, a document title, or an image or subsystem name.
“Quoted text” indicates menu items.
Screen type is used for code examples and screen displays.
Bold screen type is used for user input and nonprinting keyboard keys.
Regular text is used for menu and window names, and for X properties.
RapidApp is adapted from Integrated Computer Solution's powerful graphical user interface builder for OSF/Motif, Builder Xcessory™. Builder Xcessory offers all of the functionality provided by RapidApp, plus additional features including:
Generation of C, UIL and Ada code in addition to C++
Full access to the entire set of Motif resources
Support for adding new or custom widgets
Several specialized editors including a hierarchical widget tree browser, a color editor, an integrated pixmap editor, and a fontlist editor
For more information about the features and functionality of Builder Xcessory, call Integrated Computer Solutions (ICS) at (617) 621-0060 ext. 164, send email to [email protected], or visit the World Wide Web site http://www.ics.com.