XINTERFACE: A DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURABLE PROCESS LEVEL INTERFACE TO X
Date
1990-09-01
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Abstract
This paper describes XINTERFACE, a process level interface
to the X window system. It allows programmers with a minimum knowledge of
X to create an interface for new or existing applications, as well as
allowing more freedom in choosing a language in which to implement the
functional portion of the application. XINTERFACE is a skeleton client
that is invoked interactively by a user or by an application, to
form a shell process dedicated to maintaining the interface. The
initial appearance and behaviour of the interface are specified by a
compiled User Interface Language (UIL) file, augmented by command line
arguments and default resource files. A separate process is responsible
for implementing the functionality of the application. Inter-process
communication allows the interface to communicate user interactions and
the functional process to reconfigure the interface as needed. This
approach extends the advantages of UIL as well as exploiting the superior
language support for process communications, over direct window
system interaction.
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Computer Science