Gnome desktop image

Returned to the task of altering the Gnome desktop background. Sorted the issue out at last! As the Developer docs are pretty minimal in this area (consisting of nothing other than a list of function prototypes) I downloaded the Gnome desktop code itself and took a rummage through its dirty linen! What I found was that the calls to set the background etc, in fact modify the gconf settings. Ok, I can now get the background to change but, I don't want the delay of waiting for some Daemon to pick it up! At the moment it takes about 3-5 seconds for a background to change. Looking through the nodes for background slide shows, there appears to be some way of setting the transition duration. So, I'll follow this one up soon.

markup docs and gnocl::list

Just updated the string markup documentation page based upon the Gtk 2.24 developer docs. There's a lot more information here now. Other tasks worked on over the past couple of days is adding functionality to the gnocl::list object so that it will output its full content as a single Tcl list. This will simplify script development where the current method is to parse through each row and column to obtain specific values. The new code will also attach header and datatypes to the list. I envisage some complications where a list may have an embedded object such as an image. In such instances, the path to the image will have to be returned.

pixbufs and lists

The past couple of day has seen me working on the pixbufs and treelist modules. I've added code for applying a 3x3 convolution matrix to the pixbuf to do some of the more routine image processing operations. The code isn't bulky and is much faster than working with imagemagic. There are still some glitches yet that need ironing out largely focussed on number conversion. I've also added some new search functionality to the treelist. The standard 'type-ahead find' is implemented and the basics are there for a proper search command. Rather than working on a single column, this will search the entire table of data for matches. I'll take a look too at rendering the contents of the cells that have a positive match.

pixbuf.c - new library functions

The Gtk way of drawing to pixbufs and drawable objects is through the use of Cairo. This is fine if you're working with screen objects or, you want nicely draw vector objects to build UI components. The use of the GdkPixbuf provides a convenient platform for a number of image manipulation operations. There are already some experimental filters in the gnocl core and today I added some extra functionality line and circle drawing plus flood fill. These are all pixel based and not anti-aliased but are lightning fast.

gnocl::window -new options and commands

After a relatively quiet few days on the Gnocl front I added the following options and commands to the gnocl:window object.

-new commands

        hasFocus        return the name of the widget within the window that has 

                        the active keyboard input focus

        setFocus        set the focus to a named widget within the window

        present         bring a window to to the toplevel, deiconifying etc as 

                        necessary

-new option

        -defaultWidget  define which widget by default receives input focus

In addition to this, I've done some work to the gnocl::window online docs. This page has been in need of major updating for some time. So much new functionality has been added. There is still much to do, however. Most options are still 'TO BE COMPLETED' entries.

Finally, put the bare bits together to implement a Gnocl binding to the threads module.

Some ommisions and code slimming

Its good to get emails from users picking up various issues that need addressing in the gnocl core code. Just removed some redundant tests which were being applied to signal handlers found in the more recent widget additions.  There's also a FreeBSD port out there tool

http://www.freshports.org/x11-toolkits/gnocl

At last, perhaps the easiest way to create Gtk+ apps is getting the attention it deserves!

gnocl::text -new tag options

Just added the following options to the text tag. Those which require string arguments are still stubs at the moment.

-marginAccumulate -backgroundFullHeight  -backgroundStipple
-direction -editable -foregroundStipple -indent -language
-leftMargin -name -pixelsInsideWrap -rightMargin -rise
-scale -tabs -variant -weight