1FDESIGN(1L) Forms Library FDESIGN(1L)
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6 fdesign - Forms Library User Interface Designer
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9 fdesign [-xformoptions] [-options] [files]
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12 fdesign is a GUI builder that helps in the construction of graphical
13 user interface in a WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") way by
14 allowing the user to directly manipulate various objects, such as but‐
15 tons, sliders and menus etc. Once a satisfactory UI is constructed,
16 the user can save the composed interface into a set of external files.
17 Files with the extension '.fd' contain all information about the
18 objects and can be read in again by fdesign. The files with C code and
19 header files when compiled and linked against the Forms Library, gener‐
20 ate code that at run-time constructs the exact same interface as the
21 ones seen within fdesign.
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23 A variety of output languages is possible via external filters. As of
24 this writing, C, perl, ada95, Fortran, pascal, and PostScript output
25 filters are known to exist.
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29 fdesign accepts all standard Forms Library command line options as well
30 as the following:
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32 -help Prints a brief summary of all command line options. This option
33 does not require a connection to the X server.
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35 -version
36 Prints the current version of fdesign and exits.
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38 -geometry geom
39 Specifies the prefered size and location of main working area in
40 which the UI is to be constructed.
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42 -convert fdfile-list
43 This option prevents fdesign from attempting to make a connection
44 to the X server. The file list following this flag is converted
45 to C code directly.
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47 -dir destdir
48 output any converted files in destdir.
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50 -unit pixel|point|mm|cp|cmm
51 selects the unit of measure for object geometries. For non-pixel
52 unit, the interface created is screen resolution independent and
53 may be desirable for many applications. Note that for typical
54 screens, point (about 1/72 inch) and mm may be too coarse and
55 subject to round-off errors. Use cp (centi-point, 100th of a
56 point) and cmm (centi-mm) instead.
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58 -altformat
59 selects an alternative format for the generated C code where
60 global variables are used for the UI components.
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62 -main requests the output of main program template.
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64 -callback
65 requests the output of callback function template.
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67 -compensate
68 requests the emission of font/server resolution variation compen‐
69 sation code.
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71 -I headerfile
72 uses an alternative header file instead of the default forms.h in
73 the output C code.
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75 -lax requests relaxed C syntax checking.
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77 -ps This option specifies that instead of emitting the c code for the
78 user interface, PostScript code should be emitted.
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80 -ada This option requests ada95 code output
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82 -perl This option requests perl code output.
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84 -fortran
85 This option requests Fortran code output.
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87 -pascal
88 This option requests pascal code output.
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90 -nocode
91 suppresses the output of UI code. Only the .fd file is written.
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93 The most useful Forms Library command line options are
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95 -display host:dpy
96 This option specifies the X server to connect.
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98 -flversion
99 This option prints the version string of the Forms Library, with
100 which fdesign was build.
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102 -name appname
103 This option specifies the application name under which resources
104 are to be obtained, instead of the executable name. appname
105 should not contain . or *. fdesign.
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108 The program understands all of the Forms Library's resource names and
109 classes as well as the following
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111 control.geometry (class Control.Geometry)
112 specifies the geometry of the control panel. Currently the size
113 is ignored.
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115 unit (Unit)
116 specifies the default unit of measure. Default is pixel.
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119 attributes.geometry (class Attributes.Geometry)
120 specifies the geometry of the object attributes panel. Cur‐
121 rently the size is ignored.
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123 align.geometry (class Align.Geometry)
124 specifies the geometry of the object align panel. Currently
125 the size is ignored.
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127 xformsHeader (class XFormsHeader)
128 specifies the header filename generated in the output C code.
129 Default is forms.h
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131 filter (class Filter)
132 specifies post-processing filter (an external executable name).
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134 language (class Language)
135 specifies target language name.
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138 Among the standard Forms Library resources, the following are most use‐
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141 xform.fontsize (class XFORM.FontSize)
142 specifies the font size used for most object labels.
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144 xform.pupfontsize (class XFORM.PupFontSize)
145 specifies the font size used in pop-up menus.
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147 xform.browserFontSize (class XFORM.BrowserFontSize)
148 specifies the font size used for the text inside a browser.
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152 xforms(5), fd2ps(1L)
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155 Copyright (c) 1996-2002 T.C. Zhao <tc_zhao@yahoo.com> and Mark Overmars
156 <markov@cs.ruu.nl>
157 Since 2002: GNU Lesser General Public License
158 Maintainers: Jean-Marc Lasgouttes, Angus Leeming and Jens Thoms Toer‐
159 ring <jt@toerring.de>
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162 http://xforms-toolkit.org
163 http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/xforms/
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167Version 1.2.0 November 2013 FDESIGN(1L)