DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

FDESIGN(1L)                      Forms Library                     FDESIGN(1L)

NAME
       fdesign -  Forms Library User Interface Designer

SYNOPSIS
       fdesign [-xformoptions] [-options] [files]

DESCRIPTION
       fdesign is a GUI builder that helps in the construction of graphical
       user interface in a WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") way by
       allowing the user to directly manipulate various objects, such as
       buttons, sliders and menus etc.  Once a satisfactory UI is constructed,
       the user can save the composed interface into a set of external files.
       Files with the extension '.fd' contain all information about the
       objects and can be read in again by fdesign.  The files with C code and
       header files when compiled and linked against the Forms Library,
       generate code that at run-time constructs the exact same interface as
       the ones seen within fdesign.

       A variety of output languages is possible via external filters.  As of
       this writing, C, perl, ada95, Fortran, pascal, and PostScript output
       filters are known to exist.

OPTIONS
       fdesign accepts all standard Forms Library command line options as well
       as the following:

       -help Prints a brief summary of all command line options. This option
             does not require a connection to the X server.

       -version
             Prints the current version of fdesign and exits.

       -geometry geom
             Specifies the prefered size and location of main working area in
             which the UI is to be constructed.

       -convert fdfile-list
             This option prevents fdesign from attempting to make a connection
             to the X server. The file list following this flag is converted
             to C code directly.

       -dir destdir
             output any converted files in destdir.

       -unit pixel|point|mm|cp|cmm
             selects the unit of measure for object geometries. For non-pixel
             unit, the interface created is screen resolution independent and
             may be desirable for many applications. Note that for typical
             screens, point (about 1/72 inch) and mm may be too coarse and
             subject to round-off errors. Use cp (centi-point, 100th of a
             point) and cmm (centi-mm) instead.

       -altformat
             selects an alternative format for the generated C code where
             global variables are used for the UI components.

       -main requests the output of main program template.

       -callback
             requests the output of callback function template.

       -compensate
             requests the emission of font/server resolution variation
             compensation code.

       -I headerfile
             uses an alternative header file instead of the default forms.h in
             the output C code.

       -lax  requests relaxed C syntax checking.

       -ps   This option specifies that instead of emitting the c code for the
             user interface, PostScript code should be emitted.

       -ada  This option requests ada95 code output

       -perl This option requests perl code output.

       -fortran
             This option requests Fortran code output.

       -pascal
             This option requests pascal code output.

       -nocode
             suppresses the output of UI code. Only the .fd file is written.

       The most useful Forms Library command line options are

       -display host:dpy
              This option specifies the X server to connect.

       -flversion
              This option prints the version string of the Forms Library, with
              which fdesign was build.

       -name appname
              This option specifies the application name under which resources
              are to be obtained, instead of the executable name.  appname
              should not contain . or *.  fdesign.

RESOURCES
       The program understands all of the Forms Library's resource names and
       classes as well as the following

       control.geometry (class Control.Geometry)
               specifies the geometry of the control panel. Currently the size
               is ignored.

       unit (Unit)
               specifies the default unit of measure. Default is pixel.

       attributes.geometry (class Attributes.Geometry)
               specifies the geometry of the object attributes panel.
               Currently the size is ignored.

       align.geometry (class Align.Geometry)
               specifies the geometry of the object align panel.  Currently
               the size is ignored.

       xformsHeader (class XFormsHeader)
               specifies the header filename generated in the output C code.
               Default is forms.h

       filter (class Filter)
               specifies post-processing filter (an external executable name).

       language (class Language)
               specifies target language name.

       Among the standard Forms Library resources, the following are most
       useful

       xform.fontsize (class XFORM.FontSize)
              specifies the font size used for most object labels.

       xform.pupfontsize (class XFORM.PupFontSize)
              specifies the font size used in pop-up menus.

       xform.browserFontSize (class XFORM.BrowserFontSize)
              specifies the font size used for the text inside a browser.

SEE ALSO
       xforms(5), fd2ps(1L)

AUTHOR
       Copyright (c) 1996-2002 T.C. Zhao <tc_zhao@yahoo.com> and Mark Overmars
       <markov@cs.ruu.nl>
       Since 2002: GNU Lesser General Public License
       Maintainers: Jean-Marc Lasgouttes, Angus Leeming and Jens Thoms
       Toerring <jt@toerring.de>

HOME PAGE
       http://xforms-toolkit.org
       http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/xforms/

Version 1.2.0                    November 2013                     FDESIGN(1L)