AIX Version 4.3 Differences Guide

8.3.4 Miscellaneous Enhancements
The following sections describe various Motif enhancements:
8.3.4.1 Printing
Starting with Release 2.1, Motif includes support for printing using an X
protocol-based print server. This print server produces output in three formats:
PCL, PostScript, and Raster.
8.3.4.2 Thread-Safe Libraries
Xm and Mrm are thread-safe-enabled. This means that the libraries themselves
are thread-safe, and a multithreaded application need not do explicit locking
when accessing these libraries.
8.3.4.3 File Selection Box
The Motif File Selection Box offers a powerful, but complex, filtering mechanism
for file selection. It offers all the power of the UNIX file system to users. The CDE
User Model group, however, has come up with a design that seems better-suited
for the average user.
The CDE File Selection Box replaces the regular filter control with two controls:
the base directory entry and a wild-card entry for file name pattern. Only the
subdirectories are shown in the directory list and the file names in the file list.
Hence, scroll bars are not needed in this case.
OSF did not want to make obsolete the documentation for existing applications.
They also wanted to maintain the old Motif 1.2 behavior. For these reasons, they
decided to maintain both the old and the new styles. However, the new CDE style
has become the default since it is more intuitive for most users.
8.3.4.4 String Manipulation
Motif offers string manipulation through an abstract object called XmString. The
XmString abstraction associates a multi-lingual string with the encoding
information attached to each locale and rendition to be used for a particular
substring.
In Motif 1.2, the XmString abstraction supports the display with multiple fonts.
However, the programmer has to separately create each character string that
uses a different font, associate that string with a tag, and match that tag with a
font. In Motif 2.1, the rendition is both simplified and extended. It is extended to
support multiple fonts as well as multiple colors and TAB marks. It is simplified
with the availability of a new API. This new API offers construction of the
XmString.
8.3.4.5 Toggle Button Enhancements
When used as check boxes, toggle buttons (on/off buttons) are often not intuitive
in Motif 1.x releases. Users are sometimes confused whether the etched-in
appearance means on or off. The 3D effect used for the etched-in look is not
always easily recognized in unusual light conditions (for example, industrial or
military environments) or screens with limited color range. This has lead to
enhancing the ToggleButton widget to support these new features:
• A check mark can be used inside the toggle square area.
Graphical Environment Enhancements 221