Sample X Window Application

Source code for xsample.

Compiling xsample

  gcc -o xsample xsample.c -L/usr/X11R6/lib -lXaw -lXmu -lXt -lXext -lX11

C-Shell alias I use to compile small X applications

  alias cxt '/usr/bin/gcc -Wall -ansi -pedantic -o \
  `/bin/basename \!* .c` \!* -L/usr/X11R6/lib      \
  -lXaw -lXmu -lXt -lXext -lX11'

Customizing xsample

Use /usr/X11R6/bin/editres to find customizable resources.

Widget Tree

Resources

• Selecting "Save" on the "Resource Box" saves the configuration to a file.
• Selecting "Apply" on the "Resource Box" dynamically updates application.
• Selecting "Save and Apply" on the "Resource Box" does both.

X Application Customization Methods

X applications can be customized by the following listed in order of precedence. All source code examples are taken from the xsample application shown above.

1. Hardcoded in the X application

     Arg arglist[] = { XtNwidth, 180,
                       XtNbackground, (XtArgVal)"red",
                       XtNlabel, (XtArgVal)"HardCoded Resource" };
   
     XtSetValues( (Widget)client_data, arglist, XtNumber( arglist ) );
   
     /* Create widget */
     quitButton = XtVaCreateManagedWidget(
       "quitButton",
       commandWidgetClass,
       container,
       XtNwidth, 180,                      /* hard coded X resource	*/
       NULL );
   

2. Passed in from the command line.

     /home/matthew> xterm -bg yellow -fg "blue"
     /home/matthew> xsample -xrm ".xsample.*font: fixed"
   

3. Taken from the X server resource database
   (if any values exist in this database the entire ~/.Xdefaults file is ignored)

     /home/matthew> echo "xsample.*font: fixed" | xrdb -merge
   
                               - or -
   
     /home/matthew> xrdb -merge < xsampleResourceFile
     /home/matthew> xsample
   

4. Taken from the ~/.Xdefaults file

     /home/matthew> cat ~/.Xdefaults
     #ifdef COLOR
     *customization: -color
     #endif
     .xsample.*font: lucidasans-italic-24
     /home/matthew> xsample
   

5. Taken from the system wide application defaults file

     /home/matthew> cat /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XSample
     .xsample.container.quitButton.label: Quit
     .xsample.*font: lucidasans-italic-24
     /home/matthew> xsample
   

6. From the applications fallback resources

     static String fallbackResources[] = {
       ".xsample.*font: lucidasans-bold-12",
       NULL };
   
     /* Initialize the toolkit */
     topwidget = XtVaAppInitialize(
       &appcontext,                        /* application context          */
       "XSample",                          /* application class            */
       NULL, 0,                            /* command line option list     */
       &argc, argv,                        /* command line arguments       */
       fallbackResources,                  /* fallback resource settings   */
       NULL );                             /* terminate varags list        */
   

Last Modified: 14 June 1997