[Plib-devel] PUI File Browser Implementation

[John F. F. <joh...@eg...>]

I made a file browser out of a "puLargeInput" widget.  The "puLargeInput" is
essentially a multiple-line input box with a slider to the right and a
slider below it.  (The "puText" widget won't work because it doesn't support
mouse hits.)  The file browser doesn't return a file name like Steve wanted
it to ( filename = puFileBrowser ("*.*"); ), but it does display a list of
files and allow the user to pick one.  I found that I had to save the widget
and a callback in order to let the program remember what it wanted the file
name for.  I don't think it's very elegant, but it works; if there is a
better way I would like to hear about it.

My user interface has a button that allows the user to read the text from a
file into a "puLargeInput" widget.  The callback for this button calls a
function that opens the file browser window.  The callback passes to this
function a character string to hold the file name when the user has selected
it, a pointer to a function to be called when the user has selected the file
name (I call this the "action function"), and the pointer to the
"puLargeInput" widget which is to receive the text from the file (the
"receiving widget").

The file browser window contains a second "puLargeInput" widget to hold all
the files, a "puInput" widget to hold the selected file name, and an "OK"
button.  (It also contains a few other widgets which are not relevant to the
present discussion.)  The "puLargeInput" widget gets a list of files written
into it.  If the user clicks in the "puLargeInput" widget, the file name
which he clicks on gets written into the "puInput" widget.  When he clicks
on the "OK" button, and if the name in the "puInput" widget is a regular
file name, the program calls the action function and passes to it the
pointer to the receiving widget.

I'm not sure if this explanation is clear.  If there is any interest in
further details, ask me for them and I'll do my best.

John F. Fay
joh...@eg...