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>Talking to the user: GnomeDialog, GnomeMessageBox,
    GnomeAppBar, and utility functions.</TITLE
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><A
NAME="DIALOGAPPUTIL-DOCS"
>Chapter 9. Talking to the user: <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeDialog</SPAN
>, <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeMessageBox</SPAN
>,
    <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
>, and utility functions.</A
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>Table of Contents</B
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><DT
><A
HREF="dialogapputil-docs.html#INTRODUCTION"
>Introduction</A
></DT
><DT
><A
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>Using <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
> directly</A
></DT
><DT
><A
HREF="gnome-app-util.html"
>The abstract message utility functions</A
></DT
><DT
><A
HREF="x2161.html"
>Utility functions if a <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeApp</SPAN
> is available</A
></DT
><DT
><A
HREF="gnome-dialog.html"
>Using <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeDialog</SPAN
> directly</A
></DT
></DL
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><DIV
CLASS="SECT1"
><H1
CLASS="SECT1"
><A
NAME="INTRODUCTION"
>Introduction</A
></H1
><P
>      Gnome strives to provide the user with a maximum level of
      configurability, and the programmer with a maximum level of
      convenience. Happily, these two goals tend to go hand in hand:
      fewer decisions for the programmer means more decisions for the
      user.
    </P
><P
>      This section describes Gnome's facilities for communicating
      simple messages or questions to the user, and retrieving a
      response. The main widgets involved are <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeDialog</SPAN
>
      and <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
> (a statusbar, but that name was
      taken). Gnome also provides convenience functions which give the
      user greater choice as a side effect. For example, if you call
      <TT
CLASS="FUNCTION"
>gnome_app_message()</TT
> instead of creating a
      dialog directly, the user can request that messages appear in
      the app bar instead.
    </P
><P
>      Some functionality is missing, and some of the API is
      suboptimal. Hopefully this will be fixed eventually. In
      particular:
    </P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
>	  <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
> does not work in interactive mode,
	  so all questions must be asked via dialog. Full
	  Emacs-minibuffer-style functionality needs to be added.
	</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>	  <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeAppBar</SPAN
> should use
	  <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomePreferencesType</SPAN
> for its has_progress
	  parameter, and not use a progress bar if the user wants
	  progress dialogs instead.
	</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>	  Nonstandard function pointer callbacks are a poor substitute
	  for Gtk signals and unpleasant in non-C bindings.  One
	  possible solution is to create a <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GtkObject</SPAN
> to
	  represent the user interaction, complete with
	  signals. <SPAN
CLASS="TYPE"
>GnomeQuestion</SPAN
>, for example, with a
	  "answered" and "cancelled" signal. More complex, but more
	  flexible.
	</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>	  It is all sort of clunky feeling. Perhaps convenience
	  functions are inherently inelegant?
	</P
></LI
></UL
><P
>      Patches and suggestions are always welcome. Please think about
      how the API could be improved as you read this and use the
      facilities, then send along your thoughts.
    </P
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