Volume 7A: XView Programming Manual

17

Resources

In the X Window System, the user can configure the interface according to options available

in specific applications. The user accomplishes this through a resource database that resides

in the X server. The X Protocol provides many ways to access the resource database, as well

as many functions to aid in this task. You should consult Chapter 11, Managing User Prefer-

ences, in Volume One, Xlib Programming Manual, for a complete, in-depth discussion of X

resource specification and management. Related programs include xrdb, and related func-

tions can be found in Volume Two, Xlib Reference Manual.

XView provides many functions that allow the programmer to interact with the server to get

or set resources specified by the user. Robust applications should account for user-definable

defaults. That is, your programs should always consider the user’s wishes for changing attri-

bute values for things like fonts, colors and maybe even window sizes, as long as the values

do not interfere with the normal running of the program. You should also provide the user

with a list of resources that can be set, and you should test for them in your application.

17.1 Predefined Defaults

All of the packages in XView look for predefined defaults that the user can set in his/her

resource environment. Table 17-1 outlines these defaults, their types and legal values. Refer

to Section 6, Command-line Arguments