Gadget name clashes

[Tony van der Hoff]

On Mon, 3 Apr 2000, at 20:27:48, Jonathan Coxhead
<jonathan at doves.demon.co.uk> wrote on the subject "Gadget name clashes":

>   Tony wrote,
>
> | Note that I haven't yet tackled the OS_F issue; I was going to 
>leave
> | it 'till later, but it may be worth doing now in order to kill off 
>the
> | religious arguments (which would mean a further delay).
>
>   Would you? Could you? Ooo!
>
Well, not overnight, but certainly. You fend 'em off for another week or
two, I'll write the code. You're doing a great job, but I know I've got
the preferable task ;-)
>
>   I suspect even the most vehement supporter of a 32-bit |os_f| will 
>change their mind once they realise how easy it is to change to 
>|os_fw|. (IMHO.)
>
We might get our monopoly broken up ;-)

>   But, do you have anything reasonably complicated that could be 
>used to test the changes? Unfortunately, DefMod uses CLib rather than 
>OSLib for most of its file handling, but a version could be built 
>that used xosfind_openin_w(), xos_bget_w() and xosfind_close_w() in 
>"defmod.y", and then all the output files could be compared to make 
>sure they were the same before and after ...
>
I'll have a look, but I have also tended to use the CLib calls for file
handling. I suspect most people have, it's simpler, and portable. Yet
another reason why the whole OS_F debate is futile!

DefMod itself does seem to be the most obvious candidate as a test bed.
Alternatively, I suppose I could just write a test harness for all the
os_fw calls. I'll see...

>   It would be ideal to build a little confidence with the new system 
>before releasing it on an unsuspecting world, 

Unsuspecting? Hah! But I agree otherwise.

>
> | >   Now, how about font handles ... do we also need |font_w|? 
> | >Including font_find_font_w(), font_lose_font_w(), font_paint_w(),
> | >etc, etc, etc??
> | 
> | Well, do we? My guess is 'yes'.
>
>   I don't think it's worth doing, because of 1 insoluble problem: on 
>entry to Wimp_LoadTemplate, R4 points to an array of 256 font usage 
>counts, which means that the Wimp can only use fonts with handles <= 
>255 in a template (and I bet that if it were to be handed a font 
>handle > 255, it would overwrite someone else's memory---just the 
>sort of bug we are trying to close the door on by leaving |os_f| at 8 
>bits!).

OOh, I'd forgotten about that!
>
>   Until someone at RISCOS Ltd says with some degree of credibility 
>that they intend to lift that restriction, and maybe suggests what 
>kind of interface will be used as a replacement, I don't think it's 
>worth worrying about.

Fine!

Cheers, Tony
-- 
Tony van der Hoff         |  Mailto:tony at mk-net.demon.co.uk
                          |  Mailto:avanderhoff at iee.org
Buckinghamshire, England  |  http:www.mk-net.demon.co.uk