Updated 2001/04/13
Sun WorkShop(TM) 6 update 2 Visual Readme

Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. About Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Visual
  3. New Features
  4. Software Corrections
  5. Problems and Workarounds
  6. Limitations and Incompatibilities
  7. Documentation Errata

 


A. Introduction

This document contains last-minute information about Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Visual. This document describes the software corrections addressed by this release and lists known problems, limitations, and incompatibilities.

For installation-related and late-breaking information about this release, see the Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Release Notes. Information in the release notes overrides information in all readme files.

To access the release notes and the full Forte(TM) Developer/Sun WorkShop(TM) documentation set, point your Netscape(TM) Communicator 4.0 or compatible browser to the documentation index (file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html).

To view the text version of this readme, type the following at a command prompt:

   example% more /opt/SUNWspro/READMEs/visu

To access the HTML version of this readme, point your Netscape Communicator 4.0 or compatible browser to:

   file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html

Note - If your Sun WorkShop software is not installed in the /opt directory, ask your system administrator for the equivalent path on your system.

 


B. About Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Visual

Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 Visual is an interactive tool for creating robust Motif-based and Java(TM) graphical user interfaces with minimal effort. Visual is a component of the Sun Visual WorkShop(TM) integrated programming environment.

Visual runs on SPARC(TM) processors running the Solaris(TM) (SPARC Platform Edition) Operating Environment and Intel(R) processors running the Solaris (Intel Platform Edition) Operating Environment. Visual requires one of the following configurations:

 


C. New Features

This section describes the new and changed features for Sun WorkShop 6 Visual.

  1. Swing Support
  2. Enhanced Windows Support
  3. Integration With Sun WorkShop Projects
1. Swing Support

Visual now has the ability to generate Java Swing code in addition to Java 1.0 and 1.1. As well as generating appropriate Swing components for the Motif widgets, Visual has increased the range of supported mappable resources: It is now possible to generate appropriate Swing code for toggles that contain images, shell icons, shell resize and delete response, the contents of lists, and rowcolumn entry alignment, among other extensions.

The MWT class library, which maps Motif components into Java where the standard classes lack equivalence, has been ported to Swing in order to provide a more consistent look and feel. The dependence on the MWT to provide a Motif-compatible interface has been reduced as certain of the Motif components are now mapped directly into an appropriate Swing component.

The Java Layout emulation widgets have been reworked where necessary to provide a more consistent behavior with respect to Java Layout characteristics.

As part of a move towards supporting cross-platform code for third- party (non-Motif) components, Visual now has the ability to specify default base classing for any integrated component. The classing can be on a general language basis or for specific variants. For example, it is possible to specify in a general way the proposed default class for Java, as well as Java 1.0, 1.1, and Swing-specific classing. Proposed component MFC classing can also be specified. The mechanisms address the previous problem where each given third-party component would have to be individually and manually configured in order to create the right kind of object in the target language. Third-party specific resources are not mapped. The mechanisms neither cater to situations where a given component needs to be mapped into multiple native objects nor for the case where a compound component can be mapped by consideration of the constituent builtin parts.

 2. Enhanced Windows Support

Visual has added support for mapping X events to Windows MFC:

 3. Integration With Sun WorkShop Projects

Visual works with Sun WorkShop project wizards to help create projects with graphical user interfaces.

 


D. Software Corrections

There is no new information at this time.

 


E. Problems and Workarounds

When you use the command-line interface to Visu to generate code, under the circumstances detailed below, the generated file can contain ^@^@^@^@ characters embedded in the code.

This happens when the Code field and the Main Program field of the Code Generation dialog box contain nonmatching, but equivalent, file names. For instance, if the Code field contains ./foo.c and the Main Program field contains foo.c, the code generator gets confused and generates the ^@^@^@^@^@ characters in the source.

The workaround is to either make both names identical or completely different.

For updates, check the Forte Developer Hot Product News web page (http://www.sun.com/forte/developer/hotnews.html)

 


F. Limitations and Incompatibilities 

 


G. Documentation Errata 

There is no new information at this time. 

 


Copyright 2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 901 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303, U.S.A. All rights reserved. 

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, docs.sun.com, and Solaris are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.