FORMS Library Release 1.2

[Mark Overmars]

                              FORM LIBRARY
                              ============

Version 1.2

I am happy to announce the release of version 1.2 of the forms library, a
public domain package for the design of interaction forms. Thanks
to the comments of many of you it has been improved in many respects. The main
changes with respect to version 1.1 are:

In the Library:

- The whole package now works well for both C and C++.
- The event handling has been improved quite a bit. This solves the problems
  of losing events, the problem that buttons sometimes remain highlighted, the
  problem that forms sometimes did not react, etc.
- The browser has been completely rewritten to make it useful for displaying
  sets of choices. The user can then pick single or multiple choices.
- All labels now have a style (e.g. Bold, Italic, etc.).
- A fixed width style has been added (useful for e.g. tables).
- It is now possible to bind call-back routines to entire forms. It is
  also possible to define a call-back routine for normal GL events.
  This provides a powerful new way of using the forms.
- The light in lightbuttons is improved.
- Multiline labels on e.g. buttons are now possible.
- A new object class Choice has been added that gives a nice way in which the
  user can choose among some possibilities.
- A File Selector has been added. With one call a form is displayed with which
  the user can run through the directory tree and choose a particular file. It
  even handles patterns with which the user can restrict the files it wants
  to see.
- A new class Bitmap has been added that can display X bitmaps.
- A number of small errors have been improved.

In the Form Designer:

- All forms it uses have been redesigned allowing for many more forms and
  types.
- The main window is now scalable.
- There is a test mode in which you can test the forms you are creating.
- Objects now scale in four different directions, depending on where you
  pick them up.
- Creates code that is compatible with C++.
- It now correctly handles array elements as object names.
- many small errors were corrected.

The best way to get the library is via anonymous ftp in our archive at
archive.cs.ruu.nl (131.211.80.5) (if you can't do this, mail me).

In the directory SGI you find a file forms1.2.tar.Z. Get it (in binary mode)
and type

uncompress forms1.2.tar.Z
tar xvof forms1.2.tar

and you get a directory forms_library. It contains the library, 33 demo's, a
few applications and 70 pages of LaTeX documentation. For those who do not
have LaTeX, the postscript version of the doc can be found in the file
formsdoc1.2.tar.Z in the same archive.

Good luck with it. Please report any bugs, questions, extensions, etc. to
markov at cs.ruu.nl.

Mark Overmars