Mac Interface Improvements

[Hans Ronne <hronne@2.sbbs.se>]

I have just checked in a major revision of the Mac interface. The most
important new feature is floating windows support. Thus, the World Map, the
Game, Notices and Design windows and all unit Closeups are now floating
windows. Other changes include more customization with respect to the
scrollbars (now absent by default to save screen space) a redesigned Design
palette, and a large number of under the hood improvements. The World Map
is now also clickable and works the same way as in the Tcl/Tk version.

If you want to test out the new stuff you should be aware of two things.
First, there are two new files in the mac directory, Floating.c and
Floating.h, and you must add the former to your project. Don't forget to
include XconqMWC.r as well which then pulls in Xconq.r. You can't use
XconqProj.rsrc if you still have a copy around since it has not been
updated for quite some time.

The second problem is that the new gif code is not supported on the Mac. If
you compile the current sources and launch a game you will therefore get a
black screen instead of a map. The simple solution to this is to scrap
lib/terrain.imf and replace it with version 1.1 of the same file. This is
the first version of the file that was checked in at the repository, and
the easiest way to get it is by clicking this:

http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/xconq/lib/terrain.imf
?rev=1.1&content-type=text/plain&cvsroot=xconq

It is recommended that you give the XconqPPC 12M preferred and 8M minimal
memory if you want to play some of the more complicated games such as
Ancient Near East (ane.g) to the end.

A final note: the interface now differs from standard Mac behaviour in that
it is possible to issue keyboard commands to the frontmost map even if it
is not the frontmost non-floating window. This makes things a lot easier if
you use a full-screen map since you can then keep small non-floating
windows such as the Help or History window on top of the map and still
access it. In particular, I find it useful to be able to scroll and zoom
the map in the background. However, to issue menu commands to a map you
must still bring it to the frontmost non-floating position by clicking on
it. Moreover, if a window that accepts keyboard input (such as the Command
window) is in front, that's where the input will go. The only exception to
this is scrolling etc. by using the numeric keypad or the arrows, which
still works with the Command window in front.

This sounds awfully complicated, but I'm sure you'll find it natural once
you've tried it out :-)

Hans

Hans Ronne

hronne@2.sbbs.se