AIX Version 4.3 Differences Guide

the same area just like real-world book pages. Tabs simulate notebook tabs.
Major tabs are used for dividing pages into several sections, and minor tabs are
used for subdividing the sections. The page scroller is used for switching the
current page back and forth. The Note Book also provides tab scrollers for
scrolling major and minor tabs when it cannot display all tabs. Tab scrollers are
visible and enabled only when there is insufficient space to display all the major
tabs or the minor tabs appropriate to the page. A complex implementation of a
Note Book can be seen in Figure 47.
Major tabs displayed on the side of the Note Book allow the user to quickly
access data. Once a primary tab is chosen (for example, a chapter), the minor
tabs appear in the orthogonal direction (for example, sections) and allow further
indexing inside the relevant parts of the document.
Pages, tabs, status areas, and the page scroller are created by the application as
children of the Note Book widget. Any Motif widget may be a page of the Note
Book. A major tab, or a minor tab, may be attached to a page by creating a tab
child of the Note Book and setting a constraint to the page number of the targeted
page. Note that the notebook widget makes heavy use of the traits of its child
widgets to invoke their class methods. A tab, either a major tab or a minor tab,
must be a Motif widget with a trait that can be activated (such as a push button).
Tabs in a Note Book are associated with a page number not attached to any
actual page widget. Therefore, it is possible to have a tab with an empty page.
Destroying a page widget leaves an empty page. It does not tear the page out of
the XmNotebook.
The page scroller child is not associated with a certain page. There is only one
valid page scroller per Note Book, and it must carry the navigator trait. Since the
application of the Note Book can provide page numbers, it is possible to have
duplicate pages and empty pages. An empty page is a page slot where no page
is inserted. This page displays just a blank background unless the application
provides some visual information to this area while processing. Note that this
feature is very useful for applications that have to display hundreds (or even
thousands) of pages. It is not necessary to have hundreds of physical pages in
memory. An application may actually use only one physical empty page, provide
adequate tab indexing for the real number of pages it supports, and only update
the contents of the (single) physical page with the information when required.
The Note Book widget is a versatile tool. Typical uses are:
• The display of on-line documentation, with quick access to information by
using the tabs index.
• Reducing the real estate occupied by an application on the screen by making
visible only the information required at that particular moment. A Note Book
allows a developer to very quickly implement any kind of agenda or calendar
application. It is the optimal base for a card filer application and provides good
support for a hypertext applications.
• Dialog boxes that have variants. For example, a property sheet dialog box for
a document editor might have a font part and a margin part as pages of the
Note Book.
A Note Book allows a developer to very quickly prototype all kinds of applications
that display organized information, such as a card filer, an agenda, or a calendar
application.
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