README
======
Twm4Nx is a port of twm, Tab Window Manager (or Tom's Window Manager)
version 1.0.10 to NuttX NX windows server. No, a port is not the right
word. It is a re-design of TWM from the inside out to work with the NuttX
NX server. The name Twm4Nx reflects this legacy. But Twm4Nx is more a
homage to TWM than a port of TWM.
The original TWM was based on X11 which provides a rich set of features.
TWM provided titlebars, shaped windows, several forms of icon management,
user-defined macro functions, click-to-type and pointer-driven keyboard
focus, graphic contexts, and user-specified key and pointer button bindings,
etc.
Twm4Nx, on the other hand is based on the NuttX NX server which provides
comparatively minimal support. Additional drawing support comes from
the NuttX NxWidgets library (which necessitated the change to C++).
Twm4Nx is greatly stripped down and targeted on small embedded systems
with minimal resources. For example, no assumption is made about the
availability of a file system; no .twmrc file is used. Bitmaps are not
used (other than for fonts).
The TWM license is, I believe compatible with the BSD license used by NuttX.
The origin TWM license required notice of copyrights within each file and
a full copy of the original license which you can find in the COPYING file.
within this directory.
STATUS
======
Progress:
2019-04-28: This port was brutal. Much TWM logic was removed because it
depended on X11 features (or just because I could not understand how to
use it). The replacement logic is only mostly in place but more
needs to be done to have a complete system (hence, it is marked
EXPERIMENTAL). The kinds of things that need to done are:
1. Right click should bring up a window list (like the icon manager???)
2. For TWM-like behavior, a window frame and toolbar should be highlighted
when the window has focus.
3. A right click on the toolbar should bring up a window-specific menu.
2019-05-02: Some testing progress. The system comes up, connects to and
initializes the VNC window. For some reason, the VNC client breaks the
connection. The server is no longer connected so Twm4Nx constipates and
and eventually hangs.
2019-05-08: I abandoned the VNC interface and found that things are much
better using a direct, hardware framebuffer. The background comes up
properly and the Icon Manager appears properly in the upper right hand
corner. The Icon Manager Window can be iconified or de-iconified.
The Icon Manager window can be grabbed by the toolbar title and moved
about on the window (the movement is not very smooth on the particular
hardware that I am working with).
2019-05-10: A left click on the background brings up the main menu. At
present there are only two options: "Desktop" which will iconify all
windows and "Twm4Nx Icon Manager" which will de-iconify and/or raise
the Icon Manager window to the top of the hierarchy. That latter option
is only meaningful when the desktop is very crowded.
2019-05-13: Added the NxTerm application. If enabled via
CONFIG_TWM4XN_NXTERM, there will now be a "NuttShell" entry in the Main
Menu. When pressed, this will bring up an NSH session in a Twm4Nx
window.
2019-05-14: We can now move an icon on the desktop. Includes logic to
avoid collisions with other icons and with the background image. That
later is an issue. The background image image widget needs to be
removed; it can occlude a desktop icon. We need to paint the image
directly on the background without the use of a widget.
2019-05-15: Resizing now seems to work correctly in Twm4Nx.
2019-05-20: Calibration screen is now in place.
2019-05-21: A "CONTEMPORARY" theme was added. Still has a few glitches.
How To:
Icon Manager
- At start up, only the Icon Manager window is shown. The Icon Manager
is a TWM alternative to more common desktop icons. Currently Twm4Nx
supports both desktop icons and the Icon Manager.
Whenever a new application is started from the Main Menu, its name
shows up in the Icon Manager. Selecting the name will either de-
iconify the window, or just raise it to the top of the display.
Main Menu:
- A touch/click at any open location on the background (except the
image at the center or on another icon) will bring up the Main Menu.
Options:
o Desktop. Iconify all windows and show the desktop
o Twm4Nx Icom Manager. De-iconify and/or raise the Icon Manager to
the top of the display.
o Calibration. Perform touchscreen re-calibration.
o NuttShell. Start and instance of NSH running in an NxTerm.
- All windows close after the terminal menu option is selected.
Window Toolbar
- Most windows have a toolbar at the top. It is optional but used
in most windows.
- The toolbar contains window title and from zero to 4 buttons:
o Right side: A menu button may be presented. The menu button
is not used by anything in the current implementation and is
always suppressed
o Left side: The far left is (1)the terminate button (if present).
If present, it will close window when selected. Not all windows can
be closed. You can't close the Icon Manager or menu windows, for
example. Then (2) a resize button. If presented and is selected,
then the resize sequence described below it started. This may
the be preceded by a minimize button that iconifies the window.
Moving a Window:
- Grab the title in the toolbar and move the window to the desired
position.
Resizing a Window:
- A window must have the green resize button with the square or it
cannot be resized.
- Press resize button. A small window should pop-up in the upper
left hand corner showing the current window size.
- Touch anywhere in window (not the toolbar) and slide your finger.
The resize window will show the new size but there will be no other
update to the display. It is thought that continuous size updates
would overwhelm lower end MCUs. Movements support include:
o Move toward the right increases the width of the window
o Move toward the left decreases the width of the window
o Move toward the bottom increases the height of the window
o Move toward the top decreases the height of the Window
o Other moves will affect both the height and width of the window.
- NOTE: While resizing, non-critical events from all other windows
are ignored.
Themes
- There are two themes support by the configuration system:
o CONFIG_TWM4NX_CLASSIC. Strong bordered windows with dark primary
colors. Reminiscent of Windows 98.
o CONFIG_TWM4NX_CONTEMPORARY. Border-less windows in pastel shades
for a more contemporary look.
Issues:
2019-05-16:
Twm4Nx is in a very complete state but only at perhaps "alpha" in its
maturity. You should expect to see some undocumented problems. If
you see such problems and can describe a sequence to actions to
reproduce the problem, let me know and I will try to resolve the
problems.
Here are all known issues and features that are missing:
TWM Compatibilities Issues:
1. Resizing works a little differently in Twm4Nx.
2. Right click should bring up a window list
3. For TWM-like behavior, a window frame and toolbar should be highlighted
when the window has focus.
4. A right click on the toolbar should bring up a window-specific menu.
Other issues/bugs
5. Icon drag movement includes logic to avoid collisions with other
icons and with the background image. That later is an issue. We
need to paint the image directly on the background without the
use of a widget.
6. There are a few color artifacts in the toolbar of the CONTEMPORARY
theme. These look like borders are being drawn around the toolbar
widgets (even though the are configured to be borderless).
7. Most Twm4Nx configuration settings are hard-coded in *_config.hxx header
files. These all need to be brought out and made accessible via Kconfig
files
8. Things become buggy after perhaps 10 shell windows have been opened.
Most likely, some resource allocation is failing silently and leaving
things in a bad state. The board I am using has 128Mb of SDRAM so I
can't believe that memory is the limiting factor. These are, however,
RAM-backed windows and will use significant amounts of memory.
9. Menus with sub-menus have not been verified. There is no use of sub-
menus in the current code base so I expect that there are issues when,
for example, and item from a sub-menu item: That menu and all of its
antecedent menus should be closed.
10. There is an optional MENU button that may appear at the far left on
the toolbar. It is not used by any window in the current code base
and, hence, is unverified. I would expect some issues with generating
and routing the MENU button events to applications.
There are likely other unverified features.
