Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

	This is probably better asked in one of the Imaging notesfiles..
	I know of one, VISUAL::IMAGEING but I'd say the IMAGE_SERVICES
	would be the better one.. Sorry, I don't know where that is.

						mike

    It's VISUAL::IMAGING (Mike had a typo) and IMAGE_SERVICES is on EDWIN::
    
John

    0-255, I hope it's in bytes instead of words.
    
    By and large, unless you are using a Lynx or a Firefox, you will need
    all of the colors on the system for the run of the mill 8 plane system.
    In which case, you'll find you can't allocate the color cells so you
    will need to create a color map, install it and then use it.  You
    can simply allocate all the colors and then load set the map up as
    you wish with no data translation needed.
    
    

Thank for .3, we make as you said and all works fine.
Now we have the problem of making the new colormap active
without the need of a "click" on the window (we already use the
"XSetWindowColormap", "XSynchonize","XFlush").
The application performs only output
over the whole screen, so the usage of the mouse is not required.
    
Thanks again.
		Tonino

    
    How about: XInstallColormap
    
    Xlib Routines Reference Manual: Part 2, Window and Session Manager
    Routines.  I think that this is what forces a colomap to be installed.
    
    

Applications SHOULD NOT CALL XInstallColormap.  That is a function provided for
window managers.  What you should do is use one of the possible means to force
input focus to your window.  With input focus, the window manager should install
your colormap.  Clicking is currently necessary because your window doesn't
take focus at startup.

You should also not assume that you will get the whole screen (unless you are
using override redirect windows).  Many window managers will not give you the
whole screen or, even if you get the whole screen, the user may shrink the
size of your window.

Dick

    
    From .4:
    
    "The application performs only output
    over the whole screen, so the usage of the mouse is not required."
    
    Sounds pretty silly to do it indirectly by getting the imput focus.
    The fact that window managers typically do this function shouldn't
    preclude it's use by other applications.
    

And what if the user chooses to push the application window behind or the
application is run under a window manager that does not let it take the
whole window?  The only way that XInstallColormap can be used safely by
an application is if it is putting an override redirect window over the whole
screen.  In that situation other windows would never have the opportunity to
try to become active.  Of course, that situation is extremely anti-social and
violates the premise the the user is in control of the machine (rather than
the other way around).  Another aspect of covering the whole screen with
an override redirect window is that it would not matter if input focus was
taken since you couldn't see other windows anyway.

Starting with R4 there will be colormap focus in addition to input focus and
the application could probably just take that rather than input focus.  That is
how you would tell the window manager "use my colormap".

Dick

    
    Depends on the society I guess.
    

Thanks for all the answers.
The application is not anti-social, because the need of the customer
was the following.
He must display continuosly upon the whole screen some recorded images,
for demo goals.
The people watching the demo (customer's customers) MUST ONLY SEE the
recorded images running on the screen, WITHOUT INTERFERENCES from
other applications.    
The application runs on another terminal and directs his calls
on the VAXstation. The application's menu appears on
the terminal, so the application doesn't need the mouse.

Thanks again.
	Tonino

Tonino,

Then, by all means, use an OverrideRedirect window and install the colormap
your self.  You should probably reinstall the default colormap when your
application exits (just to be nice to the rest of the world).

Dick

Ok, that was our final solution (.11).

Thanks again.

	Tonino