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diff --git a/docbook/wsdg_src/WSDG_chapter_userinterface.asciidoc b/docbook/wsdg_src/WSDG_chapter_userinterface.asciidoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..1a9eb30d30 --- /dev/null +++ b/docbook/wsdg_src/WSDG_chapter_userinterface.asciidoc @@ -0,0 +1,210 @@ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +<!-- WSDG Chapter User Interface --> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + +[[ChapterUserInterface]] + +== User Interface + +[[ChUIIntro]] + +=== Introduction + +Wireshark can be logically separated into the backend (dissecting protocols, +file loading and saving, capturing, etc.) and the frontend (the user interface). + +The following frontends are currently maintained by the Wireshark +development team: + +* Wireshark, GTK 2.x based + +* Wireshark, GTK 3.x based (Wireshark 1.10 and newer) + +* Wireshark, Qt based (Wireshark 1.11 and newer) + +* TShark, console based + +There are other Wireshark frontends which are not developed nor maintained by +the Wireshark development team: + +* Packetyzer (Win32 native interface, written in Delphi and released +under the GPL, see: http://www.paglo.com/opensource/packetyzer[]) + +* hethereal (web based frontend, not actively maintained and not +finished) + +This chapter is focused on the Wireshark frontend, and especially on +the GTK interface. + +[[ChUIGTK]] + +=== The GTK library + +.We're switching to Qt +[NOTE] +==== +This chapter describes the state of our stable release, which is based on GTK+. +A major effort is underway to migrate Wireshark to Qt. If you would like to add +a new interface feature you should use it and not GTK+. +==== + +Wireshark is based on the GTK toolkit. See http://www.gtk.org[] for details. +GTK is designed to hide the details of the underlying GUI in a platform +independent way. As GTK is intended to be a multiplatform tool, there are some +drawbacks, as the result is a somewhat "non native" look and feel. + +GTK is available for many different platforms including, but not limited to: +Unix/Linux, Mac OS X and Win32. It's the foundation of the famous GNOME desktop, +so the future development of GTK should be certain. GTK is implemented in plain +C (as is Wireshark itself), and available under the LGPL (Lesser General Public +License), making it free to used by commercial and noncommercial applications. + +There are other similar toolkits like wxWidgets which could also be used for +Wireshark. There's no "one and only" reason for or against any of these +toolkits. However, the decision towards GTK was made a long time ago :-) + +As of 2013 there are two major GTK versions available: + +[[ChUIGTK2x]] + +==== GTK Version 2.x + +GTK 2.x depends on the following libraries: + +* GObject (Object library. Basis for GTK and others) + +* GLib (A general-purpose utility library, not specific to graphical user + interfaces. GLib provides many useful data types, macros, type conversions, + string utilities, file utilities, a main loop abstraction, and so on.) + +* Pango (Pango is a library for internationalized text handling. It centers + around the PangoLayout object, representing a paragraph of text. Pango + provides the engine for GtkTextView, GtkLabel, GtkEntry, and other widgets + that display text.) + +* ATK (ATK is the Accessibility Toolkit. It provides a set of generic interfaces + allowing accessibility technologies to interact with a graphical user + interface. For example, a screen reader uses ATK to discover the text in an + interface and read it to blind users. GTK+ widgets have built-in support for + accessibility using the ATK framework.) + +* GdkPixbuf (This is a small library which allows you to create GdkPixbuf + ("pixel buffer") objects from image data or image files. Use a + GdkPixbuf in combination with GtkImage to display images.) + +* GDK (GDK is the abstraction layer that allows GTK+ to support multiple + windowing systems. GDK provides drawing and window system facilities on X11, + Windows, and the Linux framebuffer device.) + +[[ChUIGTK3x]] + +==== GTK Version 3.x + +Wireshark (as of version 1.10) has been ported to use the GTK3 library. + +GTK 3.x depends on the following libraries: + +(See GTK 2.x) + +[[ChUIGTKCompat]] + +==== Compatibility GTK versions + +The GTK library itself defines some values which makes it easy to distinguish +between the versions, e.g. +GTK_MAJOR_VERSION+ and +GTK_MINOR_VERSION+ will be +set to the GTK version at compile time inside the gtkversion.h header. + +[[ChUIGTKWeb]] + +==== GTK resources on the web + +You can find several resources about GTK. + +First of all, have a look at http://www.gtk.org[]. This +will be the first place to look at. If you want to develop GTK related +things for Wireshark, the most important place might be the GTK API +documentation at http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk/stable/[]. + +Several mailing lists are available about GTK development, see +http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo[], the gtk-app-devel-list may be your +friend. + +As it's often done wrong: You should post a mail to *help* the developers +there instead of only complaining. Posting such a thing like "I don't like +your dialog, it looks ugly" won't be of much help. You might think about +what you dislike and describe why you dislike it and provide a suggestion +for a better way. + +[[ChUIGUIDocs]] + +=== GUI Reference documents + +Although the GUI development of Wireshark is platform independent, the +Wireshark development team tries to +follow the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) where appropriate. +This is the case, because both GNOME and Wireshark are based on the GTK+ +toolkit and the GNOME HIG is excellently written and easy to understand. + +For further reference, see the following documents: + +* Android Design: +http://developer.android.com/design/index.html[] (Wireshark doesn't have a +mobile frontend but there is still useful information here) + +* GNOME Human Interface Guidelines: +http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/[] + +* The KDE Usability/HIG project: +http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG[] + +* OS X Human Interface Guidelines: +https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/Intro/Intro.html[] + +* Design apps for the Windows desktop: +http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa511258.aspx[] + +[[ChUIGTKDialogs]] + +=== Adding/Extending Dialogs + +This is usually the main area for contributing new user interface features. + +XXX: add the various functions from gtk/dlg_utils.h + +[[ChUIGTKWidgetNamings]] + +=== Widget naming + +It seems to be common sense to name the widgets with some +descriptive trailing characters, like: + +* xy_lb = gtk_label_new(); + +* xy_cb = gtk_checkbox_new(); + +* XXX: add more examples + +However, this schema isn't used at all places inside the code. + +[[ChUIGTKPitfalls]] + +=== Common GTK programming pitfalls + +There are some common pitfalls in GTK programming. + +[[ChUIGTKShowAll]] + +==== Usage of gtk_widget_show() / gtk_widget_show_all() + +When a GTK widget is created it will be hidden by default. In order to +show it, a call to gtk_widget_show() has to be done. + + +It isn't necessary to do this for each and every widget created. A call +to gtk_widget_show_all() on the parent of all the widgets in question +(e.g. a dialog window) can be done, so all of its child widgets will +be shown too. + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +<!-- End of WSDG Chapter User Interface --> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |