1 Conventions in this Manual
1.3 Module structure
The functionality of DUIM is provided via a number of modules. Each chapter of this manual indicates what module its API is exported from.
The duim module is the main API module, which contains the variables for the API-level functions available.
The duim-geometry module provides basic support for coordinate geometry. This allows the position of elements in a window object to be determined correctly.
The duim-extended-geometry module provides more extensive support for co-ordinate geometry that is only required for more specialist uses.
The duim-dcs module provides color support to the DUIM library.
The duim-sheets module provides basic support for sheets. Sheets are the basic unit of window applications, and can be nested hierarchically to build up a complete user interface.
The duim-graphics module provides support for graphics drawing
The duim-layouts module provides support for a layout protocol that makes it easy to create and layout groups of related elements in a given interface. This module can handle layout problems such as the spacing and justification of a group of elements automatically.
The duim-gadgets module provides all the gadgets available for use in the DUIM library. Gadgets are the sheet objects that make up any user interface, and the DUIM library supplies all the gadgets you will need in your applications.
The duim-frames module provides support for frames. A DUIM frame is a combination of a set of nested sheets, together with an event loop that describes the behavior of the elements in those sheets. DUIM frames can be used to specify whether a given user interface is displayed in an application as a dialog box, or a more straightforward window, or as a task wizard, and so on.
The Dylan Playground should be used when you just want to experiment with DUIM code fragments without creating modules of your own. For real application code, of course, you should define your own modules and libraries and use the appropriate library code required by your application.