Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/05/2002 - 14:35. Developers
I have experienced a problem with the message area.
the sample code in ch04 of the 6a motif programmer`s guide will not display messages in the message area.

It appears to be a problem in Motif 2.1. I have run the same code in different configurations. Here are the results

RH Linux 7.3/MetroLink Motif 2.1/X11R6 - doesn`t work.
RH Linux 7.3/MetroLink Motif 1.2.4/X11R6 - works.
SGI IRIX 6.2/Motif 1.2.4/X11R5 - works.

Here is the original code
/* Written by Dan Heller and Paula Ferguson.
* Copyright 1994, O`Reilly & Associates, Inc.
*
* The X Consortium, and any party obtaining a copy of these files from
* the X Consortium, directly or indirectly, is granted, free of charge, a
* full and unrestricted irrevocable, world-wide, paid up, royalty-free,
* nonexclusive right and license to deal in this software and
* documentation files (the "Software"), including without limitation the
* rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
* and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons who receive
* copies from any such party to do so. This license includes without
* limitation a license to do the foregoing actions under any patents of
* the party supplying this software to the X Consortium.
*/

/* msg_area.c -- Display a bitmap in a MainWindow, but allow the user
* to change the bitmap and its color dynamically. The design of the
* program is structured on the pulldown menus of the menubar and the
* callback routines associated with them. To allow the user to choose
* a new bitmap, the "New" button pops up a FileSelectionDialog where
* a new bitmap file can be chosen.
*/
#include
#include
#include
#include

/* Globals the toplevel window/widget and the label for the bitmap.
* "colors" defines the colors we use, "cur_color" is the current
* color being used, and "cur_bitmap" references the current bitmap file.
*/
Widget toplevel, label;
String colors[] = { "Black", "Red", "Green", "Blue" };
Pixel cur_color;
char cur_bitmap[1024] = "xlogo64"; /* make large enough for full pathnames */
Widget message_area;

main(argc, argv)
int argc;
char *argv[];
{
Widget main_w, menubar, menu, widget;
XtAppContext app;
Pixmap pixmap;
XmString file, edit, help, open, quit, red, green, blue, black;
void file_cb(), change_color(), help_cb();

/* Initialize toolkit and parse command line options. */
toplevel = XtVaAppInitialize (&app, "Demos",
NULL, 0, &argc, argv, NULL, NULL);

/* main window contains a MenuBar and a Label displaying a pixmap */
main_w = XtVaCreateManagedWidget ("main_window",
xmMainWindowWidgetClass, toplevel,
XmNscrollBarDisplayPolicy, XmAS_NEEDED,
XmNscrollingPolicy, XmAUTOMATIC,
NULL);

/* Create a simple MenuBar that contains three menus */
file = XmStringCreateLocalized ("File");
edit = XmStringCreateLocalized ("Edit");
help = XmStringCreateLocalized ("Help");
menubar = XmVaCreateSimpleMenuBar (main_w, "menubar",
XmVaCASCADEBUTTON, file, `F`,
XmVaCASCADEBUTTON, edit, `E`,
XmVaCASCADEBUTTON, help, `H`,
NULL);
XmStringFree (file);
XmStringFree (edit);
/* don`t free "help" compound string yet -- reuse it for later */

/* Tell the menubar which button is the help menu */
if (widget = XtNameToWidget (menubar, "button_2"))
XtVaSetValues (menubar, XmNmenuHelpWidget, widget, NULL);

/* First menu is the File menu -- callback is file_cb() */
open = XmStringCreateLocalized ("Open...");
quit = XmStringCreateLocalized ("Quit");
XmVaCreateSimplePulldownMenu (menubar, "file_menu", 0, file_cb,
XmVaPUSHBUTTON, open, `N`, NULL, NULL,
XmVaSEPARATOR,
XmVaPUSHBUTTON, quit, `Q`, NULL, NULL,
NULL);
XmStringFree (open);
XmStringFree (quit);

/* Second menu is the Edit menu -- callback is change_color() */
black = XmStringCreateLocalized (colors[0]);
red = XmStringCreateLocalized (colors[1]);
green = XmStringCreateLocalized (colors[2]);
blue = XmStringCreateLocalized (colors[3]);
menu = XmVaCreateSimplePulldownMenu (menubar, "edit_menu", 1, change_color,
XmVaRADIOBUTTON, black, `k`, NULL, NULL,
XmVaRADIOBUTTON, red, `R`, NULL, NULL,
XmVaRADIOBUTTON, green, `G`, NULL, NULL,
XmVaRADIOBUTTON, blue, `B`, NULL, NULL,
XmNradioBehavior, True, /* RowColumn resources to enforce */
XmNradioAlwaysOne, True, /* radio behavior in Menu */
NULL);
XmStringFree (black);
XmStringFree (red);
XmStringFree (green);
XmStringFree (blue);

/* Initialize menu so that "black" is selected. */
if (widget = XtNameToWidget (menu, "button_0"))
XtVaSetValues (widget, XmNset, True, NULL);

/* Third menu is the help menu -- callback is help_cb() */
XmVaCreateSimplePulldownMenu (menubar, "help_menu", 2, help_cb,
XmVaPUSHBUTTON, help, `H`, NULL, NULL,
NULL);
XmStringFree (help); /* we`re done with it; now we can free it */

XtManageChild (menubar);

/* user can still specify the initial bitmap */
if (argv[1])
strcpy (cur_bitmap, argv[1]);
/* initialize color */
cur_color = BlackPixelOfScreen (XtScreen (toplevel)),

/* create initial bitmap */
pixmap = XmGetPixmap (XtScreen (toplevel), cur_bitmap,
cur_color, WhitePixelOfScreen (XtScreen (toplevel)));

if (pixmap == XmUNSPECIFIED_PIXMAP) {
puts ("Can`t create initial pixmap");
exit (1);
}

/* Now create label using pixmap */
label = XtVaCreateManagedWidget ("label", xmLabelWidgetClass, main_w,
XmNlabelType, XmPIXMAP,
XmNlabelPixmap, pixmap,
NULL);

message_area = XtVaCreateManagedWidget ("This is a test message area",
xmLabelWidgetClass, main_w,
XmNalignment, XmALIGNMENT_BEGINNING,
NULL);

/* set the label as the "work area" of the main window */
XtVaSetValues (main_w,
XmNmenuBar, menubar,
XmNworkWindow, label,
XmNmessageWindow, message_area,
XmNcommandWindowLocation, XmCOMMAND_BELOW_WORKSPACE,
NULL);

XtRealizeWidget (toplevel);
XtAppMainLoop (app);
}

/* Any item the user selects from the File menu calls this function.
* It will either be "Open" (item_no == 0) or "Quit" (item_no == 1).
*/
void
file_cb(widget, client_data, call_data)
Widget widget; /* menu item that was selected */
XtPointer client_data; /* the index into the menu */
XtPointer call_data; /* unused */
{
static Widget dialog; /* make it static for reuse */
extern void load_pixmap();
int item_no = (int) client_data;

if (item_no == 1) /* the "quit" item */
exit (0);

/* "Oepn" was selected. Create a Motif FileSelectionDialog w/callback */
if (!dialog) {
dialog = XmCreateFileSelectionDialog (toplevel, "file_sel", NULL, 0);
XtAddCallback (dialog, XmNokCallback, load_pixmap, NULL);
XtAddCallback (dialog, XmNcancelCallback, XtUnmanageChild, NULL);
}
XtManageChild (dialog);
XtPopup (XtParent (dialog), XtGrabNone);
}

/* The OK button was selected from the FileSelectionDialog (or, the user
* double-clicked on a file selection). Try to read the file as a bitmap.
* If the user changed colors, we call this function directly from change_color()
* to reload the pixmap. In this case, we pass NULL as the callback struct
* so we can identify this special case.
*/
void
load_pixmap(dialog, client_data, call_data)
Widget dialog;
XtPointer client_data;
XtPointer call_data;
{
Pixmap pixmap;
char *file = NULL;
XmFileSelectionBoxCallbackStruct *cbs =
(XmFileSelectionBoxCallbackStruct *) call_data;

if (cbs) {
if (!XmStringGetLtoR(cbs->value, XmFONTLIST_DEFAULT_TAG, &file))
return; /* internal error */
(void) strcpy (cur_bitmap, file);
XtFree (file); /* free allocated data from XmStringGetLtoR() */
}

pixmap = XmGetPixmap (XtScreen (toplevel), cur_bitmap,
cur_color, WhitePixelOfScreen (XtScreen (toplevel)));

if (pixmap == XmUNSPECIFIED_PIXMAP) {
XmString str;
char buf[1024];
sprintf (buf, "Can`t create pixmap from %s", cur_bitmap);
str = XmStringCreateLocalized (buf);
XtVaSetValues (message_area, XmNlabelString, str, NULL);
XmStringFree (str);
} else {
Pixmap old;
XtVaGetValues (label, XmNlabelPixmap, &old, NULL);
XmDestroyPixmap (XtScreen (toplevel), old);
XtVaSetValues (label,
XmNlabelType, XmPIXMAP,
XmNlabelPixmap, pixmap,
NULL);
}
}

/* called from any of the "Edit" menu items. Change the color of the
* current bitmap being displayed. Do this by calling load_pixmap().
*/
void
change_color(widget, client_data, call_data)
Widget widget; /* menu item that was selected */
XtPointer client_data; /* the index into the menu */
XtPointer call_data; /* unused */
{
XColor xcolor, unused;
Display *dpy = XtDisplay(label);
Colormap cmap = DefaultColormapOfScreen(XtScreen(label));
int item_no = (int) client_data;

if (XAllocNamedColor (dpy, cmap, colors[item_no], &xcolor, &unused) == 0 ||
cur_color == xcolor.pixel)
return;

cur_color = xcolor.pixel;
load_pixmap (widget, NULL, NULL);
}

#define MSG
"Use the FileSelection dialog to find bitmap files to

display in the scrolling area in the main window. Use

the edit menu to display the bitmap in different colors."

/* The help button in the help menu from the menubar was selected.
* Display help information defined above for how to use the program.
* This is done by creating a Motif information dialog box. Again,
* make the dialog static so we can reuse it.
*/
void
help_cb(widget, client_data, call_data)
Widget widget;
XtPointer client_data;
XtPointer call_data;
{
static Widget dialog;

if (!dialog) {
Arg args[1];
XmString msg = XmStringCreateLtoR (MSG, XmFONTLIST_DEFAULT_TAG);
XtSetArg (args[0], XmNmessageString, msg);
dialog = XmCreateInformationDialog (toplevel, "help_dialog", args, 1);
}
XtManageChild (dialog);
XtPopup (XtParent (dialog), XtGrabNone);
}