On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 1:43 PM, Martin Spott <martin.sp...@mgras.net> wrote: > James Turner wrote: > >> Or to put it another way - the actual hard part is running the >> widgets in the main OpenGL window - which *is* a requirement for >> full-screen apps and multi-monitor setups. (Some people have claimed >> otherwise, but I believe we need the option of 'in-window' UI for >> many cases). > > I object - at last I can't envision a case where running the UI inside > a separate window in front of a (full-screen) viewer is inferior to an > in-window UI. All supported window systems provide the required > information on screen/window-geometry or -placement to position a > separate UI-window wherever you like. > One avoids OpenGL rendering to more than one window if possible because graphics context switches are "expensive." I have no idea if this would affect normal FG usage.
Portions of the OpenGL window buffer that are obscured by other windows are not guaranteed to be rendered correctly or at all, and in most implementations are not. This is less of an issue in newer OpenGL versions that support frame buffer objects and can do multi-pass rendering in an off screen buffer. > For the die-hards just think of a menu bar positioned in front of the > upper left corner of the viewer-screen or -window having just very thin > borders. From my perspective that's a pretty appealing approach > because running the UI outside the viewer and probably/hopefully > outside the main program could lead to a consistent management-/ > control-interface in FlightGear. A system menu bar is a slightly different. By definition it is not obscuring the main rendering window, and it is not updated unless the user interacts with it. It might be possible to simulate the same thing in FG with a menu bar in a separate window, but it would be very complicated to manage updating those windows differently from the main simulation window. I agree that separate user interface windows would be nice in several interesting use cases, but I don't think the default single-screen case is one of them. Tim > > Cheers, > Martin. > -- > Unix _IS_ user friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are ! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Live Security Virtual Conference > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > _______________________________________________ > Flightgear-devel mailing list > Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
