Window class, gadgets and blitting

I'm using the window class but it doesn't really contain any visible gadgets so far. I'm just blitting onto the window area.

Now, I would like to add some gadgets so this changes my rendering logic completely.

Should I use the space.gadget and SPACE_RenderBox or something else, for the custom (to be blitted) area?

One way to do this is use the space.gadget and provide your own SPACE_RenderHook function, in which you'll perform your blitting. Another way is to write your own gadget subclass and do the blitting inside the GM_RENDER method. Pretty much the same thing, only more laborious.

@trixie

Quote:

I'm currently just blitting over the render box area, it seems to work.

One thing I noticed with vertical layout + space gadget that even though autodoc says LAYOUT_SpaceOuter defaults to FALSE, it seems to be rather TRUE here. I need to set it FALSE to get rid of a small border between window border and layout.

@Capehill

Quote:
Technically, you can blit over any Intuition gadget (after all it's just an area in a window's rastport) - yet it's not what you do.

In BOOPSI the idea is that the gadget imagery is rendered by the gadget itself (rather than by the application), upon receiving a GM_RENDER message from Intuition. The space.gadget is different in that it provides a way for the application to supply its own GM_RENDER code (via a custom render hook function) to take care of the gadget imagery.

So I'd recommend that you use SPACE_RenderHook to install your hook function, and do the blitting there. This way you can be sure that the gadget rendering will be performed at the right time. You won't have to check for window resizing because your render hook function will be invoked automatically every time Intuition detects a resize. Also, the render hook function will provide you with the valid rastport pointer to use for the blitting.

If you need an example just send me a PM.

@trixie

I forgot to mention that I need to blit in real-time (OpenGL). Render hook gets called at arbitrary times by the system from my point of view, so using only the render hook doesn't seem sufficient.

Is there a better way to mix real-time blitting and gadgets than query the render box size of the space.gadget?

You can trigger GM_RENDER when needed. Either use RefreshGList or DoMethod.

@thomas

Right, RefreshGList seems to work. Thanks guys.

EDIT2: rendering problem solved.