Gsharp GUI Classes

A generic GUI object is referred to as a class. When an object is created, or "instantiated'', it is called an instance of a class. The GUI classes supported by Gsharp can be divided into two categories: manager classes and primitive classes. Manager objects perform layout management of their children. Primitive objects are the children of manager objects and provide the lowest level of GUI functionality. The table below lists the GUI objects for each category:

Manager Object Classes

Primitive Object Classes
Bulletin Button
Dialog Canvas
Menu Combobox
Menubar Command
Panel Icon
Popup Label
Toolbar Separator
  Switch
  Text

An additional class, called GuiClass, is the superclass of all Gsharp GUI objects and provides inherited resources common to all GUI classes. The GuiClass cannot be instantiated.

Graphical user interfaces are constructed by adding GUI objects, called children, to a parent object. The parent of the entire GUI is the top­level object. In Gsharp, the top level GUI object is always a Panel class object. This object is created automatically and has the instance name gsharp_1. A GUI hierarchy is built up by adding children to gsharp_1.

The diagrams in this section show the valid children for each manager object. Manager objects are shown with a shaded background, primitive objects unshaded. While primitive objects normally do not function as parent objects, there is one exception: all GUI objects, included primitive objects, can be the parent of one Popup object.

Carry on to the GUI Classes Hierarchy