Macintosh Toolbox programming questions

[PB170]

Small update regarding tool windows! After making a search for “WDEF” on Apple’s Developer Connection CD’s, I discovered a folder named “Floating Windows”, containing code for making windows float, as well as the third party software “Infinity Windoid WDEF” for implementing tool/palette windows. The documentation for the latter also mentions that OS support for tool windows was introduced with System 7.5 in conjunction with Apple Guide and its custom windows. I assume it wasn’t used much though, since I don't think I've seen any other software using the same style for its tool windows. Perhaps Infinity Windoid did a better job with the implementation.

[PB170]

Another small update! Sliders are apparently not called sliders, but dials in Apple's documentation. Inside Macintosh mentions them in the following passages (of which the second seems to contradict the first…) (my highlighting):
 

Quote

 

Another important category of controls is dials. These display the value, magnitude, or position of something, typically in some pseudo-analog form such as the position of a sliding switch, the reading on a thermometer scale, or the angle of a needle on a gauge; the setting may be displayed digitally as well. The control’s moving part that displays the current setting is called the indicator. The user may be able to change a dial’s setting by dragging its indicator with the mouse, or the dial may simply display a value not under the user’s direct control (such as the amount of free space remaining on a disk).

 

One type of dial is predefined for you: The standard Macintosh scroll bars. Figure 2 shows the five parts of a scroll bar and the terms used by the Control Manager (and this chapter) to refer to them. Notice that the part of the scroll bar that Macintosh users know as the “scroll box” is called the “thumb” here. Also, for simplicity, the terms “up” and “down” are used even when referring to horizontal scroll bars (in which case “up” really means “left” and “down” means “right”).

 

[…]

 

Dials
Dials display the value, magnitude, or position of something in the tool or system, and optionally allow the user to alter that value. Dials are predominantly analog devices, displaying their values graphically and allowing the user to change the value by dragging an indicator; dials may also have a digital display.

 

The best example of a dial is the shaft of a scroll bar. The indicator of the scroll bar is the thumb; it represents the position of the window over the length of the document. The user can drag the thumb to change that position.

 

Just as with buttons, there are a few standard dials defined in the ROM, but a programmer can implement a custom dial and link it in with the control mechanism.

 

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by PB170

[Crutch]

Yeah very early on Apple referred to sliders as “dials” but it never really stuck. Where did you see that last paragraph you quoted? I don’t see it in my copy of Inside Macintosh. Anyway it’s wrong - the only “dial” defined in ROM is the standard-issue scroll bar, I promise. 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Crutch

[PB170]

I trust you  Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I found it while searching online. Apparently it's in an earlier version of Inside Macintosh, dated 1982–1984. Now that I check it, it's not in the 1985 version that I have saved on my computer. So probably a good idea that got scrapped