XtCreatePopupShell(3)

✨ XtCreatePopupShell 💖 XtVaCreatePopupShell ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the XT FUNCTIONS section of the manual, specifically the page all about XtCreatePopupShell and XtVaCreatePopupShell — the two functions whose whole entire job is creating a popup shell. that's it. that's the gig. and they do it flawlessly, no cap 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

XtCreatePopupShell, XtVaCreatePopupShell — create a popup shell 🦋

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🌸 SYNTAX 🌸

first thing first, you gotta let the compiler know what's up:

#include <X11/Intrinsic.h>

then, the two icons themselves:

Widget XtCreatePopupShell(const char *name, WidgetClass widget_class,
       Widget parent, ArgList args, Cardinal num_args);

Widget XtVaCreatePopupShell(const char *name, WidgetClass widget_class,
       Widget parent, ...);

like. look at them. XtCreatePopupShell takes a whole ArgList plus a Cardinal num_args (the classic two-arg-list situation), and XtVaCreatePopupShell is the varargs girly who just takes ... and vibes ✨ same return type, same first three params, different energy.

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💜 ARGUMENTS 💜

here's the full breakdown, no skipping, we read every single one:

• args — Specifies the argument list to override the resource defaults.
• name — Specifies the text name for the created shell widget.
• num_args — Specifies the number of arguments in the argument list.
• parent — Specifies the parent widget.
• widget_class — Specifies the widget class pointer for the created shell widget.
• ... — Specifies the variable argument list to override the resource defaults.

periodt. every arg accounted for, we leave nobody behind 🫶

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👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

okay so here's the tea ☕ The XtCreatePopupShell function does two very specific things and we respect it for both:

1. it ensures that the specified class is a subclass of Shell — vibe check passed or it's not happening, bestie
2. rather than using insert_child to attach the widget to the parent's children list, it attaches the shell to the parent's pop-ups list directly. — not the regular children list, the pop-ups list. different list, different destiny, main character energy 💅

now the bigger picture, because this is the part that's actually lowkey genius:

A spring-loaded pop-up invoked from a translation table already must exist at the time that the translation is invoked, so the translation manager can find the shell by name. like, it's gotta be there already, no last-minute arrivals, the translation manager is checking the guest list 🎟️

but pop-ups invoked in other ways can be created "on-the-fly" when the pop-up actually is needed. and honestly? this delayed creation of the shell is particularly useful when you pop up an unspecified number of pop-ups. you can look to see if an appropriate unused shell (that is, not currently popped up) exists and create a new shell if needed.

so: reuse the idle one, or make a fresh one. resourceful. sustainable. iconic 🌈

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

go read these next, they're all connected iykyk:

• XtCreateWidget(3)
• XtPopdown(3)
• XtPopup(3)
• X Toolkit Intrinsics - C Language Interface
• Xlib - C Language X Interface

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was X Version 11, from libXt 1.3.1 💖 go forth and create your popup shells, you absolute legend 🌸✨👑