Overview of VMS DECwindows

This document, published in December 1988, provides a comprehensive overview of DECwindows for VMS Version 5.1, an advanced windowing system that extends and improves the X Window System, Version 11. It highlights key features, architecture, user environment, and programming environment, while also summarizing its documentation.

Key features of DECwindows include graphics-oriented interaction with the VMS operating system, consistent user interfaces, and a library of desktop applications such as Bookreader, Calculator, Calendar, and Mail. It supports a wide range of third-party applications, offers powerful libraries for graphics-oriented development, provides a network-transparent application interface, ensures compatibility with ULTRIX, and boasts an extensible architecture.

The DECwindows architecture is built upon Applications, the X User Interface (XUI) Toolkit, Xlib, Network Transport (using DECnet), the Server (which includes a kernel and device-dependent functions), and Device Drivers. This architecture allows applications to run on remote nodes while displaying locally, with transparent network communication. The system also integrates the Compound Document Architecture (CDA) Toolkit for managing complex documents.

The user environment emphasizes productivity through consistent, graphics-oriented interfaces. It comprises the Session Manager (for session control and customization), the Window Manager (for window manipulation and icon management), FileView (a graphical interface to VMS), a suite of desktop applications, CDA file converters, and online help.

For programmers, DECwindows offers a rich environment centered around the Xlib programming library (for low-level graphic and windowing functions) and the XUI Toolkit (for high-level user interface object creation). The XUI Toolkit includes tools like the User Interface Language (UIL) Compiler and XUI Resource Manager (DRM) to simplify interface development and separate form from function. The CDA Toolkit is also available for handling compound documents. The document also lists the various manuals available in the DECwindows documentation set for both general users and developers.