12 Chapter 1: Overview of iTools
About this Manual iTool Developer’s Guide
About this Manual
The iTool Developer’s Guide describes the IDL iTools component framework and
provides examples of its use. After reading this manual, you will understand how to
use the component framework to create your own intelligent tools.
This manual is divided into three parts:
Part I: Understanding the iTools Component Framework
This section describes the iTools component framework in conceptual terms, and
outlines some of the processes you will use in creating new tools using the
framework. While an understanding of the topics in this section may be beneficial as
you develop your own applications, a complete understanding of the way the
framework operates is not required to begin building your own tools.
Part II: Using the iTools Component Framework
This section walks you through the process of creating a new iTool application, either
by extending an existing iTool or by building a new tool from scratch.
Part III: Modifying the iTool User Interface
This section discusses the process of adding your own interface elements to an iTool
application.
What this Manual is Not
This manual is not an API reference for the iTools object classes. Reference
documentation for the iTool classes, methods, and properties is located in the IDL
Reference Guide.
This manual is not a complete description of the object classes that constitute the
iTools component framework. We describe the object classes you will use to create
new iTools, but not necessarily the building blocks from which those classes are
constructed. If you desire a deeper understanding of how the component framework
functions than this manual provides, you can inspect the object class definition files,
which are provided in IDL
.pro source code format in the itools/framework
subdirectory of your IDL
lib directory.
See “Documented vs. Undocumented Classes” on page 13 for a complete explanation
of our approach to documenting the iTool component framework.
