One of the main perceived strengths of RISC OS is the consistent user experience across applications and Operating System. A full detailed description in the general principles of writing compliant applications can be found in the RISC OS Style Guide?.
The Style Guide? covers a range of topics such as ease of use, Consistency, Hardware and Software Configurations, File Handling, Naming Fonts and Application and User Support.
Although the Programmer’s Reference Manuals(PRMs) takes great care to ensure the information provided is clear and more importantly correct, it is important that certain rules be followed by a developer. Below are some key guidelines that help in ensuring less development issues with previous, current and future versions of RISC OS.
Reserved fields | must be set to 0, i.e. reserved words must be 0, and all reserved bits unset |
Wimp_Poll | Unknown Wimp_Poll event codes must be ignored by an application. Errors must not be generated |
WIMP Version | Applications should check the Wimp version number to identify if certain functionality is available, and either adapt themselves accordingly or report an error if no work arounds are possible using OS_GenerateError |
Window Handles | Be careful when handling unknown window handles. It is quite possible that an unrecognised window handle is owned by another application |
Wimp Tasks | Wimp tasks that are Modules must obey certain rules |
Key Presses | Any task that are set to receive Key_Pressed events must pass on all unrecognised keys to Wimp_ProcessKey. Failure to do so will result in the ‘hot key’ facility not working |
The RISC OS Operating System allows for fast responsive applications to be written. For a complete detailed description on how to optimise the responsiveness of your application(s) please view the Screen Handling section of the RISC OS Style Guide?.
RISC OS allows for a wide range of screen resolutions and colour depths as you would expect in any modern Operating System. It is considered good practise to ensure that an application is not tied to any specific resolution or colour depth.
Applications should adhere to the RISC OS Style Guide? in any user interactions. This ensures a consistent user experience across all all applications.