The Presentation Manager environment provides the application developer with a rich set of functions that enable tasks to be performed in a variety of ways. However, within the general Presentation Manager application model, there are a number of considerations which, if observed, enable the design and development of applications that comply more closely with the guidelines and emerging conventions of the Systems Application Architecture CUA component. This chapter will discuss some of the considerations involved in designing an object-oriented, CUA-conforming Presentation Manager application.
The Presentation Manager programming interface enables the creation and manipulation of windows in a variety of ways by an application developer. However, there is considerable value in adopting a series of standard practices for developing Presentation Manager applications, from the viewpoint of consistency and ease of maintenance, and to enhance the degree of conformance to SAA CUA guidelines. The following points provide some guidelines on the interpretation of CUA specifications, and outline some emerging trends in the development of applications that use the Presentation Manager user interface.