The OSF/Motif Widget Class Hierarchy

For your reference, here are some simple charts that list the Motif widget classes with their superclasses and their public header file. The header files are those used by X11R6 and Motif 1.2, which are a little different from earlier releases.

The classes are grouped by type (intrinsic, shell, primitive, gadget, manager). The new Motif 2.0 and 2.1 widgets are listed in separate sections.

More information on the X Window System and OSF/Motif is available on my home page.

X Toolkit Intrinsics Widgets

These widget classes are provided by the X Toolkit intrinsics, not Motif. There are listed here for completeness.

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
RectObj	N/A	X11/RectObj.h
Core	RectObj	X11/Core.h
Composite	Core	X11/Composite.h
Constraint	Composite	X11/Constraint.h
Shell	Composite	X11/Shell.h
OverrideShell	Shell	X11/Shell.h
WMShell	Shell	X11/Shell.h
VendorShell	WMShell	X11/Shell.h
Transient	VendorShell	X11/Vendor.h
TopLevelShell	VendorShell	X11/Shell.h
ApplicationShell	TopLevelShell	X11/Shell.h

Motif Shell Widgets

Note that the Motif VendorShell replaces the X Toolkit VendorShell.

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
VendorShell	WMShell	Xm/VendorS.h
XmDialogShell	TransientShell	Xm/DialogS.h
XmMenuShell	OverrideShell	Xm/MenuS.h

Motif Primitive Widgets

Note that the XmSash widget class is used only by XmPanedWindow; there is no public API to XmSash.

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
XmPrimitive	Core	Xm/Primitive.h
XmArrowButton	XmPrimitive	Xm/ArrowB.h
XmLabel	XmPrimitive	Xm/Label.h
XmCascadeButton	XmLabel	Xm/CascadeB.h
XmDrawnButton	XmLabel	Xm/DrawnB.h
XmPushButton	XmLabel	Xm/PushB.h
XmToggleButton	XmLabel	Xm/ToggleB.h
XmList	XmPrimitive	Xm/List.h
XmSash	XmPrimitive	N/A
XmScrollBar	XmPrimitive	Xm/ScrollBar.h
XmSeparator	XmPrimitive	Xm/Separator.h
XmText	XmPrimitive	Xm/Text.h
XmTextField	XmPrimitive	Xm/TextF.h

In addition to these, Motif 1.2 defines several non-GUI widgets, such as XmScreen, XmDisplay, XmDragContext, XmDragIcon, and XmDropSite. I'm not listing these here, since they generally not directly instantiated by application programs.

Motif Gadgets

Gadgets are designed to be lightweight alternatives to the equivalent primitive widgets.

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
XmGadget	RectObj	Xm/Gadget.h
XmArrowButtonGadget	XmGadget	Xm/ArrowBG.h
XmLabelGadget	XmGadget	Xm/LabelG.h
XmCascadeButtonGadget	XmLabelGadget	Xm/CascadeBG.h
XmPushButtonGadget	XmLabelGadget	Xm/PushBG.h
XmToggleButtonGadget	XmLabelGadget	Xm/ToggleBG.h
XmSeparatorGadget	XmGadget	Xm/SeparatoG.h

Motif Manager Widgets

Note that XmManager, and thus all Motif manager widgets, are subclassed from Constraint. No Motif widgets are subclassed directly from Composite.

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
XmManager	Constraint	Xm/Manager.h
XmDrawingArea	XmManager	Xm/DrawingA.h
XmFrame	XmManager	Xm/Frame.h
XmPanedWindow	XmManager	Xm/PanedW.h
XmRowColumn	XmManager	Xm/RowColumn.h
XmScale	XmManager	Xm/Scale.h
XmScrolledWindow	XmManager	Xm/ScrolledW.h
XmMainWindow	XmScrolledWindow	Xm/MainW.h
XmBulletinBoard	XmManager	Xm/BulletinB.h
XmForm	XmBulletinBoard	Xm/Form.h
XmMessageBox	XmBulletinBoard	Xm/MessageB.h
XmSelectionBox	XmBulletinBoard	Xm/SelectionB.h
XmCommand	XmSelectionBox	Xm/Command.h
XmFileSelectionBox	XmSelectionBox	Xm/FileSB.h

Motif 2.0 Widgets

These widgets are new for Motif 2.0. The CSText widget is not included in Motif 2.1; use it with care.

Note that the XmClipWindow widget class is used only by internally by the XmContainer and XmScrolledWindow widgets; there is no public API to XmClipWindow.

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
XmClipWindow	XmDrawingArea	N/A
XmComboBox	XmManager	Xm/ComboBox.h
XmContainer	XmManager	Xm/Container.h
XmCSText	XmPrimitive	Xm/CSText.h
XmGrabShell	VendorShell	Xm/GrabShell.h
XmIconGadget	XmGadget	Xm/IconG.h
XmIconHeader	XmIconGadget	Xm/IconH.h
XmNotebook	XmManager	Xm/Notebook.h
XmSpinBox	XmManager	Xm/SpinB.h

Motif 2.1 Widgets

Motif 2.1 was released in February, 1997. Motif 2.1 includes all the Motif 2.0 widgets except for the CSText widget. Motif 2.1 also adds these widgets:

Widget Class	Superclass	Header File
XmPrintShell	ApplicationShell	Xm/Print.h
XmSimpleSpinBox	XmSpinBox	Xm/SSpinB.h

More information on the X Window System and OSF/Motif is available on my home page.