amiga-bootcamp/09_intuition

← Home

Intuition — GUI Subsystem Overview

Intuition is the AmigaOS windowing system and user interface manager. It sits between applications and the low-level graphics/input hardware, providing screens, windows, gadgets, menus, and an event-driven message passing system. Unlike modern desktop GUIs, Intuition operates with zero memory protection and cooperative multitasking — every application directly shares hardware resources.

Section Index

File	Description
intuition_base.md	IntuitionBase structure and global state
screens.md	Screen, OpenScreen, CloseScreen, SA_ tags
windows.md	Window, OpenWindow, IDCMP messaging
gadgets.md	Gadget structures, GadTools, BOOPSI
menus.md	Menu, MenuItem, MenuStrip construction
requesters.md	EasyRequest, AutoRequest, file requesters
idcmp.md	IDCMP message classes and IntuiMessage
boopsi.md	BOOPSI object-oriented gadget system
input_events.md	InputEvent, input.device, commodities
frameworks/	GUI Frameworks: MUI, ReAction, BGUI

---

System Architecture — Where Intuition Fits

graph TB
    subgraph "User Applications"
        APP1["Application 1"]
        APP2["Application 2"]
        WB["Workbench"]
    end

    subgraph "GUI Layer"
        INT["intuition.library<br/>Screens, Windows, IDCMP"]
        GT["gadtools.library<br/>Standard Gadgets"]
        ASL["asl.library<br/>File/Font Requesters"]
        BOOPSI["BOOPSI Framework<br/>OOP Gadgets"]
    end

    subgraph "Graphics Layer"
        GFX["graphics.library<br/>RastPort, BitMap, Draw"]
        LAY["layers.library<br/>Clipping, Damage Repair"]
        COP["Copper<br/>Display List DMA"]
        BLT["Blitter<br/>Area Fill, Scroll"]
    end

    subgraph "Input Layer"
        INP["input.device<br/>Raw Input Stream"]
        KBD["keyboard.device"]
        GP["gameport.device<br/>Mouse / Joystick"]
        CON["console.device<br/>Text I/O"]
    end

    subgraph "Hardware"
        CUSTOM["Custom Chips<br/>Denise/Lisa · Paula"]
        CIA_["CIA-A / CIA-B<br/>Keyboard, Timers"]
    end

    APP1 & APP2 & WB --> INT
    INT --> GT & ASL & BOOPSI
    INT --> GFX
    GFX --> LAY
    GFX --> COP & BLT
    INT --> INP
    INP --> KBD & GP
    INP --> CON
    KBD --> CIA_
    GP & COP & BLT --> CUSTOM

---

Data Flow — From Keypress to Application

sequenceDiagram
    participant HW as CIA-A / Keyboard
    participant KBD as keyboard.device
    participant INP as input.device
    participant INT as Intuition
    participant WIN as Active Window
    participant APP as Application

    HW->>KBD: IRQ (key scancode)
    KBD->>INP: InputEvent (IECLASS_RAWKEY)
    INP->>INT: Input handler chain
    Note over INT: Intuition checks:<br/>Menu shortcut?<br/>System key?<br/>Gadget activation?
    INT->>WIN: Route to active window
    WIN->>APP: IDCMP IntuiMessage<br/>(via MsgPort)
    APP->>APP: ReplyMsg() when done

---

Screen / Window / Gadget Hierarchy

graph TB
    subgraph "Display Hardware"
        VP["ViewPort<br/>(Copper-driven display)"]
    end

    subgraph "Screen Layer"
        SCR["Screen<br/>sc_ViewPort, sc_RastPort<br/>sc_BitMap, sc_Flags"]
    end

    subgraph "Window Layer"
        W1["Window A<br/>IDCMP flags, RastPort"]
        W2["Window B<br/>IDCMP flags, RastPort"]
    end

    subgraph "Gadget Layer"
        G1["System Gadgets<br/>Close, Depth, Size, Drag"]
        G2["GadTools Gadgets<br/>Button, Slider, ListView"]
        G3["BOOPSI Objects<br/>Custom gadgets via OOP"]
    end

    subgraph "Menu Layer"
        M1["MenuStrip<br/>Menu → MenuItem → SubItem"]
    end

    VP --> SCR
    SCR --> W1 & W2
    W1 --> G1 & G2 & G3
    W1 --> M1
    W2 --> G1

Ownership Rules

Object	Owned By	Lifetime
Screen	Creator task (or Workbench)	Until CloseScreen() — all windows must close first
Window	Creator task	Until CloseWindow() — must drain IDCMP port first
Gadget	Window	Attached via AddGList(), removed before window close
Menu	Window	Attached via SetMenuStrip(), cleared via ClearMenuStrip()
RastPort	Window/Screen	Borrowed reference — never free directly

---

IDCMP — The Event System

Intuition Direct Communication Message Port is the core event mechanism. Each window has a UserPort (MsgPort) that receives IntuiMessage structs:

graph LR
    subgraph "Input Sources"
        MOUSE["Mouse Move/Click"]
        KEY["Keyboard"]
        TIMER["Timer Tick"]
        RESIZE["Window Resize"]
    end

    subgraph "Intuition Dispatch"
        INT["Intuition<br/>Event Router"]
    end

    subgraph "Window IDCMP Port"
        PORT["Window.UserPort<br/>(MsgPort)"]
        MSG1["IntuiMessage<br/>Class: MOUSEBUTTONS"]
        MSG2["IntuiMessage<br/>Class: VANILLAKEY"]
        MSG3["IntuiMessage<br/>Class: NEWSIZE"]
    end

    subgraph "Application"
        WAIT["Wait(sigmask)"]
        LOOP["GetMsg() loop"]
        REPLY["ReplyMsg()"]
    end

    MOUSE & KEY & TIMER & RESIZE --> INT
    INT --> PORT
    PORT --> MSG1 & MSG2 & MSG3
    WAIT --> LOOP
    LOOP --> REPLY

Critical IDCMP Classes

Class	Hex	Meaning
CLOSEWINDOW	$0200	User clicked close gadget
MOUSEBUTTONS	$0008	Mouse button press/release
MOUSEMOVE	$0010	Mouse moved (requires REPORTMOUSE)
GADGETUP	$0040	Gadget released (RELVERIFY)
GADGETDOWN	$0020	Gadget pressed
MENUPICK	$0100	Menu item selected
VANILLAKEY	$00200000	Cooked keystroke (ASCII)
RAWKEY	$0400	Raw keyboard scancode
NEWSIZE	$0002	Window resized
REFRESHWINDOW	$0004	Damage — app must redraw
INTUITICKS	$00400000	~10Hz timer for UI updates

---

Library Interactions — Who Calls Whom

graph LR
    subgraph "Application Code"
        APP["Your Program"]
    end

    subgraph "intuition.library"
        OS["OpenScreen()"]
        OW["OpenWindow()"]
        GT_["GadTools Layout"]
        SM["SetMenuStrip()"]
        IDCMP["IDCMP Dispatch"]
    end

    subgraph "graphics.library"
        RP["RastPort Operations<br/>Move, Draw, Text, RectFill"]
        BM["BitMap Allocation"]
        VIEW["MakeVPort / LoadView"]
    end

    subgraph "layers.library"
        LY["Layer Clipping<br/>CreateUpfrontLayer"]
        DMG["Damage List<br/>BeginRefresh / EndRefresh"]
    end

    subgraph "exec.library"
        MP["MsgPort<br/>CreateMsgPort"]
        SIG["Signals<br/>AllocSignal, Wait"]
        MEM["Memory<br/>AllocMem, FreeMem"]
    end

    APP --> OS & OW & GT_ & SM
    APP --> RP
    APP --> MP & SIG

    OW --> LY
    OS --> VIEW & BM
    IDCMP --> MP & SIG
    RP --> LY
    LY --> DMG
    VIEW --> |"Copper list"| COP["Copper DMA"]

---

Screen Types and Display Pipeline

graph TB
    subgraph "Screens (front to back)"
        S1["Screen 1: Custom (640×256 4-colour)<br/>sc_ViewPort → Copper List 1"]
        S2["Screen 2: Workbench (640×256 8-colour)<br/>sc_ViewPort → Copper List 2"]
        S3["Screen 3: Game (320×256 32-colour)<br/>sc_ViewPort → Copper List 3"]
    end

    subgraph "Copper"
        COP["Copper DMA<br/>Interleaves ViewPorts<br/>Sets palette per screen"]
    end

    subgraph "Denise/Lisa"
        OUT["Video Output<br/>Composited scanlines"]
    end

    S1 & S2 & S3 --> COP
    COP --> OUT

The Copper hardware makes Amiga's multi-screen system possible — each screen gets its own palette, resolution, and scroll position, all managed by a single Copper list that switches parameters mid-frame at the correct scanline.

---

GadTools vs BOOPSI — Gadget Frameworks

Aspect	GadTools (OS 2.0+)	BOOPSI (OS 2.0+)
Philosophy	Wrapper functions around Intuition gadgets	True OOP with classes, methods, inheritance
Creation	CreateGadget(kind, prev, newgad, tags)	NewObject(class, NULL, tags)
Layout	Manual X/Y positioning with font scaling	Manual or custom layout classes
Event model	IDCMP GADGETUP + GT_GetIMsg()	OM_NOTIFY → target chain
Extensibility	Fixed set: BUTTON, STRING, SLIDER, etc.	Unlimited custom classes
Typical use	Preferences panels, simple tools	MUI internals, complex UIs
Complexity	Low — 5 functions to learn	High — requires understanding class dispatch

---

Refresh Modes — How Windows Repaint

Mode	Flag	Description	Trade-off
Simple Refresh	WFLG_SIMPLE_REFRESH	App must redraw on REFRESHWINDOW IDCMP	Minimum memory, maximum app work
Smart Refresh	WFLG_SMART_REFRESH	Layers saves/restores obscured regions	Uses RAM for damage bitmaps, less app work
Super Bitmap	WFLG_SUPER_BITMAP	Full off-screen bitmap, auto-restored	Highest RAM use, zero redraw work
Backdrop	WFLG_BACKDROP	Window behind all others, fills screen	Used by Workbench

graph LR
    subgraph "Simple Refresh"
        A1["Window obscured"] --> A2["REFRESHWINDOW IDCMP"]
        A2 --> A3["App: BeginRefresh()"]
        A3 --> A4["App: Redraw damaged areas"]
        A4 --> A5["App: EndRefresh()"]
    end

---

Common Patterns

Minimal Window Event Loop

struct Window *win = OpenWindowTags(NULL,
    WA_Title,  "My Window",
    WA_Width,  320, WA_Height, 200,
    WA_IDCMP,  IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW | IDCMP_VANILLAKEY,
    WA_Flags,  WFLG_CLOSEGADGET | WFLG_DRAGBAR | WFLG_DEPTHGADGET | WFLG_ACTIVATE,
    TAG_DONE);

BOOL running = TRUE;
while (running) {
    Wait(1L << win->UserPort->mp_SigBit);
    struct IntuiMessage *msg;
    while ((msg = GT_GetIMsg(win->UserPort))) {
        switch (msg->Class) {
            case IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW:
                running = FALSE;
                break;
            case IDCMP_VANILLAKEY:
                /* msg->Code = ASCII key */
                break;
        }
        GT_ReplyIMsg(msg);
    }
}
CloseWindow(win);

Shared IDCMP Port (Multiple Windows)

/* Create one port, share across windows */
struct MsgPort *sharedPort = CreateMsgPort();

win1 = OpenWindowTags(NULL, ..., WA_IDCMP, 0, TAG_DONE);
win1->UserPort = sharedPort;
ModifyIDCMP(win1, IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW);

win2 = OpenWindowTags(NULL, ..., WA_IDCMP, 0, TAG_DONE);
win2->UserPort = sharedPort;
ModifyIDCMP(win2, IDCMP_CLOSEWINDOW);

/* Single Wait() handles both windows */
/* Check msg->IDCMPWindow to identify source */

---

References

• RKRM: Libraries Manual — Intuition chapter
• RKRM: Libraries Manual — GadTools chapter
• RKRM: Libraries Manual — BOOPSI chapter
• NDK39: intuition/intuition.h, intuition/screens.h, intuition/gadgetclass.h
• ADCD 2.1: Intuition Autodocs — OpenWindow, OpenScreen, ModifyIDCMP