X Programming help.

I am currently working on a computer simulation with
as part of summer job. The simulation (to digress) essentially simulates polymers in solution. Part of my project is display some of the data in real time so that
I can see the progress of the system. The simulation itself
is written in Fortran 77(forgive this) and I have written
some code in C (using the X libraries(not Xt or Athena)).
      What the code does is open a window, draw some data generated from the fortran Code and then continues the same
until the simulation is done, which could take anywhere
from a few days to a week. My problem is that i need to
be able to minimize the window or resize so that I can continue to run it in the background and therefore allow
myself to monitor the progress of the system.
      I have not been able to modify my code such that
the window redraws after a minimization event or a resizing.
I have had some advice, mainly reffering to Xt and Athena,
unfortunately I am not familiar with these (of course I could learn them) but I need to modify the code before
the end of the summer, as this is a part a project that
I need to have done by then. The window is a small part
of my simulation but still very importanat. If anyone
can give me some advice or perhaps some "code", freeware
or whatever I would greatly appreciate. If need be I can send a copy of the code to anyone who can help so as they
can see exactly what it is supposed to do.

Regards/
Martin Kenward.