Hi Kilon,

I think I see where the confusion starts from. So, let's start from the basics:
- the inspector is for inspecting objects, not just classes.
- every pane shows exactly one object (the one you see in the title of the pane).
- every pane shows multiple presentations of that object as tabs.
- the two basic presentations are "State" showing the state of the object, and "Meta" showing the code related to the object. We could call this one "Class", but that can generate confusions in certain edge cases when you are inspecting a class object. That is why I chose "Meta", but maybe we can find a better one.
- the "Meta" presentation is meant to offer a way to manipulate or lookup the code while being in the context of an object.
- every tab is defined by the class of the object you are inspecting. For example, "State" is defined in Object>>#gtInspectorStateIn:, but any other object can define extra tabs.
- the "Methods" tab that you refer to is such a presentation that is specific to the class object. Specifically, you can find it in Class>>#gtInspectorMethodsIn:. As the class object is a meta-object, I can see how it can easily generate confusion because you have both "Meta" which will show you the code of the class side of the class, and "Methods" which show you the methods of the class.
- that is why, I suggest to start getting used with the inspector by inspecting "FileSystem workingDirectory". You will see that you get and "Items" view that allows you to explore the directory like you do in a more classic browser. Then select from the file system a PNG file and you will get a "Picture"��
- all these tabs are customizable in that you can define such tabs for your own objects easily.
- so, if you do not like one, you can simply either change it or remove it by deleting the corresponding method or removing the annotation from it (gtInspectorPresentationOrder:)

Does this make more sense now?

As for the actions, they will come back in some form.

Cheers,
Doru


On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 10:34 PM, kilon alios <kilon.alios@gmail.com> wrote:
"I will concede that the contextual menu is incomplete. We will work on that. In the meantime, the keybindings work as in the classic workspace.

But, what are the many features that the workspace had and you miss?"

from right click menu I use -> Copy , Paste , find , browse it, sender of it, implementors of it, references to it,.��
from down arrow menu I use -> Change title, create window group, previous contents (that last on i see that playground has it)

"What do you find weird about "Meta"?
I agree that "All ref" should be better explained.
But, what do you think these tabs mean?"

Meta means nothing to me, maybe you should name it Meta-Class the problem however is that the IDE does not use that naming anywhere else apart from mentioning it in PBE. No idea what all references means, maybe its the instance variables. Is there an aggreement now in Pharo to call the class side of a class a Metaclass ? Its important to decide on these thing on a global scale or else you have confusion.��

"If so, clicking on an entry, is the correspondent of inspecting that object. In the "State" tab, we also provide self to denote the same object as the one represented in the tab. This was borrowed from the classic inspector, but maybe it is confusing in the context of the new inspector. In any case, if you continue clicking on self, you will indeed get the same object over and over. But, that does not mean that the inspector went in a loop"

yes but why allowing the same pane to respawn when clicking self it makes not sense to me. Its also confusing for a begineer.��

"But, what do you mean by instance side tab?"

I assume the instance side of the class is the "methods" tab ? no ?��

"Which one did you like?"��

I like the basic idea of trying to extend workspace with much more functionality and uniting all tools like inspector and system browser under one roof. I like also that comments get a new separate tab and that you trying to support pillar.

The State name is vague, since state can mean both instance and class variables.��

"I do not understand this part. Can you explain in more details?"


"It is not different thinking. It is a different use case :). The Meta tab shows the class of the object you inspect. If you inspected a class, then the inspector also provides you a list of its methods. "��

I am talking about the methods tab which also a confusing name for a tab, what kind of methods ? instance or class . I assume from the existence of Meta that those are instance methods . So why methods tab is not similar to Meta tab ? why it show only the method names and not the class and its inheritance chain and the method source of the method selected from the list of methods exactly as Meta tab is doing ? ��





--
www.tudorgirba.com

"Every thing has its own flow"