Re: [Pharo-project] Settings + Menu

March 26, 2009

      Hi Henrik

Henrik Johansen a Ã©crit :
...
Nice!
Haven't had time to delve deep in the code, but installing went fine.
One thing I feel would be useful is some more class-comments,
yes, I have to document more, this is the next step.
...
for example in the core-package explaining each setting type, when to
use it over another (FixedSetting vs Setting), etc.
so far use examples implemented in SettingSandBox[12]
...
One thing I was wondering after reading the declaration parts in
previous mails was how to add an item to an existing setting's list (alÃ¡
SettingSandBox1>> themeSetting) in a separate package (and remove it if
package is unloaded), the pragmas make this doable I guess?
You only need to declare your settings in your package.
try it:
------------------
- Open the setting tree with "SystemSettingTree new open"
- load SettingSandBox1 package
you are now able to browse all settings of SettingSandBox1

- then unload SettingSandBox1 package
you see that all settings declared in SettingSandBox1 are not viewed anymore
-----------------

this is the magic of pragmas (see PragmaCollector class)

if you implement a package named 'XXXX', then in XXX, you can have
a class named XXXSettings which holds settings declarations (implemented 
as methods in XXXSettings class).
When you load your package, the settings are here and you can use them.
Thanks to pragma, the SystemSettingTree browser is able to discover 
currently installed settings on the fly.
Nothing else is needed.

This will be exactly the same with the world menu.
Imagine you want an entry in the world menu for your application named 
XXXBrowser.
then, in class XXXSettings class, implements the following menu settings:

in order to have a submenu:
wmXXX
    <worldMenu>
    ^ (SettingManager newMenu: 'XXX...')
         order: 2.1;  "just after the second menu item but before the 
third one"
         line: true "I want a menu line after my item".

and your XXXBrowser open item in your submenu
wmXXXBrowserOpen
    <worldMenu>
    ^ (SettingManager newMenu: 'Browser' translated)
         target: XXXBrowser;
         parent: wmXXX;
         selector: #open "I guess XXXBrowser class understands #open"
or
wmXXXBrowserOpen
    <worldMenu>
    ^ (SettingManager newMenu: 'Browser' translated)
         parent: wmXXX;
         target: [XXXBrowser new window];
         selector: #openInWorld

and for another XXX related tool
wmXXXConfigurationOpen
    <worldMenu>
    ^ (SettingManager newMenu: 'Configuration' translated)
         parent: wmXXX;
         target: XXXConfig;
         order: 2; "after wmXXXBrowserOpen"
         selector: #open  "I guess XXXConfig class understands #open"

or, all together in a single method:

wmXXX
    <worldMenu>
    ^ (SettingManager newMenuSiblings: 'XXX...' translated)
        order: 2.1;
        menus: {
            (SettingManager newMenu: 'Browser' translated) target: 
XXXBrowser; selector: #open.
            (SettingManager newMenu: 'Configuration' translated) target: 
XXXConfig; selector: #open
        }

If you unload your package XXX, then XXXSettings and XXX menus are 
unloaded, that all.
If you want to test it, take the new version I have attached to this mail.

Hope it is clearer now

Thanks for your remarks

Cheers
Alain
...
Cheers,
Henry
Alain Plantec wrote:
...
Hi all,
Here my last setting package version
with a test package (Tests-System-Settings) :)
I've also added a Menu part which allows the using of
pragma for menu discovering and assembling on the fly.
This addon fully reuse what is done for settings.
The idea is the same: use pragma within particular methods
which are defining menu items (thanks to Lukas again for the idea  ;-) )
The menu assembler is able to collect them and to popup the menu
dynamically.
The consequences are
- no need for TheWorldMenu class and
- this would be the end of #registerOpenCommand: and
#unregisterOpenCommand:.
As for settings, the main benefit is that menu items are brought by
packages.
An application specific menu can be added anywhere in the world menu.
One could also use this feature in order to allow user-defined menu
entries.
As an example, I've re-defined a part of the world menu.
it is implemented in MenuSettings class (package SettingSandBox1).
Such a menu is dynamically assembled and is popup very quickly.
So I think that there would be no more need for a world menu instance
kept alive in the system.
you can try it with:
WorldMenuAssembler new doPopUpMenu
You can also use
SystemMenuTree new open
in order to browse all menu entries.
It is only a very simple version.
Maybe it could be used in order to implement a 'menu editor' tool:
define your menus and generate corresponding code.
Here are two examples of methods with menu pragma from MenuSettings
class.
- the Save item : a simple item with one target and one selector
wmSave
   <worldMenu>
   ^ (SettingManager newMenu: 'Save') target: SmalltalkImage current;
        selector: #saveSession;
        previous: #wmSystemSettings;
        description: 'save the current version of the image on disk'
- the ToolsSet item set : a multi node with a collection of menu items
wmToolSet
   <worldMenu>
   ^ (SettingManager newMenuSiblings name: 'Toolset')
       line: true;
       menus: (ToolSet default mainMenuItems
               collect: [:item | (SettingManager newMenu: item first)
                       target: ToolSet default;
                       selector: item second])
Cheers
alain
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