Re: [FR-devel] Updates to System_Command stuff

[Laurent Julliard]

Rich Kilmer wrote:
> Laurent (and Curt),
>
> I have completed study of the code to date on the FreeRIDE GUI and want
> to pursue a bit of refactoring.  My main goal is to preserve the
> functinality that's implemented, but restructure the way that the
> FreeBASE DataBus is used.  If there's one thing I think we need to use
> consistently is the DataBus.
>
> I will use the System_Command plugins as a working example.
>
> Right now for each command we store an instance of a GenericCommand
> object as the .data of the command's slot.  That object accepts a String
> as a constructor that encodes a bunch of stuff (menu, accelerator, hint
> text) seperated by \t (tabs) and pass a block/proc to call when the
> command is executed.  All of this data could be represented within the
> DataBus itself in slots like:
>
> cslot = bus['/system/ui/commands/FileNew']
> cslot.set_proc {|*params| ... }
> cslot['./Text'].data = '&New'
> cslot['./Accelerator'] = 'Ctl-N'
> cslot['./Description'] = 'Create new edit pane'
>
> This seems more complex, but it can be simplified by adding a manager
> that presents an API to create commands:
>
> cmgr = bus['/system/ui/commands'].manager
> cmgr.add("FileNew", 
>          "&New", 
>          "Ctl-N", 
>          "Create new edit pane" ) {|*params| ...}
>
> and...
>
> cmgr.each_command {|slot| ...}
>
> and...
>
> cmgr.delete("FileNew")
>
> etc...
>
> I know this messes with the whole CommandManager structure but I have
> some thoughts there too...
>
> This is only one example of how the DataBus could be used to store a
> structure that would otherwise require an object. 
>
> Thoughts about these changes, and my refactoring directions?

This is fine with me. One thing though is that you should look at both 
the DataBus inspector and the Debugger plugins and see how they add 
menu items today. How will your proposal interefere with the existing 
add/delete menu entry mechanism?

While your are at it the same abstraction level would be nice to have 
at the menuPane level. For instance the Debugger should be able to add 
the Run menu by itself if it doesn't yet exist and then add its own 
menu entry in there. Today, if my recollection is correct, the run 
menu is hardcoded and added at launchtime.


> BTW:  We can also delete the file System_Commands.rb and change the
> plugin.xml file...remove the entry for System_Commands and changing the
> name of the subsystem to System_Commands.  Since a Subsystem is itself
> represented as a plugin and it waits/depends on all plugins within it,
> it can serve the same purpose that the System_Commands.rb file does
> right now.  I did this on my machine and it works the same.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rich
>
>
>
>
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--
Laurent JULLIARD - Xerox R&T/SSTC/XPA - Open Source team
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