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[ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

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Stephan Eggermont-3

[ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

When using data entry applications,
we often have to select one entity out of a large list.
Spec provides the entryCompletion option for text fields for that.
That works well for small lists
When the number of different entities grows large however,
or when we want to be able to add a new entity,
the traditional solution is to combine an entry completion field
with a button that opens a dialog. This is what SelectEntity provides.
In addition, it supports limiting the choices shown based on
the context in which the field is shown.

https://vimeo.com/158063568

I've created a small demo application that can be found on smalltalkhub:

Gofer it
smalltalkhubUser: 'StephanEggermont'
project:'Ancestry';
package: 'Ancestry';
load.

It can be started with:

ANPersonList new openWithSpec.

Stephan

Thanks to Peter Uhnak for the design comments & debugging

stepharo

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

Cool!
I will try friday.

Stef

Le 7/3/16 20:21, Stephan Eggermont a écrit :

> When using data entry applications,
> we often have to select one entity out of a large list.
> Spec provides the entryCompletion option for text fields for that.
> That works well for small lists
> When the number of different entities grows large however,
> or when we want to be able to add a new entity,
> the traditional solution is to combine an entry completion field
> with a button that opens a dialog. This is what SelectEntity provides.
> In addition, it supports limiting the choices shown based on
> the context in which the field is shown.
>
> https://vimeo.com/158063568
>
> I've created a small demo application that can be found on smalltalkhub:
>
> Gofer it
> smalltalkhubUser: 'StephanEggermont'
> project:'Ancestry';
> package: 'Ancestry';
> load.
>
> It can be started with:
>
> ANPersonList new openWithSpec.
>
> Stephan
>
> Thanks to Peter Uhnak for the design comments & debugging
>
>
>
>

Damien Cassou-2

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

In reply to this post by Stephan Eggermont-3

Stephan Eggermont <[hidden email]> writes:

> https://vimeo.com/158063568

this looks really nice, thanks Stephan.

--
Damien Cassou
http://damiencassou.seasidehosting.st

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without
losing enthusiasm." --Winston Churchill

jfabry

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

In reply to this post by Stephan Eggermont-3

That looks very cool, how about adding it to the standard distribution?

> On Mar 7, 2016, at 16:21, Stephan Eggermont <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> When using data entry applications,
> we often have to select one entity out of a large list.
> Spec provides the entryCompletion option for text fields for that.
> That works well for small lists
> When the number of different entities grows large however,
> or when we want to be able to add a new entity,
> the traditional solution is to combine an entry completion field
> with a button that opens a dialog. This is what SelectEntity provides.
> In addition, it supports limiting the choices shown based on
> the context in which the field is shown.
>
> https://vimeo.com/158063568
>
> I've created a small demo application that can be found on smalltalkhub:
>
> Gofer it
> smalltalkhubUser: 'StephanEggermont'
> project:'Ancestry';
> package: 'Ancestry';
> load.
>
> It can be started with:
>
> ANPersonList new openWithSpec.
>
> Stephan
>
> Thanks to Peter Uhnak for the design comments & debugging
>
>
>
>

---> Save our in-boxes! http://emailcharter.org <---

Johan Fabry - http://pleiad.cl/~jfabry
PLEIAD and RyCh labs - Computer Science Department (DCC) - University of Chile

EstebanLM

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

> On 08 Mar 2016, at 13:52, Johan Fabry <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>
> That looks very cool, how about adding it to the standard distribution?

not now.
Pharo 6: +1

>
>> On Mar 7, 2016, at 16:21, Stephan Eggermont <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> When using data entry applications,
>> we often have to select one entity out of a large list.
>> Spec provides the entryCompletion option for text fields for that.
>> That works well for small lists
>> When the number of different entities grows large however,
>> or when we want to be able to add a new entity,
>> the traditional solution is to combine an entry completion field
>> with a button that opens a dialog. This is what SelectEntity provides.
>> In addition, it supports limiting the choices shown based on
>> the context in which the field is shown.
>>
>> https://vimeo.com/158063568
>>
>> I've created a small demo application that can be found on smalltalkhub:
>>
>> Gofer it
>> smalltalkhubUser: 'StephanEggermont'
>> project:'Ancestry';
>> package: 'Ancestry';
>> load.
>>
>> It can be started with:
>>
>> ANPersonList new openWithSpec.
>>
>> Stephan
>>
>> Thanks to Peter Uhnak for the design comments & debugging
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> ---> Save our in-boxes! http://emailcharter.org <---
>
> Johan Fabry - http://pleiad.cl/~jfabry
> PLEIAD and RyCh labs - Computer Science Department (DCC) - University of Chile
>
>

Thierry Goubier

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

In reply to this post by Stephan Eggermont-3

2016-03-07 20:21 GMT+01:00 Stephan Eggermont <[hidden email]>:

When using data entry applications,
we often have to select one entity out of a large list.
Spec provides the entryCompletion option for text fields for that.
That works well for small lists
When the number of different entities grows large however,
or when we want to be able to add a new entity,
the traditional solution is to combine an entry completion field
with a button that opens a dialog. This is what SelectEntity provides.
In addition, it supports limiting the choices shown based on
the context in which the field is shown.

Elegant and cool. More nice looking, professional widgets: yes!

Thierry

https://vimeo.com/158063568

I've created a small demo application that can be found on smalltalkhub:

Gofer it
smalltalkhubUser: 'StephanEggermont'
project:'Ancestry';
package: 'Ancestry';
load.

It can be started with:

ANPersonList new openWithSpec.

Stephan

Thanks to Peter Uhnak for the design comments & debugging

Stephan Eggermont-3

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

In reply to this post by jfabry

On 08-03-16 13:52, Johan Fabry wrote:
> That looks very cool, how about adding it to the standard distribution?
That is definitely the goal. Now is the time to point out stupid names,
bad design decisions, missed use cases and ugly layout.
I would welcome feedback.

While building it, I found out I don't like the way an EntryCompletion
is connected to its PluggableTextFieldMorph. It makes it difficult
to deal with objects that are not strings.

PluggableTextFieldMorph>>entryCompletion: anEntryCompletion
entryCompletion := anEntryCompletion.
entryCompletion
ifNotNil: [ entryCompletion chooseBlock isNil
ifTrue: [entryCompletion chooseBlock: [:v | self setText:
v. self acceptTextInModel ]]
ifFalse: [ | blk |
blk := entryCompletion chooseBlock.
entryCompletion chooseBlock: [:v | self setText: v.
self acceptTextInModel. blk value: v]]].

In the demo code it also is clear that the ListModel is incomplete,
I couldn't find ho wto open a selected item with the keyboard
(unless I implement click on the item, but that then does not
have enough context to actually know what to do).

Stephan

stepharo

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

We should check and collect the changes made by hernan too.

Stef

Le 8/3/16 16:45, Stephan Eggermont a écrit :

> On 08-03-16 13:52, Johan Fabry wrote:
>> That looks very cool, how about adding it to the standard distribution?
> That is definitely the goal. Now is the time to point out stupid names,
> bad design decisions, missed use cases and ugly layout.
> I would welcome feedback.
>
> While building it, I found out I don't like the way an EntryCompletion
> is connected to its PluggableTextFieldMorph. It makes it difficult
> to deal with objects that are not strings.
>
> PluggableTextFieldMorph>>entryCompletion: anEntryCompletion
> entryCompletion := anEntryCompletion.
> entryCompletion
> ifNotNil: [ entryCompletion chooseBlock isNil
> ifTrue: [entryCompletion chooseBlock: [:v | self setText:
> v. self acceptTextInModel ]]
> ifFalse: [ | blk |
> blk := entryCompletion chooseBlock.
> entryCompletion chooseBlock: [:v | self setText: v.
> self acceptTextInModel. blk value: v]]].
>
>
> In the demo code it also is clear that the ListModel is incomplete,
> I couldn't find ho wto open a selected item with the keyboard
> (unless I implement click on the item, but that then does not
> have enough context to actually know what to do).
>
> Stephan
>
>
>
>

Stephan Eggermont-3

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

In reply to this post by EstebanLM

On 08-03-16 13:55, Esteban Lorenzano wrote:
>> On 08 Mar 2016, at 13:52, Johan Fabry <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>
>> That looks very cool, how about adding it to the standard distribution?
> not now.
> Pharo 6: +1

I've added ConfigurationOfAncestry to the catalog. That provides the widget
and the small demo using it. It needs FastTableModel, so only recent Pharo5

Stephan

stepharo

Re: [ANN] SelectEntity, a new widget for Spec

In reply to this post by stepharo

I was going some of the changes with peter and we came to the conclusion:
that we should not copy all the api of collection to listModel for example.

ValueHolder should be treated as port hence public.

We should also avoid in the model to have for example

ListModel>>removeall

listModeValue hodler....
widget changed.

The flow should go always from the model to widgets via notification and
not from the UI model (listModel here)
to the widgets.
When the widget is limited it is better to fix it than to patch it from
the UIModel.

Stef

Le 9/3/16 22:13, stepharo a écrit :

> We should check and collect the changes made by hernan too.
>
> Stef
>
> Le 8/3/16 16:45, Stephan Eggermont a écrit :
>> On 08-03-16 13:52, Johan Fabry wrote:
>>> That looks very cool, how about adding it to the standard distribution?
>> That is definitely the goal. Now is the time to point out stupid names,
>> bad design decisions, missed use cases and ugly layout.
>> I would welcome feedback.
>>
>> While building it, I found out I don't like the way an EntryCompletion
>> is connected to its PluggableTextFieldMorph. It makes it difficult
>> to deal with objects that are not strings.
>>
>> PluggableTextFieldMorph>>entryCompletion: anEntryCompletion
>> entryCompletion := anEntryCompletion.
>> entryCompletion
>> ifNotNil: [ entryCompletion chooseBlock isNil
>> ifTrue: [entryCompletion chooseBlock: [:v | self setText:
>> v. self acceptTextInModel ]]
>> ifFalse: [ | blk |
>> blk := entryCompletion chooseBlock.
>> entryCompletion chooseBlock: [:v | self setText: v.
>> self acceptTextInModel. blk value: v]]].
>>
>>
>> In the demo code it also is clear that the ListModel is incomplete,
>> I couldn't find ho wto open a selected item with the keyboard
>> (unless I implement click on the item, but that then does not
>> have enough context to actually know what to do).
>>
>> Stephan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>