Container details problems

It's been a while since I last used a container details tree and I have a couple of things I hope others can guide me through.

1) I have a Boolean attribute in a column which edits as a check box. I would like to see it presented as check box all the time, whether editting the field or not. Any idea whether I can do this and how?

2) When I check or uncheck the above check box, I have the domain model update its children to reflect the choice. The UI does not update to show the children having also changed. What have I missed to make the UI refresh the display of all the changed rows? (I have "roll up" model elements that when toggled are intended to toggle the checked state of the next level down.)

3) This is a more general question, but does apply to container details columns. I would like to have the column width automatically reflect the width of the strings in the data model for each column. I am entirely willing to set the column widths by my application code, if the ABT framework cannot automatically do so. Does anyone remember what one needs to do to determine the necessary width of a part to display a given string, taking the part's font into consideration?

Richard,

I am in the same boat, so I may not be the best possible adviser here...

Am Freitag, 28. Dezember 2018 20:00:47 UTC+1 schrieb Richard Sargent:

It's been a while since I last used a container details tree and I have a couple of things I hope others can guide me through.

1) I have a Boolean attribute in a column which edits as a check box. I would like to see it presented as check box all the time, whether editting the field or not. Any idea whether I can do this and how?

I don't think that is easily possible. You can have the cell display a toggle button in edit mode providing an inplace-editing policy, but I don't think there is a setting for the way the boolean is presented when not in driect edit mode other than a textual reperesentation (provicing a converter). This will most likely have to be answered by somebody else...

 

2) When I check or uncheck the above check box, I have the domain model update its children to reflect the choice. The UI does not update to show the children having also changed. What have I missed to make the UI refresh the display of all the changed rows? (I have "roll up" model elements that when toggled are intended to toggle the checked state of the next level down.)

I guess what you need to do is send #refreshItems (or was it #refreshAllItems ?) to the Container part.

 

3) This is a more general question, but does apply to container details columns. I would like to have the column width automatically reflect the width of the strings in the data model for each column. I am entirely willing to set the column widths by my application code, if the ABT framework cannot automatically do so. Does anyone remember what one needs to do to determine the necessary width of a part to display a given string, taking the part's font into consideration?

Again, I don't know and I am quite sure this really is something you need to implement by hand. IIIRC, there is a callback for each cell (visualInfoRequested?) but none for the whole column, so you'd have to start by adding some "global" state for each column, have each cell calculate its content width during the population of the container and then update the width of the column. Most likely there is the need to #deferRedraw's during this operation...

This, IMO, should be part of the containers anyways, for another reason: cross-platform GUI alignment.

Just a little comment: I think none of your questions is exotic or strange, and they all server as great examples for why the ABT layer needs work.

Joachiim

initializeWidthForColumnNamed: aPartName forStrings: someStrings

    | part widest |
    part := self subpartNamed: aPartName.
    widest := someStrings inject: 0 into: [:maxWidth :each | maxWidth max: (each ewWidthUsing: part widget rc)].
    part width: widest + 25

This is specifically designed for columns and probably won't work for other parts. The crux of it is the #ewWidthUsing: method.

 

Just a little comment: I think none of your questions is exotic or strange, and they all server as great examples for why the ABT layer needs work.

Agreed. I realize WidgetKit was created for much the same reasons, but it would be nice to see the Abt stuff modernized. Obviously, Instantiations has priorities in what they tackle, and this would be a huge effort.

Joachiim