FW: [squeak-dev] Reusable browsers was Re: About HyperCard

> From: Chris Muller <[hidden email]>
> Reply-To: <[hidden email]>, The general-purpose Squeak developers list
> <[hidden email]>
> Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:57:07 -0600
> To: The general-purpose Squeak developers list
> <[hidden email]>
> Subject: Re: [squeak-dev] Reusable browsers was Re: About HyperCard
>
> I'm the one that wrought the "Reuse Windows", and "traceMessages"
> preferences.  They are part of a triad of preferences (the third is
> "alternativeBrowseIt") that, when set, support a totally non-modal
> approach to browsing and development.  Rather than navigating around 4
> or 5 big PackagePane browsers, the idea is to "follow behavior" by
> spawning new HierarchyBrowsers straight out of highlighted chunks of
> code.  Rather than selecting classes and methods in lists so much,
> windows are constantly opened and closed.
>
> Notice when "alternativeBrowseIt" is selected, you can simply
> double-click the argument of a method, such as:
>
>   add: anException   "<---- double click to highlight 'anException'"
>
> and press Command+B to browse the Exception class hierarchy.  If there
> is already a class browser on Exception which does not have unsaved
> edits, it is brought to the top rather than opening yet-another one
> ("Reuse Windows").  Note Reuse Windows works for most kinds of windows
> including Monticello windows.
>
> To "go back" simply position the cursor on the "prior" window
> (underneath) or on the desktop and press Command+w to successively
> close the top-most windows.  I actually stopped using OCompletion
> because this approach was actually more productive for me.
>
> traceMessages is along the same lines, I can hardly even work in
> Smalltalk without this.
>
>> Herbert wrote:
>>> to get this behaviour the Preference "trace messages" needs to be
>>> enabled. checking... Right now this only works for implementors,
>
> It works for both.  You can press Command+S in the message-list for
> senders to be outdented above.  For implementors, just highlight the
> message in the code at the bottom and press Command+M.  You can even
> select it "grossly" and there can even be intervening code in the
> middle of a keyword message and it will still work!
>
> Warning:  Once accustomed to the productivity of non-modal
> development, it's very hard to go back!  :)
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 1:15 PM, David Corking <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> Frank Shearar wrote:
>>
>>> What does "reusable" mean here? If you mean that navigating to
>>> something doesn't spawn a whole new window, then we _sometimes_ have
>>> reusable browsers. For instance, in a Browser, selecting a class name
>>> and pressing <alt>-<shift>-b will, within the same Browser, jump to
>>> the new class.
>>
>> Yes - I mean "don't spawn a new window". I wasn't aware of that hotkey.
>>
>> Other nice features of the message list in Moshi are forward and back
>> buttons, a browseable history, and a 'reusable' toggle button, to make
>> it spawn a new message list without learning a hot key. (It is the
>> forward and back buttons I recognise from Newspeak and Amber.)
>>
>> Thanks Herbert and Frank for explaining how to uncover the features
>> for class and message implementor.
>>
>
>
>
>>
>> I set the preference and still get a new message list for each
>> implementor I select (trunk 4.5  #12400) when I click the implementors
>> button - but the list _is_  reused on cmd-m. A win for the keyboard.
>> Thanks again.
>>
>> Have fun! David
>>
>