How ready is Bloc for a simple use-case?

Mind mapping (the possibility of doing software for it) was one of the themes that bring me back to Pharo/Smalltalk. I would be really interested in such project.

Cheers,

Offray

We could try to do it together and maybe even make a video (stream) of implementation process :) 

Cheers,

Alex

On 22 February 2017 at 22:02, Aliaksei Syrel <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Peter

 I wanted to ask about Bloc:

Thanks for your interest :)

1) how stable is the API? e.g. if some overhaul changes to unify/whatever are planned

Api itself is in "final" state, however naming might be improved (changed with or without depreciations). But don't worry user-side api is already in a very good shape, at least from our perspective :)

2) I saw in the techtalk that you can align elements (to center, bottom, ...), however is that possible with lines? Lines have to rotate, morph shape, etc.

3) Are non-straight lines possible? (e.g. bezier, arc)

 

Exactly :) Lines are just bloc elements as anything else: buttons, text images. They can be linear, can be arcs or bezier curves (both quadratic or cubic). Default canvas used for rendering in Bloc (SpartaCanvas) has very good support of vector shapes and lines.

 The idea for me is to make a simple mindmap
        - elements with some text, icons, math symbols inside
        - connectors (non-straight lines) between elements

It is very doable. Please, don't forget that Bloc is a low level framework that does not contain any widgets (existing ones will be deleted, especially BlLine, BlText and BlTextElement). The only responsibility Bloc has is to provide a basic infrastructure that does not put any constraints on users. Which means that if you want to have a bezier line you have to subclass BlElement, implement corresponding accessors for anchor points and override drawPathOnSpartaCanvas: in order to display you line. You can learn more about canvas by checking SpartaCanvas class comment and method comments in 'api' protocol.

Layouts, alignment, transformations are part of bloc and are available to all subclasses of BlElement.

Cheers,

Alex

On 22 February 2017 at 21:32, Peter Uhnak <[hidden email]> wrote:

 Hi,

 I wanted to ask about Bloc:

 1) how stable is the API? e.g. if some overhaul changes to unify/whatever are planned
 2) I saw in the techtalk that you can align elements (to center, bottom, ...), however is that possible with lines? Lines have to rotate, morph shape, etc.
 3) Are non-straight lines possible? (e.g. bezier, arc)

 The idea for me is to make a simple mindmap
        - elements with some text, icons, math symbols inside
        - connectors (non-straight lines) between elements

 To me (apart from the lines) it seems like it should be already doable.

 Also either my (Morphic) Pharo is really slow, or Bloc (in the video) is superfast (everything is happening instantly).

 Thanks,
 Peter
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Moose-dev mailing list
[hidden email]
https://www.list.inf.unibe.ch/listinfo/moose-dev

We could try to do it together and maybe even make a video (stream) of implementation process :) 

Cheers,

Alex

On 22 February 2017 at 22:02, Aliaksei Syrel <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi Peter

 I wanted to ask about Bloc:

Thanks for your interest :)

1) how stable is the API? e.g. if some overhaul changes to unify/whatever are planned

Api itself is in "final" state, however naming might be improved (changed with or without depreciations). But don't worry user-side api is already in a very good shape, at least from our perspective :)

2) I saw in the techtalk that you can align elements (to center, bottom, ...), however is that possible with lines? Lines have to rotate, morph shape, etc.

3) Are non-straight lines possible? (e.g. bezier, arc)

 

Exactly :) Lines are just bloc elements as anything else: buttons, text images. They can be linear, can be arcs or bezier curves (both quadratic or cubic). Default canvas used for rendering in Bloc (SpartaCanvas) has very good support of vector shapes and lines.

 The idea for me is to make a simple mindmap
        - elements with some text, icons, math symbols inside
        - connectors (non-straight lines) between elements

It is very doable. Please, don't forget that Bloc is a low level framework that does not contain any widgets (existing ones will be deleted, especially BlLine, BlText and BlTextElement). The only responsibility Bloc has is to provide a basic infrastructure that does not put any constraints on users. Which means that if you want to have a bezier line you have to subclass BlElement, implement corresponding accessors for anchor points and override drawPathOnSpartaCanvas: in order to display you line. You can learn more about canvas by checking SpartaCanvas class comment and method comments in 'api' protocol.

Layouts, alignment, transformations are part of bloc and are available to all subclasses of BlElement.

Cheers,

Alex

On 22 February 2017 at 21:32, Peter Uhnak <[hidden email]> wrote:

 Hi,

 I wanted to ask about Bloc:

 1) how stable is the API? e.g. if some overhaul changes to unify/whatever are planned
 2) I saw in the techtalk that you can align elements (to center, bottom, ...), however is that possible with lines? Lines have to rotate, morph shape, etc.
 3) Are non-straight lines possible? (e.g. bezier, arc)

 The idea for me is to make a simple mindmap
        - elements with some text, icons, math symbols inside
        - connectors (non-straight lines) between elements

 To me (apart from the lines) it seems like it should be already doable.

 Also either my (Morphic) Pharo is really slow, or Bloc (in the video) is superfast (everything is happening instantly).

 Thanks,
 Peter
_______________________________________________
Moose-dev mailing list
[hidden email]
https://www.list.inf.unibe.ch/listinfo/moose-dev