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MS Outlook's View Paradigm: What Does Dolphin Call It?

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Eric Taylor

MS Outlook's View Paradigm: What Does Dolphin Call It?

Hello Forum,

What is Dolphin's approach to a view like the main view found in MS
Outlook 2003?

In Outlook, when one clicks at the left on "Tasks" or "Contacts," for
example, the controls change according to context. This occurs without
opening a new window or resorting to MDI. Now, in some development
environments, one simply populates a single view with _all_ of the
controls, and then hides or displays groups of those controls according
to context. Is this the preferred approach in Dolphin?

I have been trying to take instruction on this point from Ted Bracht's
book, but his example seems to be very dialog-oriented, an approach that
seems to be eschewed these days.

Cheers,

Eric

Schwab,Wilhelm K

Re: MS Outlook's View Paradigm: What Does Dolphin Call It?

Eric,

> What is Dolphin's approach to a view like the main view found in MS
> Outlook 2003?
>
> In Outlook, when one clicks at the left on "Tasks" or "Contacts," for
> example, the controls change according to context. This occurs without
> opening a new window or resorting to MDI. Now, in some development
> environments, one simply populates a single view with _all_ of the
> controls, and then hides or displays groups of those controls according
> to context. Is this the preferred approach in Dolphin?
>
> I have been trying to take instruction on this point from Ted Bracht's
> book, but his example seems to be very dialog-oriented, an approach that
> seems to be eschewed these days.

If I understand your question correctly, you might look at my Pane
Holders package. You will also find some other approaches in the
archives. FWIW, I find the business of changing one presenter for
another to be sufficiently complicated to justify a wrapper; some
disagree and prefer to simply do the job inline. You will also find
mention of using card containers along the lines of your suggestion of
creating all controls and showing the selectively.

As for whether or not dialogs are a good or bad, I recommend doing the
right thing for your users. Sometimes that is a dynamic interface;
sometimes it is a highly modal one.

Have a good one,

Bill

--
Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
[hidden email]

Eric Taylor

Re: MS Outlook's View Paradigm: What Does Dolphin Call It?

Bill,

Thank you for the response.

I will definitely take a look at your Pane Holders package. Also, I
like the card-container idea.

Thank you.

Cheers,

Eric

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Schwab [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Posted At: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 5:46 PM
> Posted To: comp.lang.smalltalk.dolphin
> Conversation: MS Outlook's View Paradigm: What Does Dolphin Call It?
> Subject: Re: MS Outlook's View Paradigm: What Does Dolphin Call It?
>
> Eric,
>
> > What is Dolphin's approach to a view like the main view found in MS
> > Outlook 2003?
> >
> > In Outlook, when one clicks at the left on "Tasks" or "Contacts,"

for
> > example, the controls change according to context. This occurs
without
> > opening a new window or resorting to MDI. Now, in some development
> > environments, one simply populates a single view with _all_ of the
> > controls, and then hides or displays groups of those controls
according
> > to context. Is this the preferred approach in Dolphin?
> >
> > I have been trying to take instruction on this point from Ted
Bracht's
> > book, but his example seems to be very dialog-oriented, an approach
that

> > seems to be eschewed these days.
>
> If I understand your question correctly, you might look at my Pane
> Holders package. You will also find some other approaches in the
> archives. FWIW, I find the business of changing one presenter for
> another to be sufficiently complicated to justify a wrapper; some
> disagree and prefer to simply do the job inline. You will also find
> mention of using card containers along the lines of your suggestion of
> creating all controls and showing the selectively.
>
> As for whether or not dialogs are a good or bad, I recommend doing the
> right thing for your users. Sometimes that is a dynamic interface;
> sometimes it is a highly modal one.
>
> Have a good one,
>
> Bill
>
>
> --
> Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
> [hidden email]