[ann] gtspotter: a moldable interface for spotting objects

Hola,

Andrei demoed it to me on friday and it is *extremely* cool. I can’t wait to start using it for my next development session.

I have one request though (as I already mentioned to Andrei). Since you are using a significant part of the screen, it would not be costly to (e.g. at the bottom) put a small legend of the non-obvious keystroke combinations. It would greatly increase discoverability of the features of the tool.

Considering the blog post, the legend would be ( I don’t understand the difference between the last 2):
Cmd+Shift+ArrowUp/ArrowDown = Next/Prev category, Cmd+RightArrow = Dive into, Cmd+Shift+RightArrow = ???

> On Dec 7, 2014, at 10:14, Tudor Girba <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Alex Syrel, Andrei Chis and I are happy to announce a new addition to the Glamorous Toolkit:
> GTSpotter, a novel interface for spotting objects.
>
> GTSpotter has two goals:
> - Provide a uniform yet moldable interface that can work on any object, and
> - Handle searching through arbitrary levels of object nesting.
>
> We think this will have a significant impact on the development workflow in Pharo.
>
> Here is a couple of screenshots:
> <gtspotter-packages-classes.png> <gtspotter-dive-class-method-sender.png> <gtspotter-playground.png>
>
>
> A trailer is available here:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSmjR3NOlU
>
> A detailed description is available here:
> http://www.humane-assessment.com/blog/introducing-gtspotter
>
> It works already in Pharo 3.0 and can be played with by following the instructions from:
> http://gt.moosetechnology.org
>
> Please let us know what you think.
>
> Enjoy,
> The Glamorous Team



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

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OK now I get it … thanks for clarifying!
I think my confusion stems from the use of ‘category' and then talking about 'the collection object’, which made me think about collections and source code and protocols and packages and I got lost.

I think that the sentence of the blog would be clearer like this (uppercase to show changes):

To do this, GTSpotter offers an extra action: diving in a RESULTS category. Pressing Cmd+Shift+ArrowRight dives in the collection OF RESULTS OF that category. Thus, we can continue refining the search inside the category.

So then, my suggestion for a legend at the bottom of the results list would be:
Cmd+Shift+ArrowUp/ArrowDown = Next/Prev category, Cmd+RightArrow = Dive into Result, Cmd+Shift+RightArrow = Dive into Category

> On Dec 8, 2014, at 12:48, Tudor Girba <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Ok. Let's take it step by step and see if we cannot find a better way of explaining.
>
> Take a look at the first picture in the blog post. Entering GTSpo shows results both for Classes and for Packages. These "Classes" and "Packages" are what we call search categories, and they have associated a query processor that can populate them with results (see the "Spotting your objects" section from the bottom of the post).
>
> In our case, we get 39 classes (of which only 5 are shown) and 1 package that match the query. If you want to look at all those 39 classes, you can dive in the whole collection behind the category in a separate step. This is achieved through Cmd+Shift+ArrowRight. Does it make more sense now?
>
> I did not consider the category to be confusing. Would you propose another name?
>
> Cheers,
> Doru
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 4:02 PM, Johan Fabry <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Sorry, but no :-(
>
> I am always confused when people say ‘category’ because the word has so many overloaded meanings. The same happens in the blog post, it is not clear to me what category means here, and what does it have to do with the collection object?
>
> > On Dec 7, 2014, at 11:16, Tudor Girba <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Yes, we will still evolve the UI. At the very least you will get the shortkeys directly on the actions.
> >
> > The answer to your question is in the blog post:
> > GTSpotter offers an extra action: diving in a category. Pressing Cmd+Shift+ArrowRight dives in the collection object containing only the items from that category. Thus, we can continue refining the search inside the category.
> >
> > So, you will open the collection of that sub-category and you will see more items at once (not just 5). Is it clearer now?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Doru
>
>
>
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>
> Johan Fabry   -   http://pleiad.cl/~jfabry
> PLEIAD lab  -  Computer Science Department (DCC)  -  University of Chile
>
>
>
>
> --
> www.tudorgirba.com
>
> "Every thing has its own flow"



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