minor comments about Dolphin 4

(D4, pl1, W2K)

I have a few comments from looking over the release notes for D4 as I poked
around the system.  None of these are problems to me; I'm just mentioning
them while they are fresh in my mind.  (I'm quite pleased with D4.  Thank
you!)

> Method Browser has info. tip which displays details the categories of the
method hovered over.

I didn't see this in the CHB when hovering over the method names in the
rightmost pane.  (I don't particularly want to see it.) But, I believe I see
it when asking for a list of all methods containing a particular text
string, which I guess is what the note means.  However, there, the info tip
shows the class name and the selector, in addition to the categories, which
is redundant because the browser has a column for the class and for the
selector.  (I'll likely turn off the info tips in the Inspector when I get
around to it, as I find it rather distracting.)

> New 'All Methods' command in class browser shows complete ...

I like this facility a lot.  However, it seems to be available only on the
context menu of the class pane (in the CHB) and not on the menu bar's Class
or Method menus.

> CommandQuery messages #enabled;, #checked are deprecated ...

The Dolphin package and some sample packages still send #enabled: instead of
#isEnabled: in several places.  (In one method, for example, it looks like
you caught the first occurrence of #enabled: and changed it but not a second
or third occurrence.)

> TextEdit now has #isPassword published aspect ...
 ...
> New 'Password text' TextPresenter view for ...

I noted that #isPassword does not appear in the Published Aspect Inspector
of the View Composer for a TextEdit.  To change this for an existing
TextEdit, I executed 'self isPassword: true' in the workspace pane.  (For a
new one, I could drag 'TextPresenter.Password text' to the form.)  Leaving
#isPassword off of the list is probably good, considering how seldom it
would be needed (perhaps an average of once per application?).


  -- Frank
  [hidden email]      |   It's an HWND that blows no good.

Frank

You wrote in message news:QnWX5.587$[hidden email]...
> ...
> > Method Browser has info. tip which displays details the categories of
the
> method hovered over.
>
> I didn't see this in the CHB when hovering over the method names in the
> rightmost pane.

Well one wouldn't expect to, since the release note is referring to "Method
Browser" in the sense of the tool (i.e. the MethodBrowserShell) rather than
the MethodBrowser presenter which happens to be part of the shared
implementation of the Method Browser and CHB tools.

>...(I don't particularly want to see it.) But, I believe I see
> it when asking for a list of all methods containing a particular text
> string, which I guess is what the note means.

That is one example of something that opens a Method Browser, yes. The
information is more pertinent in a Method Browser because it can show
methods from many different classes, and there is a category tree in the
CHB. It it most useful when (re)categorizing methods.

>....However, there, the info tip
> shows the class name and the selector, in addition to the categories,
which
> is redundant because the browser has a column for the class and for the
> selector.

I'm not sure about that. One can't necessarily be sure which item one is
actually hovering over, and it also brings together descriptive information
about the item in one location so that one's eye can focus in one spot.

>...(I'll likely turn off the info tips in the Inspector when I get
> around to it, as I find it rather distracting.)

Thats up to you of course. You can just modify and resave the view if you
wish.

>
> > New 'All Methods' command in class browser shows complete ...
>
> I like this facility a lot.  However, it seems to be available only on the
> context menu of the class pane (in the CHB) and not on the menu bar's
Class
> or Method menus.

That is an oversight (although probably one that stems from an undecided
attitude as to whether everything on the context menus really should be on
the menu bars, despite what CUA guidelines say).

>
> > CommandQuery messages #enabled;, #checked are deprecated ...
>
> The Dolphin package and some sample packages still send #enabled: instead
of
> #isEnabled: in several places.  (In one method, for example, it looks like
> you caught the first occurrence of #enabled: and changed it but not a
second
> or third occurrence.)

That is true, although I can't find all the "several places";
FolderPresenter>>queryCommand: seems to be the only such reference in the
base image, and then two further query commands in one of the samples,
PersonalMoney. All the references were changed, except in Personal Money
which got lost from our development image at some point during the beta
testing, but that didn't stop new ones being added to
FolderPresenter>>queryCommand:

As a bit of background these selectors were deprecated because they don't
follow the selector naming pattern we prefer for flag setters. Unfortunately
deprecating methods does not changed well formed habits immediately, and
whoever implemented forward/back in FolderPresenter (probably me) did it on
auto-pilot :-).

>
> > TextEdit now has #isPassword published aspect ...
>  ...
> > New 'Password text' TextPresenter view for ...
>
> I noted that #isPassword does not appear in the Published Aspect Inspector
> of the View Composer for a TextEdit.  To change this for an existing
> TextEdit, I executed 'self isPassword: true' in the workspace pane.  (For
a
> new one, I could drag 'TextPresenter.Password text' to the form.)  Leaving
> #isPassword off of the list is probably good, considering how seldom it
> would be needed (perhaps an average of once per application?).

Yes, that is a deliberate decision to avoid clutter.

Thanks for your input, we'll feed back what we can into the next patch and
any subsequent maintenance release.

Regards

Blair

Blair,

> > I noted that #isPassword does not appear in the Published Aspect
Inspector
> > of the View Composer for a TextEdit.  To change this for an existing
> > TextEdit, I executed 'self isPassword: true' in the workspace pane.
(For
> a
> > new one, I could drag 'TextPresenter.Password text' to the form.)
Leaving
> > #isPassword off of the list is probably good, considering how seldom it
> > would be needed (perhaps an average of once per application?).
>
> Yes, that is a deliberate decision to avoid clutter.

Is this true? I would have thought it best that we should publish this
aspect despite how rarely it will be used.

Andy

"Blair McGlashan" <[hidden email]> wrote in message
news:90qlkh$247ac$[hidden email]...

> > I didn't see this in the CHB when hovering over the method names in the
> > rightmost pane.
>
> Well one wouldn't expect to, since the release note is referring to
"Method
> Browser" in the sense of the tool (i.e. the MethodBrowserShell) rather
than
> the MethodBrowser presenter which happens to be part of the shared
> implementation of the Method Browser and CHB tools.

Yeah, that was gradually dawning on me.  Thanks for the further info.

> > > New 'All Methods' command in class browser shows complete ...
 [ on context menu but no menu bar's Class or Method menus ]

> That is an oversight (although probably one that stems from an undecided
> attitude as to whether everything on the context menus really should be on
> the menu bars, despite what CUA guidelines say).

Fair enough.  I always find it, but often not in the first place I look.  I
suppose I'll gradually begin to look in the right place more often, so it is
a very minor matter (but, now, before I get used to its location, is the
only time I am able to give a report on where I was expecting to find it --
later it will be "intuitive" wherever it happens to be).

[I'm posting from Outlook Express.  If someone is reading this in a real
newsreader, could you tell me whether the above paragraph is broken up
properly into reasonable length lines or whether it shows up as one giant
line?]

> > The Dolphin package and some sample packages still send #enabled:
instead
> of #isEnabled: in several places.
 ...
> That is true, although I can't find all the "several places";

Right.  Looking at default image plus pl1, I see #enabled: sent twice in
FolderPresenter and once each in PersonalMoneyShell and
PersonalAccountShell.  So, I guess what I meant to say was "sent four
times".

> All the references were changed, except in Personal Money
> ... but that didn't stop new ones being added to
FolderPresenter>>queryCommand:

Sure, I understand.

Thanks.

-- Frank
[hidden email]

"Frank Sergeant" <[hidden email]> wrote in
<rIeY5.645$[hidden email]>:

>
>[I'm posting from Outlook Express.  If someone is reading this in a real
>newsreader, could you tell me whether the above paragraph is broken up
>properly into reasonable length lines or whether it shows up as one giant
>line?]
>

Looks OK to me. OE is a pretty poor newsreader for other reasons, though
:) I suggest Xnews (http://xnews.3dnews.net)

P.

Paul Hudson wrote

> >[I'm posting from Outlook Express.  If someone is reading this in a real
> >newsreader, could you tell me whether the above paragraph is broken up
> >properly into reasonable length lines or whether it shows up as one giant
> >line?]
> >
>
> Looks OK to me. OE is a pretty poor newsreader for other reasons, though
> :) I suggest Xnews (http://xnews.3dnews.net)

FWIW, you can check the formatting of messages in OE by opening them in the
"outbox" folder.  OE does all its line-folding etc, before putting messages
in there.

Also (I just discovered this), if you drag a message from OE to, say, the
desktop, then the resulting .eml file is a normal text file with proper
email headers and everything. Can be handy to know.

(None of this applies to full "outlook" which is the worst email client I've
ever used or imagined, not even excepting UNIX's /bin/mail)

    -- chris

Paul and Chris,

Thanks for the newreader tips and for checking out my line lengths.  I've
downloaded xnews and will try to take a look at it in the near future.


-- Frank
[hidden email]