Smalltalk - Re: Alt-tab between windows

Smalltalk › Pharo › Pharo Smalltalk Users

Re: Alt-tab between windows

Posted by Carlo-2 on May 16, 2015; 6:09am
URL: https://forum.world.st/Alt-tab-between-windows-tp4826593p4826704.html

Hi

I see my earlier email was bounced again...

Ok, hacked and debugged my pharo 4 image and I've got ctrl- left or right working on my mac.

Two changes needed

TaskListMorph>>keyStroke: event needs to change as per below to add the ctrl left or right.

TaskListMorph>>keyStroke: event

"Process keys to switch task."

event keyCharacter = Character escape ifTrue: [^self delete].

event anyModifierKeyPressed ifFalse: [^self done].

event keyString = '<Ctrl-left>' ifTrue: [^self selectPreviousTask].

event keyString = '<Ctrl-right>' ifTrue: [^self selectNextTask].

event keyString = '<Opt-Shift-tab>' ifTrue: [^self selectPreviousTask].

event keyString = '<Opt-tab>' ifTrue: [^self selectNextTask]

Then TaskListMorph>>isNavigationEvent: aKeyboardEvent needs to change as per below:

isNavigationEvent: aKeyboardEvent

| validCombos |

validCombos := Array with: Character tab alt with: Character tab alt shift with: Character arrowLeft ctrl with: Character arrowRight ctrl .

^ validCombos contains: [:each | each = aKeyboardEvent asKeyCombination].

Ctrl-left or Ctrl-right works, and again you need to press any key to select the window on preview.

Cheers

Carlo

On 16 May 2015, at 1:05 AM, Avdi Grimm <[hidden email]> wrote:

Messing around, I've gotten the impression that Morphic doesn't really have the concept of a window manager. I've even played with the "Tiling Window Manager", but it isn't really a *manager* in the usual sense, it's more of a collection of shortcuts for manually resizing windows.

Without having dove into the implementation yet, it feels like Morphic is more a system where each window paints itself where it wants to be, and there isn't a centralized controller or manager of windows. Is that accurate?

On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 6:58 PM Nicolai Hess <[hidden email]> wrote:

2015-05-16 0:52 GMT+02:00 Avdi Grimm <[hidden email]>:
Hey folks! I've dabbled with smalltalk here and there over the years, but recently I've settled in to learn Pharo in earnest. A few of you might have seen the videos I've been putting up; they seem to be making the rounds on Twitter. I just want to say I've felt really welcomed by all the people who have commented with helpful tips, or offered to help with my exploration :-)

I've run into my first big blocker as a newcomer. Like many programmers I'm a fan of keeping my hands on the keyboard. Now, I'm more flexible on this than some. I recognize that Pharo is a visual environment, and it makes sense to explore it with a mouse. And some interactions just make more sense with a mouse.

That said, no matter what windowing environment I'm in, I find the ability to quickly cycle between windows without leaving the keyboard pretty crucial. One Windows or Ubuntu I would normally do this with Alt-Tab or Super-Tab. On MacOS it's Cmd-Tab.

I've been trying to figure out how to do this in Pharo. I've looked for answers with Google, SO, and on IRC, and I've come up blank. I'm starting to think it can't be done.

So, I've come here for your help. Is there a way to cycle between windows? Or is anyone working on it? Or, perhaps, am I missing an element of the Pharo programming workflow which renders it unneeded?

Many thanks,

--
Avdi

I miss this too.

This worked in Pharo 1.4 (alt + left arrow / alt+right arrow).

I don't know why this was removed.

I often wanted to look at this and try to bring it back, but didn't find the time.

nicolai