[vwnc] Any tips on Adding Scripting Area to GUI?

> Smacc would be an ideal way to do scripting from a Text Window and have any
> UI action to run it..
>
> ( Hope I am not misunderstanding your query..)
> -skrish
> On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 12:00 PM, Jim Guo <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> (This may have been documented or answered before but I haven't found it.)
>>
>> I'm using inspector a lot to do experiments on data, that I get the
>> data collections and inspect them and in inspector I type in message
>> that will operate on the objects and make a plot for visualization.
>> Now I want to build the routines  into a GUI. I would like to have two
>> main areas on the window, one plot area for chart and another being
>> script area for type in Smalltalk codes to operate on objects and the
>> chart.
>>
>> I have no problem in getting plots on specified data nor building
>> menus for displaying different plot each at a time however I don't
>> know how to script them using a code area.
>>
>> Is there any example that I can learn from? Or any tips on most
>> important Classes to look at? Thanks in advance!
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Jim G
>> _______________________________________________
>> vwnc mailing list
>> [hidden email]
>> http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwnc
>
>

> If you do not plan to build your own scripting language (which is what SmaCC
> would be great for) and just use smalltalk, the only obstacle left is making
> the text in your scripting pane access your plot data. That is IMO
> essentially the same as adding local variables to smalltalk Workspace. To
> see how to do that, have a look at the AbstractWorkspace class, and follow
> references from e.g. #doItEnvironment.
>
> Best regards..
>  Tomas Dvorak
>
> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:30:07 +0100, Jim Guo <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> (This may have been documented or answered before but I haven't found it.)
>>
>> I'm using inspector a lot to do experiments on data, that I get the
>> data collections and inspect them and in inspector I type in message
>> that will operate on the objects and make a plot for visualization.
>> Now I want to build the routines  into a GUI. I would like to have two
>> main areas on the window, one plot area for chart and another being
>> script area for type in Smalltalk codes to operate on objects and the
>> chart.
>>
>> I have no problem in getting plots on specified data nor building
>> menus for displaying different plot each at a time however I don't
>> know how to script them using a code area.
>>
>> Is there any example that I can learn from? Or any tips on most
>> important Classes to look at? Thanks in advance!
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Jim G
>> _______________________________________________
>> vwnc mailing list
>> [hidden email]
>> http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwnc
>
>
>

> I'm using inspector a lot to do experiments on data, that I get the
> data collections and inspect them and in inspector I type in
> message that will operate on the objects and make a plot for
> visualization. Now I want to build the routines  into a GUI. I
> would like to have two main areas on the window, one plot area for
> chart and another being script area for type in Smalltalk codes to
> operate on objects and the chart.
>
> I have no problem in getting plots on specified data nor building
> menus for displaying different plot each at a time however I don't
> know how to script them using a code area.

> Hi, Tomáš
>
> Thanks, I all try it since it reads not that complex, hope it is.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim G
>
> 2009/11/2 Tomáš Dvořák <[hidden email]>:
>> If you do not plan to build your own scripting language (which is what SmaCC
>> would be great for) and just use smalltalk, the only obstacle left is making
>> the text in your scripting pane access your plot data. That is IMO
>> essentially the same as adding local variables to smalltalk Workspace. To
>> see how to do that, have a look at the AbstractWorkspace class, and follow
>> references from e.g. #doItEnvironment.
>>
>> Best regards..
>>  Tomas Dvorak
>>
>> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:30:07 +0100, Jim Guo <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> (This may have been documented or answered before but I haven't found it.)
>>>
>>> I'm using inspector a lot to do experiments on data, that I get the
>>> data collections and inspect them and in inspector I type in message
>>> that will operate on the objects and make a plot for visualization.
>>> Now I want to build the routines  into a GUI. I would like to have two
>>> main areas on the window, one plot area for chart and another being
>>> script area for type in Smalltalk codes to operate on objects and the
>>> chart.
>>>
>>> I have no problem in getting plots on specified data nor building
>>> menus for displaying different plot each at a time however I don't
>>> know how to script them using a code area.
>>>
>>> Is there any example that I can learn from? Or any tips on most
>>> important Classes to look at? Thanks in advance!
>>>
>>> Best Regards,
>>>
>>> Jim G
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> vwnc mailing list
>>> [hidden email]
>>> http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwnc
>>
>>
>
>
>

> In this same direction, here I send a few lines of a custom inspector I
> have (sceneWorkspace is the aspect of a subcanvas):
>
>  >>initialize
> ...
> self sceneWorkspace: (Workspace on: '' asValue).
> self initializeWorkspaceVariables
> ...
>
> initializeWorkspaceVariables
>
> | objects |
>
> "get in objects all the variables you want to add to the workspace in
> the form (name -> object)"
> ...
> SystemUtils modifySystem: [self addWorkspaceVariables: objects].
>
>
> addWorkspaceVariables: aCollection
>
> aCollection do: [:assoc| self sceneWorkspace addLocal: assoc key value:
> assoc value].
>
> HTH,
>         Andrés
>

> Hi Jim!
>
> Jim Guo wrote:
>> I'm using inspector a lot to do experiments on data, that I get the
>> data collections and inspect them and in inspector I type in
>> message that will operate on the objects and make a plot for
>> visualization. Now I want to build the routines  into a GUI. I
>> would like to have two main areas on the window, one plot area for
>> chart and another being script area for type in Smalltalk codes to
>> operate on objects and the chart.
>>
>> I have no problem in getting plots on specified data nor building
>> menus for displaying different plot each at a time however I don't
>> know how to script them using a code area.
>
> If you really want to be able to enter Smalltalk code into
> a text editor to "script" your display, you could go with something
> along the lines of
>
>        method := Compiler new
>                        compile: codeString
>                        in: nil
>                        allowReceiver: false
>                        class: nil class
>                        environment: Smalltalk
>                        noPattern: true
>                        notifying: nil
>                        ifFail: [ nil ].
>        method isNil ifTrue: [ ^ nil ].
>        block := nil performMethod: method.
>        block isNil ifTrue: [ ^ nil ].
>
>        testResult := [ block valueWithArguments: self testParameters ] on:
> Error do: [ : ex | ex return: nil ].
>        ^ testResult isNil
>                ifTrue: [ nil ]
>                ifFalse: [ block ]
> where codeString contains string of a block (possibly with a fixed set
> of input parameters added by the GUI).
>
> But beware, if you deploy this anyone could enter "ObjectMemory quit"
> as code and this would be working as intended...
>
> So the SmaCC solution on a special "language" might be better, if this
> was for production use. Or some kind of sandboxing or which objects
> and methods might be sent from user provided Smalltalk code...
>
> Regards
>  Jan
>