[Cuis-dev] Discoverability of morphic

[ken.dickey at whidbey.com]

On 2019-07-20 23:28, Philip Bernhart via Cuis-dev wrote:
> where should we put the information regarding of how to
> get stuff done with morphic?

Sorry if someone else has already answered this.

I can only give you my take on things.

First, this stuff is not well documented (an exercise for the user, 
sigh).

We could really use a good write up on complex/interesting UI events.


I found the following in the squeak.org documentation:

   http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/2415

===================vvvv
If you want your morph to get keyboard events, redefine the following 
methods

MyMorph>>handlesKeyboard: evt
    ^ true

MyMorph>>mouseEnter: evt
    evt hand keyboardFocus: self

MyMorph>>mouseLeave: evt
    evt hand releaseKeyboardFocus: self

keyDown: anEvent
"Handle a key down event. ."
   anEvent keyCharacter = $a
      ifTrue: [self doSomething].
   anEvent keyCharacter = $q
      ifTrue: [self doAnotherOne]
===================^^^^

So, yes.  One can use #mouseEnter: to get the keyboard focus.


> I think it should not take a couple of hours of digging
> in the class hierarchy to find out
> "why does my morph not receive keystroke events
> when I already declared that it handlesKeyboard events?!"

I also find the event system confusing to use.

Look at the code in 'Morphic-Games-Solitaire' 
[https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Games/tree/master/Solitaire] for 
mouse event drag 'n drop code.  Note 'of interest' in 
'Learning-Cuis/PackageRef.md' 
[https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Learning-Cuis/blob/master/PackageRef.md]

Part of the problem is distinguishing click and double-click events 
where one has to wait for a timeout.

Also, keyboard focus is a topic in its own when it comes to creating 
panels with tab linked fields.  One does not always want the keyboard 
focus just because the mouse is over.  Mouse and Keyboard are frequently 
independent.  Your choices are many, depending on your UI usage.

I think the community would welcome some sample app/code/package, 
perhaps in 'Learning Cuis' 
[https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Learning-Cuis] showing some of the 
options.  Dragging and dropping a morph, tab-next fill-in text fields, 
change morph shape by drag, i.e. basic UI interaction choices.

Or perhaps a MorphicFAQ.md file in 'Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev/Documentation' 
[https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev/tree/master/Documentation] 
with questions you had and answers you found.

Or, if the questions are few enough, sample code in the Terse Guide 
would be really cool.

So you see the problem.  Even as we try to document things in the Cuis 
world, there are a number of choices and places to find things.  How to 
tie this together to make things easier to find??

Good questions.  Please help with the answers.

Thanks,
-KenD