On Apr 14, 2013, at 7:22 PM, Kenneth Payne <[email protected]> wrote:
> As a newcomer to smalltalk and Pharo I must say I love it - but I'm a little
> mystified by Spec.
>
> Just as I've got my head around Polymorph and can build an interface with
> UITheme builder, the paradigm has changed and Spec is the new standard way to
> create a UI.
>
> I read on a post that Polymorph is a UI framework but Spec is a UI
> description framework. But Spec isn't just a description like a XML
> representation of a UI - it brings new UI objects to the party -
> ButtonModel, LabelModel etc. But none of these have the rich properties of
> the corresponding Morphic objects. A ButtonModel looks nothing like a button,
> for example, and the LabelModel has nothing to set a font for the label. And
> it's not a description it's just more code.
>
> The only way I can see to create a rich interface using Spec is to create the
> interface using Morphs (and composite Morphs) and then using Spec mainly just
> to assemble and position them.
>
> So can someone wiser than I answer these questions for me:
we have a paper explaining all that but we are waiting it to be accepted.
> One, what is the purpose of Spec - what problem is it trying to solve?
reuse of composable widgets.
> Two, what advantages are there to building a UI in Spec rather than building
> it directly in Polymorph?
been able to build the same with another UI framework.
Being able to build a UIPainter
how do you open a uipainter on widget that only have been defined using
message?
you develop an interpreter?
> Three, why are the objects caled ButtonModel, LableModel etc when they are
> not models but UI components?
because they represent the logic of reuse and they are not widget.
> Four, am I supposed to be assembling morphs using Spec? It works so is it
> right?
there is a tutorial and a videos
Ben?
>
> To sum up, I'm quite sure Spec is an important new feature but at the moment
> I'm just not getting it.
>
> Can anyone help me on this?
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