[etoys-dev] Re: popups in project-info

[Timothy Falconer]

Scott,

You're incredible!    Thank you for this.

Tim

On Aug 8, 2009, at 4:55 AM, Scott Wallace wrote:

> Hi, Tim, and all,
>
> Attached is a fileout providing changes to the project-info dialog  
> as requested for the benefit of the "showcase" on Squeakland.org.
>
> Basically, the "project info" dialog now contains three "enumerated"  
> items, "Subject", "Age", and "Region".  These three are all governed  
> by pop-ups (in local language) rather than by type-ins.  The results  
> are included in the project manifest.
>
> Important notes:
>
> (1)  It is essential that this be filed in to an image updated at  
> least through update 2246PolygonFix-kfr.  If filed in to an earlier  
> image, subsequently loading updates will clobber some of the changes  
> provided here.
>
> (2)  Yoshiki is also modifying code in the EToyProjectDetailsMorph  
> area in this same time-frame, so integration is likely to be  
> necessary before our two fileouts are published.
>
> (3)  There are a few obvious rough edges which someone may wish to  
> tweak, though I don't know of any show-stoppers.  For example, this  
> has always been an English-only dialog, but now that the field names  
> are localized, there may be layout issues in some languages (once  
> translations are available.)  Also, for the pop-up fields, if  
> they've never been set they show as blank, whereas once they've been  
> set to "(none)" (equivalent to blank) they show the text "(none)".   
> Probably we should always show "(none)" when values for these three  
> popups have not been supplied.  Also, since some of the fields are  
> now type-in and some are pop-ups, perhaps some UI convention (slight  
> color difference?) should be used to hint at whether a field  
> functions as a type-in or a pop-up.
>
> (4)  This turned out to involve quite a bit of code, most of it  
> written with a fever and at very late hours.  So there's the  
> distinct possibility of errors.  I did test it briefly and it seemed  
> to work as I expected.  HOWEVER:  it really needs verification by  
> someone else.
>
> (5) The Preamble (please read if planning to test or use):
>
> -=------
>
> Change Set:		projectInfoPopUps-sw
> Date:			8 August 2009
> Author:			Scott Wallace
>
> Changes to the project-info dialog, in support of new data desired  
> for the 'showcase' on squeakland.org:
>
> -  'Sub-Category' removed.
> -  Subject, Age, and Region are added as pop-ups.
> -  Choices for Subject, Age, Region popups, and corresponding codes,  
> obtainable from web-site.
> -  Project manifest now includes Age, Subject (category,) and Region  
> info.  The codes are strings of numbers, e.g. '554' as a Subject  
> code means 'Language Arts'
>     (look in #defaultAgeTriplets, #defaultSubjectTriplets,  
> #defaultRegionTriplets on class-side of EToyProjectDetailsMorph.)
> -  Names of fields are presented to the user in localized form.
> -  Choices for values of pop-up fields are presented to the user in  
> localized form.
>
> Notes:
>
> - There is support provided for obtaining up-to-date lists of the  
> subject, age, and region alternatives from the web site (see  
> EToyProjectDetailsMorph class updateTripletsFromWebSite) but it is  
> not actually called at this point, out of concern for potential for  
> long delay if connection to web site is slow.
>
> - The *region* codes are at present *not* obtained from the web-site  
> (even when the user explicitly calls #updateTripletsFromWebSite,)  
> but rather a 'fake' set of regions, basically the continents, is  
> provided.  This is probably temporary.  We have no reasonable way to  
> confront the user with a pop-up showing 250 choices.
>
> However, as per Tim's request, I have made it a point to include  
> Antarctica in the region list.  (Tim:  look at method  
> #defaultRegionTriplets for the current point of departure, if you  
> want to adopt that, temporarily at least, on the web site.  And/or  
> of course change any defaults as needed.
>
> -----------
>
> Cheers,
>
>  -- Scott
>
> <projectInfoPopUps-sw.7.cs.gz>