[Seaside] Re: Menu component - communicating with root component

[Steve Aldred]

Good example Boris.

Implicit in that is that an announcement can contain more information 
than any given announcer may provide. As you extend the containment 
hierarchy the announcement can be extended by adding new instVars. Only 
those instances that care need to know about them.

This could be done with parent sends but each object traversed needs to 
know the protocol
   
    self parent cellClicked: self.
then
    self parent cellClicked: cell inRow: self

If you add another layer of containment and the top level wants to know 
about the bottom when then every intervening object needs new protocol 
to support the layer. It always felt to us you end up with more protocol 
in every possible parent class just to pass state. With the announcement 
all of the state is in one object and it feels simpler. If the objects 
in the middle just copy all of the state from the announcement they 
receive then they don't even have to know about what the child hierarchy 
has added, just that they can receive the announcement and how announce 
it themselves.

You can't do that with parent send protocol unless you put the state in 
some other object - which means you now have an object to hold the same 
state as the announcement would anyway, usually in an anonymous way such 
as array elements. Using an announcement allows you to name those 
elements and pass them in far less brittle way.

cheers
Steve