On 26-06-2013, at 2:49 PM, Chris Muller <asqueaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> Let me offer another cold, hard example.  Maybe you can tell me here
> what alternative will "cut it" over the Cursor?  The case of reifying
> a proxy in a Smalltalk image to its real-object counterpart in a DB.
> This is something that happens about 100 times per minute depending on
> many factors.  Flipping the cursor provides a visual, real-time way to
> understand, not only the frequency of proxy hits, but also the rate
> which each hit is reifying.  A progress would not provide this
> information, nor would it be appropriate to popping up 100 progress
> bars per minute..  What else, then?

Easy; for something like that you might want a simple UI element that flashes on/off as appropriate. For a slightly more sophisticated feedback, perhaps something that glows brighter or more intense colours as the rate changes, or even a good old VU meter style widget? Even more info needed? How about a rate-sensitive meter and an associated actual log view that can be checked, reviewed, saved to file, whatever?

I've been trying to keep the idea of a faintly exception related mechanism separate from whatever UI widget is best for any particular use; I hope that particular tree hasn't got lost in the woods of this long list of messages. A pop-up progress bar is only one of many options that would be useful.


tim
--
tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Strange OpCodes: NNI: Neglect Next Instruction