customizing flaps (was: default text size problem)

SWallace scottw at wdi.disney.com
Thu Mar 25 22:01:52 UTC 1999


At 9:23 AM -0800 3/25/99, Joshua Gargus wrote:

>...
>Another idea is to replace the old prototypes with new ones
>by somehow dragging them off and the new ones on.  I don't 
>really know how to go about this, but I'm sure it can be done.
>If possible, this is the option I'd like to use (because of
>the learning it involves).

Yes, indeed!  The default flaps are only intended to serve as examples of what can be done with flaps, the assumption being that users will modify them to suit their own purposes.

If you want to replace the "Tools" flap's prototypical browsers windows, etc., with new ones that reflect your changed font defaults, you could proceed as follows:

(1)  From the "flap" menu on the Tools tab, suppress "mouseover" and "dragover" behavior temporarily, so that the flap won't keep disappearing at inopportune moments while you try to manipulate its contents.

(2)  From that same "flap" menu, tell the Tools flap to "suspend parts bin behavior".  This will allow you to remove items from it, add new items to it, and rearrange its contents.

(3)  Open a Preferences editor and set "allowSysWindowEmbedding" to true.  This is necessary in order for the flap (or *any* paste-up area other than the World itself) to be willing to let you drop a window into it.

(4)  Drag the old "System Browser" miniature out of the flap and drop it in a trash can.

(5)  Get a fresh System Browser in the traditional way from the open... menu.

(6)  Drop that new System Browser onto the interior of the Tools Flap.  It will reduce to a miniature.  Position it as you wish within the flap.

(7)  Repeat steps 4-5-6 for anything else you want to change in the flap.

(8)  Now reverse the settings you made in steps 1, 2, and 3, and you're done.

Note that any manual modifications you made to the new Browser between steps 5 and 6 (e.g. changes to title, color, size) will be in the new prototype, so that new browsers you tear off from the revised flap will reflect those changes.

This sequence is a little more complicated than many other flap modifications you might be motivated to make, because it involves temporarily suspending parts-bin behavior and it also requires temporarily suspending a window-handling preference.  

In contrast, if you've created a simple button and wish to have it available on the left flap, you could just drag it over that flap and drop it there, and that would be all it took.  Similarly, you could deposit a TextMorph there, and the result would be that the same body of text would be universally available in all your (morphic) projects, etc.
 
Hope this helps,

  -- Scott





More information about the Squeak-dev mailing list