I'm glad you like it.  I can't take any credit for the idea; it comes
from Linux/XFree86.  Let me say that I think the list is the best place
for this exchange because someone may take your additions and add their
own.  I'm not worried about ownership issues; it's all of ours.   So
it's not less than polite, but rather asynchronous pair programming.  

Your fixes make a lot of sense.  Thanks!  I was wondering how to bring
this to all Morphic windows, but I'm not familiar enough with the
Classes yet.  I especially like your #autoRiseOnMouseEntry and your
placement of the Register dictionary as a class var in WindowRaiser (we
could call it a Necromancer if you wish! :)  ).  I don't know what I was
thinking, putting it in the Smalltalk dictionary.  Just hacking, you
know?

Could you post your changeset, please?   I want to build on it.   I'd
like to figure out how to install a start/stop menu item in the World
popup (or preferences).  I believe this would require removing the event
registrations from the windows that are active
(#cancelAutoRiseOnMouseEntry) and setting a class side flag in
WindowRaiser to not install the events for new windows.  Finally, have
#autoRiseOnMouseEntry and #cancelAutoRiseOnMouseEntry defer ot class
methods on the WindowRaiser for installation/deinstallation of the
events.  I also found that I like a 50 millisecond delay or none at
all.  It's more immediate.

Do we have a consolidated 'settings' window?  Is it <preferences...>?  I
would also like to be able to configure the delay time.   The other
thing I was thinking of was a (sub)popup list of all windows in the
active world/project.  Clicking on one would activate it (for when I
have 250 inspectors and browsers open!).

cheers,
Rob

PS.  My cat does that all the time, too!  8-)  He even sits on my
keyboard for attention, and that wreaks havoc.  (now I'm covered for any
missppelled words ;)


Stan Heckman wrote:
> 
> Robert Withers <withers at vnet.net> writes:
> 
> This is very nice. I like it already.
> 
> I modified it to work on all system windows, not just the browser. In
> the process, I rearranged your code more than is probably polite. I'll
> describe I did, so you can decide "Nah, I don't want any of those
> changes in my code." :-)
> 
> First some really indefensible changes. There is a long history in
> Smalltalk of storing useful Singletons in global variables, just as
> you have done with WindowRaiserEventRegister. So really, I have no
> business messing with this. But my personal biases are that this is
> appropriate for the classes everyone will use, but less appropriate
> for classes that only a few of us will use. So I prefer putting the
> EventRegister in a class variable of class WindowRaiser, a class that
> those of us who use this enhancement will have on our systems and
> those who don't will not have. So I added a class variable named
> #EventRegister to WindowRaiser.
> 
>     Object subclass: #WindowRaiser
>         instanceVariableNames: 'view timer '
>         classVariableNames: 'EventRegister '
>         poolDictionaries: ''
>         category: 'Slosher-Tools-Extensions'
> 
> Then I added class methods "initialize" and "eventRaiser" to
> initialize and access this variable. This is also indefensible; there
> is no reason that my explicit initialization is any better than your
> lazy initialization.
> 
>     initialize
>         EventRegister := Dictionary new.
>     eventRegister
>         ^ EventRegister
> 
> Next I add an #autoRiseOnMouseEntry method to Morph. I wasn't sure
> where best to put this; I've stuffed it into "event handling" for
> now. This may be no more defensible than my previous
> changes. I find my rewrite easier for me to read, but these things are
> vary from person to person, and you probably like your own version
> better. In any case, you should recognize that this is exactly your
> #openBrowserView:label: code, just rearranged a little.
> 
> !Morph methodsFor: 'event handling' stamp: 'sjh 1/28/2000 16:08'!
>     autoRiseOnMouseEntry
>         self
>             on: #mouseEnter
>             send: #value
>             to:
>                 [WindowRaiser eventRegister
>                     at: self
>                     put: ((WindowRaiser newOn: self) waitFor: 500)].
>         self
>             on: #mouseLeave
>             send: #value
>             to:
>                 [(WindowRaiser eventRegister
>                     removeKey: self
>                     ifAbsent: [^ self]) stop]
> 
> Now any morph that receives the method "autoRiseOnMouseEntry" will
> begin exhibiting your autorise behavior. Let's arrange to have this
> message sent to all system windows when they are started up. We
> change the openInWorld and openInWorld: messages of SystemWindow.
> 
>     !SystemWindow methodsFor: 'open/close' stamp: 'sjh 1/28/2000 16:10'!
>     openInWorld
>         self autoRiseOnMouseEntry.
>         super openInWorld! !
> 
>     !SystemWindow methodsFor: 'open/close' stamp: 'sjh 1/28/2000 16:16'!
>     openInWorld: aWorld
>         "This msg and its callees result in the window being activeOnlyOnTop"
>         self autoRiseOnMouseEntry.
>         self bounds: (RealEstateAgent initialFrameFor: self).
>         aWorld addMorph: self.
>         self activate.
>         aWorld startSteppingSubmorphsOf: self! !
> 
> Thats all I did. With these changes, all system windows (or at least
> those I tested) exhibit your autorise behavior. Thanks again for your
> useful change set; I'm already enjoying how much less clicking I have
> to do this way.
> 
> I hope it is popular with more squeakers than just the two of us. I
> despair of it ever being popular with the majority; my coworkers think
> my workstation is cursed because whenever they move the mouse "out of
> the way", some window comes up from behind and obscures what they were
> reading, sort of like a cat that wants attention so sits on the
> newspaper you are reading. :-) Auto rise is an acquired taste.
> 
> I'm interested in any questions or comments you may have.
> 
> --
> Stan

-- 
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Smalltalking by choice.  Isn't it nice to have one!