[mcclim-devel] DEFINE-APPLCATION-STARTER and a modified Clim Launcher
Max-Gerd Retzlaff
m.retzlaff at gmx.net
Tue Jan 24 04:16:29 UTC 2006
Hello,
this is a proposal for a new extension to McCLIM consisting of
two parts:
A general macro to produce application starter functions
for McCLIM applications
Most Clim application have a starter functions that just makes the
application frame and afterwards runs its toplevel:
(defun start ()
(run-frame-top-level
(make-application-frame 'my-foo)))
So far, so simple. But now we want a shortcut to start the toplevel in
a newly created process, so we have:
(defun start (&key (new-process nil))
(flet ((run ()
(run-frame-top-level
(make-application-frame 'my-foo))))
(if new-process
(clim-sys:make-process #'run :name "foo tool")
(run))))
What else? Perhaps a default window width and height? A keyword
parameter for the process name? . . .
It has started with the first version, then someone has written the
second one, that was copied by others. Further extended... Well, it
has become quite convenient, and so you can find mutations of the code
in the Clim Listener, Clouseau (the inspector), the Clim Launcher,
Climacs, and probably others. For a strange reason all of the authors
never created a simple macro for it but have copied the code literally
and changed it appropriately. How unlispy! So I changed this, by
making one as part of the LED Cube Modeller[1].
It basically creates the code of the second example. You can also
specify a default width and height for the application frame, as well
as the default process name. Then there is also the option
:COMPLAIN-ABOUT-EXISTING-PROCESS; set it to T when defining the
starter (the default is nil) and the generated starter function will,
previously to do anything else, search for an existing process and ask
what it should do about it (I wanted this behaviour for the Cube
Modeller's toolbox window). In addition to this you can also specify
the frame manager if you want to try out the pixie/clx-look.
The new macro can be used as a drop-in replacement for e.g. the
existing climacs-gui:climacs:
(climi::define-application-starter climacs
:function-name climacs
:default-width 900
:default-height 400)
For the Clim Launcher it is:
(climi::define-application-starter launcher
:function-name start
:default-process-name "CLIM Launcher"
:announce-to-clim-launcher nil)
For the Clim Listener it could be:
(climi::define-application-starter listener
:function-name run-listener
:default-width 760
:default-height 550)
but there is a tiny problem with this right now that can be fixed
with a small change to the Listener (more on this in a seperate mail).
And finally to illustrate :COMPLAIN-ABOUT-EXISTING-PROCESS:
(climi::define-application-starter toolbox
:function-name start-toolbox
:default-process-name "cube-modeller toolbox"
:complain-about-existing-process t)
For further review the expanded version of the Climacs example is
attached to this mail.
Still simple, but nice nevertheless as this is a quite general
application starter macro, and you all know the advantage of using a
macro instead of duplicating code.
Clim Launcher
Together with the Launcher by Dwight Holman there is an additional
benefit: The macro can announce the created starter to it. So that
if you use it to define the function that fires up your GUI it will
automatically displayed in the Clim Launcher.
As this is quite nice, I seperated my modefied version of the Clim
Launcher from Clim Desktop and merged it with the
DEFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER code. I propose to commit this as a new
extension to the McCLIM repository itself. It's not really much code
(172 lines altogether), and the barrier to use the macro should be as
low as possible.
If you don't want the generated function to be announced to the
Launcher you can specify :ANNOUNCE-TO-CLIM-LAUNCHER as nil. The
Launcher itself should not be listed for example. Or you want to use
the function only internally and have your application started via
another function. In this case you can announce this function manually
via (add-application "Beirc" #'beirc:beirc), for example. (This is
also possible if you don't want to use the macro at all, of course.)
Current status
The current version is work in progress. (What else?) The Clim
Launcher still depends on :clim-listener, :beirc, and :closure. If we
agree to merge this code with McCLIM these dependencies should be
removed, and the Listener, Beirc, Climacs, etc. should instead depend
on :clim-launcher (and use DEFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER or
CLIM-LAUNCHER:ADD-APPLICATION). The dependency to :climacs is already
removed, you might want to evaluate the above example in the package
denoted by "CLIMACS-GUI" and be impressed by the fact that a "button"
will automatically manifest itself in the next turn of the Launcher's
command loop.
Now a direct question: The macro DEFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER currently
resides in the file clim-utilities.lisp together with the two functions
FIND-PROCESS-WITH-NAME and DESTROY-PROCESS-WITH-NAME that it needs.
These will be created in the package "CLIM-INTERNALS", which is not
very nice, but on the other hand: The two functions are generally
useful to interact with the threads that McCLIM provides in a portable
way. (Perhaps we want them to be exported by the package "CLIM-SYS"?)
And in order to use DEFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER it would be more nice
to just use it as if it were part of the CLIM specification. But do
we want it in the package "CLIM"? It is not part of the specification...
Or should it just be in and exported by "CLIM-LAUCNHER", and everybody
should :USE that package? What do you think? I'm indecisive..
Source code and a screen shot
The current version of the source codeis attached to this mail. It is
also in my public flux directory http://matroid.org/flux/ as
clim-launcher-20060124-01.tar.bzip2 (or newer). The extracted
archive is here: http://matroid.org/flux/clim-launcher/
Here is a recent screenshot of some clim applications, including
Closure, Beirc, the Listener and the Launcher, Climacs, and the LED
Cube Modeller (including the File Selector):
http://matroid.org/flux/CLIM-Desktop-20060124-1.png (780 kB)
Entertainment
The first name of the macro hasn't been very nice: MAKE-RUN-GUI-DEFUN.
So there has been a discussion[2] about it in #lisp. Proposals have been:
DEFINE-APPLICATION-ENTRY, DEFINE-APPLICATION,
DEFINE-APPLICATION-ENTRY-POINT, DEFINE-APPLICATION-ENTRY-FUNCTION,
DEFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER-FUNCTION, EFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER,
DEFINE-CLICKY-CLICK-THING, EFINE-APPLICATION-FIRESTARTER,
DEFINE-APPLICATION-IGNITION, EFINE-DO-IT-TO-IT-FUNCTION,
DEFINE-GUI-FIRE-UP-THINGIE, DEFINE-HEY-HO-LETS-GO,
DEFINE-APPLICATION-INVOKER, DEFINE-APPLICATOR,
DEFINE-APPLICATION-ANTI-TERMINATOR, DEFINE-APPLICATION-RUNNER,
DEFINE-APPLICATION-INITIATOR, IVE-ME-AN-INITIATIR-FOR-MY-MIGHTY-GUI,
AND DEFINE-APPLICATION-TOPLEVEL.
Well, although I really like DEFINE-CLICKY-CLICK-THING and
DEFINE-HEY-HO-LETS-GO, I hope you are okay with DEFINE-APPLICATION-STARTER.
(Or is DEFINE-APPLICATION-RUNNER really better? :) )
Comments and thoughts are welcome, of course. Bye,
Max
Links:
1) http://blog.matroid.org/display/25
2) IRC context for the bored:
http://meme.b9.com/cview.html?utime=3346791413&channel=lisp&start=3346787818&end=3346795018#utime_requested
PS: So many words for such a simple thing.. Hrm..
--
Max-Gerd Retzlaff <m.retzlaff at gmx.net> http://blog.matroid.org
For your amusement:
"The sixties were good to you, weren't they?"
-- George Carlin
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(in-package :climacs-gui)
;;; This:
(climi::define-application-starter climacs
:function-name climacs
:default-width 900
:default-height 400)
;;; gives:
(MULTIPLE-VALUE-PROG1
(DEFUN CLIMACS
(&KEY CLIM-INTERNALS::NEW-PROCESS (CLIM-SYS:PROCESS-NAME "Climacs")
(CLIM-INTERNALS::WIDTH 900) (CLIM-INTERNALS::HEIGHT 400)
CLIM-INTERNALS::FRAME-MANAGER-NAME CLIM-INTERNALS::FORCE-RESTART
(CLIM-INTERNALS::DEBUGGER (FUNCTION CLIM-DEBUGGER:DEBUGGER)))
(WHEN (CLIM-INTERNALS::FIND-PROCESS-WITH-NAME CLIM-SYS:PROCESS-NAME)
(IF CLIM-INTERNALS::FORCE-RESTART
(CLIM-INTERNALS::DESTROY-PROCESS-WITH-NAME CLIM-SYS:PROCESS-NAME)
(WHEN NIL
(RESTART-CASE
(ERROR
"There seems to be a running instance of the climacs process.")
(CLIM-INTERNALS::|destroy-process| NIL
:REPORT
"Destroy old climacs process and make a new one."
(CLIM-INTERNALS::DESTROY-PROCESS-WITH-NAME
CLIM-SYS:PROCESS-NAME))
(CLIM-INTERNALS::|don't-care| NIL
:REPORT
"Just run the gui again and don't care about the running process."
NIL)
(CLIM-INTERNALS::|do-nothing| NIL
:REPORT
"Just return without doing anything more."
(RETURN-FROM CLIMACS))))))
(LET ((CLIM-INTERNALS::FRAME
(IF CLIM-INTERNALS::FRAME-MANAGER-NAME
(MAKE-APPLICATION-FRAME 'CLIMACS
:WIDTH
CLIM-INTERNALS::WIDTH
:HEIGHT
CLIM-INTERNALS::HEIGHT
:FRAME-MANAGER
(MAKE-INSTANCE
CLIM-INTERNALS::FRAME-MANAGER-NAME
:PORT
(FIND-PORT)))
(MAKE-APPLICATION-FRAME 'CLIMACS
:WIDTH
CLIM-INTERNALS::WIDTH
:HEIGHT
CLIM-INTERNALS::HEIGHT)))
(*DEBUGGER-HOOK* CLIM-INTERNALS::DEBUGGER))
(FLET ((CLIM-INTERNALS::RUN ()
(RUN-FRAME-TOP-LEVEL CLIM-INTERNALS::FRAME)))
(IF CLIM-INTERNALS::NEW-PROCESS
(CLIM-SYS:MAKE-PROCESS
(LAMBDA ()
(CLIM-INTERNALS::RUN)
(CLIM-INTERNALS::DESTROY-PROCESS-WITH-NAME
CLIM-SYS:PROCESS-NAME))
:NAME
CLIM-SYS:PROCESS-NAME)
(CLIM-INTERNALS::RUN)))
CLIM-INTERNALS::FRAME))
(WHEN
(AND T
(FIND-PACKAGE :CLIM-LAUNCHER)
(FBOUNDP (INTERN "ADD-APPLICATION" :CLIM-LAUNCHER)))
(FUNCALL (INTERN "ADD-APPLICATION" :CLIM-LAUNCHER)
"Climacs"
(LAMBDA () (FUNCALL #'CLIMACS :NEW-PROCESS T)))))
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