[mcclim-devel] Update object of a presentation.

[Mike McDonald]

  A common mistake (IMHO) of people new to CLIM is them trying to
force everything into a presentation. Presentations are very powerful
abstractions but they are NOT the be all, end all of UI paradigms.
CLIM has a full set of graphics routines that can be used to display
information in addition to the presentation mechanism.

  A common CLIM "pattern" is based upon the Controller-Model-View GUI
paradigm. (I can't believe I've used "paradigm" twice in one Email!
Probably spelled it wrong too!) In CLIM, you can use an application
pane as the viewer, using all of CLIM's graphics routines. An
interactor pane is often used as the controller, using an application
specific command table to provide more complicated interactions than
simple GUI elements can provide. A hbox pane is often used as a button
box/menu bar for those simple interactions ('Start', 'Stop",
'Emergency Core Shutdown') that don't require additional arguments.

  I guess what I'm trying to say is that CLIM has enough power and
flexibility to handle most kinds of GUI models. Don't get stuck on
just presentations.

  Mike McDonald
  mikemac at mikemac.com