#+OPTIONS: broken-links:mark * FXRuby Enhancement Table of Contents :TOC_5_gh: - [[#fxruby-enhancement][fxruby-enhancement]] - [[#introduction][Introduction]] - [[#installation][Installation]] - [[#documentation][Documentation]] - [[#in-general][In General]] - [[#execution-phases-of-fxruby-enhancement][Execution Phases of fxruby-enhancement]] - [[#declarative][Declarative]] - [[#fxruby-instantiation][FXRuby Instantiation]] - [[#fox-toolkit-instantiation][FOX Toolkit instantiation]] - [[#events-from-other-threads][Events from other Threads]] - [[#the-queue_ding-queues][The Queue_Ding Queues]] - [[#enhancementingress][Enhancement.ingress]] - [[#enhancementegress][Enhancement.egress]] - [[#api--dsl][API & DSL]] - [[#ref-refc-and-tagging-your-objects][ref(), refc() and tagging your objects]] - [[#fox_component-and-fox_instance][fox_component and fox_instance]] - [[#fx_app][fx_app]] - [[#instance][instance]] - [[#ingress_handler][ingress_handler]] - [[#deferred_setup][deferred_setup]] - [[#mapping-between-fx_-declarations-and-the-fx-fxruby-objects][Mapping between fx_* declarations and the FX* FXRuby objects]] - [[#bindingfx][binding.fx]] - [[#examples][Examples]] - [[#hello-world-example-full-the-enhancement-way][Hello World example (full) the Enhancement Way]] - [[#hello-world-the-old-fxruby-way][Hello World the old fxruby way:]] - [[#bouncing-ball-example-full][Bouncing Ball example (full):]] - [[#bouncing-ball-the-old-fxruby-way][Bouncing Ball the old fxruby way:]] - [[#release-notes][Release Notes]] - [[#known-issues][Known Issues]] - [[#contributing-to-fxruby-enhancement][Contributing to fxruby-enhancement]] - [[#copyright-and-licensing][Copyright and Licensing]] - [[#the-junkyard--scratchpad][The Junkyard / Scratchpad]] - [[#genesis-of-the-meta-meta-programming-whereby-brain-goes-boom][Genesis of the meta-meta programming, whereby brain goes boom]] * fxruby-enhancement ** Introduction The fxruby library is an excellent wrapper for the FOX Toolkit. However, it reflects the C++-ness of FOX, rather than being more Ruby-like. As such, creating composed objects with it tends to be rather cumbersome, given its C++ roots. For every new component you create with fxruby, you are handed back a reference to that object, which you'll need to store somewhere. And then all the subsequent child objects will need to be passed pointers to the parent objects. So, if you need to redo a layout, it becomes a messy exercise. fxruby-enhancement makes this a snap to do. You simply declare your GUI arrangement in a nested fashion. fxruby-enhancement will take care of passing parents to the nested children, and other issues as well. You can now focus on creating a good GUI layout that you can change on the fly without much fuss and bother. fxruby-enhancement is basically a DSL of sorts, and every effort has been taken to make it intuitive to use. Once you get the hang of it, you should be able to look at the FXRuby API documentation and infer the DSL construct for fxruby-enhancement. Please also see the many [[file:examples][examples]]. ** Installation To install the gem from commandline: #+begin_src bash gem install fxruby-enhancement #+end_src In your Gemfile: #+begin_src ruby gem "fxruby-enhancement", "~> 0" #+end_src fxruby-enhacement depends on fxruby version 1.6, and will automatically include it. However fxruby has a c-extension that must compile properly on your system. Normally, this is not a concern, but it is something to be aware of. ** Documentation *** In General fxruby-enhancement (which we will refer to as "Enhancement" from time to time) makes use of the singleton pattern in Ruby. There is basically no need to declare subclases off of most FXRuby classes. This is a very C++ish way, and the way the C++ Fox Toolkit works. It will make most hard-core Rubyists gnash their teeth. Here, we do away with all of it. Also, the SEL_x variables -- which maps to the C++ #defines of the same -- is replaced with method declarations of the nature of sel_x -- just the lowercase version of the same. For instance, in the straight fxruby, you would have to do something like: #+begin_src ruby @canvas.connect(SEL_PAINT) { |sender, sel, evt| FXDCWindow.new(sender, evt) { |dc| dc.drawImage(@backBuffer, 0, 0) } #+end_srcv but with Enhancement, you do it thusly: #+begin_src ruby instance { |c| c.sel_paint { |sender, sel, event| FXDCWindow.new(sender, event) { |dc| dc.drawImage(ref(:back_buffer), 0, 0) } } } #+end_src And here we illustrate something else, the instance declaration. Why do we do it this way? Because Enhancement is multi-phase. First, we declare the GUI layout with Enhancement. At this time, none of the underlying FXRuby objects exist yet, but need to be referenced anyway. So we defer that part where references need to be resolved to the instance claus, which, as you can well imagine, means the FXRuby object instances have been instantiated. You will also note the use of the ref clause, as in: #+begin_src ruby dc.drawImage(ref(:back_buffer), 0, 0) #+end_src When the :back_buffer object was declared, it was done thusly: #+begin_src ruby fx_image(:back_buffer) { opts IMAGE_KEEP } #+end_src So when the actual FXImage object is instantiated, it is associated to the :back_buffer tag, which then is found by ref() and can be used anywhere in the instantiation phase. *** Execution Phases of fxruby-enhancement This represents the work flow, in the order stated: | State | Description | |---------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Declarative | The basic GUI layout is declared by the DSL, but it is not instantiated yet. | | FXRuby instantiation | All the basic underlying FXRuby object are instantiatied, but the foundational FOX Toolkit Objects are not instantiated yet. | | FOX Toolkit instantiation | The FOX Toolkit C++-level objects are now alive and kicking. | **** Declarative This phase, under the proverbial hood, ceates the component objects, which are just place-holders for the underlying FXRuby objects. When the FXRuby object is created, it is assigned to its place holder component object, and can be references as comp.inst. In most cases, you will almost never need to touch the component objects directly. **** FXRuby Instantiation During the FXRuby instantiantion stage, all of the FXRuby objects are instantiated and stored in their respective component objects. If they are tagged, the instantiated object may be referenced with ref(), and the component object itself may be referenced via refc(). There is almost never a case where you would need to go after the component object directly. **** FOX Toolkit instantiation All of the FOX Toolkit C++ objects, resources, etc. that correspond to the FXRuby objects are now set up, and activated. With the all-important "show PLACEMENT_SCREEN" command, the FOX GUI should now be visible. *** Events from other Threads In handling interfacing to databases, AMQPs like RabbitMQ, network connections, or just about anything else that might otherwise slow down the GUI (Fox) thread and make it non-responsive, there needs to be a clean way to get data into and out of the GUI thread. Fox provides some mechanisms specifically for sockets or system-level IO, but these are too specific, and would require some awkard workarounds to make them work in the general context. And so we provide a means to accomplish that in a clean -- to you, anyway -- manner. We make use of queue_ding queues for passing messages into and out of the FXRuby (and therefore FXRuby Enhancement) space. This will allow you to keep the GUI thread responsive and also to maintain a seperation of concerns. **** The Queue_Ding Queues [[ttps://github.com/flajann2/queue_ding][Queue Ding]] is an enhancement for doing queing across threads in Ruby, and we offer it here to allow external events to be funneled into and out of the Fox GUI thread. Usage is easy and straightforard. When removing entries from Queue Ding using #next, the queue will block until the next entry arrives. Since Queue Ding is really derived from ::Array, you may also do thing like #empty? to check to see if entries are availabe to avoid blocking. ***** Enhancement.ingress To get messages objects into fxruby_enhacement, simply #push or #<< it into the queue as shown: #+begin_src ruby Enhancement.ingress << [:some_tag, some_payload] #+end_src In the DSL, you must set up a handler for the ingress, #+begin_src ruby ingress_handler :status do |tag, payload| puts "received #{tag} => #{payload}" end #+end_src And so your handler will most likely act as a dispatcher for the payloads received. For example: #+begin_src ruby ingress_handler :status do |tag, logline| puts "received #{tag} => #{payload}" case tag when :log_info ref(:logging_info).appendItem logline when :log_error ref(:logging_error).appendItem logline end end #+end_src ***** Enhancement.egress Wnen your Fox application needs to send a message to other listening threads, You simply push your payload onto the egress queue thusly: #+begin_src ruby Enhancement.egress << [:button_clicked, "I was clicked!"] #+end_src and your Ruby thread external to Fox would simply do: #+begin_src #+end_src *** API & DSL **** ref(), refc() and tagging your objects In an effort to eliminate the fuss and bother with scoping issues and object reference, ref(:some_tag) will retrive the FXRuby instance object so tagged with :some_tag. You may have anonymous, i.e., untagged objects, and those will not be findable by ref(). It is not necessary to tag all objects, either. refc() is similar to ref(), except it retrives the underlying component object insted. Indeed, the following are equivalent operations: #+begin_src ruby ref(:some_tag) refc(:some_tag).inst #+end_src There may be some edge cases where you might want to reference the underlying component ahead of FXRuby object instaniation, but in the vast majority of the cases, it should be unnecessary. My goal is to enable to do what you need, not to restrict you. You may need it for debugging, etc. Underlying, the component object is really a subclass of OpenScript. While you may like to stuff some additional data there, this is frowned upon because it might conflict with Enhancement. If you have a need for this, please do a issue in GitHub. **** fox_component and fox_instance fox_component and fox_instance are roughly the equivalent of refc() and ref(), respecively. The difference mainly being that fox_component does no sanity checking, and is therefore slightly faster. At some point, they may be merged, but for now don't count on it. To initialize and run your app, you customairly do the following: #+begin_src ruby fox_component :app do |app| app.launch end #+end_src Which presumes your fx_app declaration was tagged with :app as follows: #+begin_src ruby fx_app :app do app_name "Your Amazingly Cool Application" vendor_name "YouDaMan" ... end #+end_src This is the only time you will reference the component object directly for the obvious reason that you must start from someonere. **** fx_app To begin the declaration of your app, you must do the following somewhere: #+begin_src ruby fx_app :app do app_name "The Forbin Project" vendor_name "Colossus" ... end #+end_src Typeically you'd do this inside of a module, but you could do it also in a class body. Please see the examples. **** instance Inside of your component declaration, you will undoubtly want to specify what you want to do once the FXRuby object is actually instantiated. This is what the instance clause will allow you to do. Your code block there will be passed a reference to the FXRuby object, allowing you to set up connections, change the component state, etc. There are some added benefits as well. When making a connection, with the normal FXRuby, you would do something like this: #+begin_src ruby ... aButton.connect(SEL_COMMAND) { |sender, selector, data| ... code to handle this event ... } #+end_src But with Enhancement, you would be able to do it thusly: #+begin_src ruby fx_button(:my_button) { ... configs for this FXButton object ... instance { |button| button.sel_command { |sender, selector, data| ... code to handle this event ... } } } #+end_src which will make it feel more Ruby-like and less C++-like. **** ingress_handler ingress_handler will allow you to set up the handler for messages coming in from an external source to FXRuby thread, such as RabbitMQ, network connections, databases, or anything else. It allows you to do clean multhreaded Ruby without the normal worries of semaphores and synchronization and the like -- it is all handled for you "magically" behind the scenes! You may have as many ingress_handlers specified as you like, as each one needs to have a tag, and the tags are used to dispatch the messages. Here is an example taken from RubyNEAT Panel: #+begin_src ruby ingress_handler :status do |type, status| suc, st = status.response wlist = ref :ov_conn_neaters_widget_list wlist.clearItems st[:neaters].each { |neater| wlist.appendItem neater } nlist = ref :ov_conn_neurons_list nlist.clearItems st[:neurons].each { |neuron| nlist.appendItem neuron} end #+end_src Here you can see that a status message has been dispatched to this ingress_handler, and that the message contains a list of 'neaters' and 'neurons' that are being sent to the wlist and nlist list (:ov_conn_neaters_widget_list and :ov_conn:_neurons_list), respecively. You may declare your ingress_handler anywhere in your code and have the expected happen. **** TODO deferred_setup **** TODO Mapping between fx_* declarations and the FX* FXRuby objects **** binding.fx This is a way to split up your layouts into different .fx "modules", purely for organizational reasons. For example, #+begin_src ruby binding.fx "overview" #+end_src will load the overview.fx portion of the GUI, which happens to be a tab contents in the tab book, which in our case looks like: #+begin_src ruby # Overview Tab fx_tab_item { text "&Overview" } fx_horizontal_frame (:overview_info) { opts STD_FRAME|LAYOUT_FILL_Y fx_group_box (:ov_connections_group) { text "Connections" opts STD_GROUPBOX|LAYOUT_FILL_Y fx_vertical_frame { opts LAYOUT_FILL_Y|LAYOUT_FILL_X #|PACK_UNIFORM_HEIGHT fx_group_box (:ov_conn_rabbitmq) { ... #+end_src *** Examples Because this is a spinoff project of the ongoing RubyNEAT effort, there is a splendid RubyNEAT Panel example, that is still in the works. However, you are free to look at the code that is there to get good ideas. https://github.com/flajann2/rubyneat-panel/tree/master/lib/rubyneat-panel Class-based enhancement (this has not been tested yet!!!): #+begin_src ruby class Main < FXMainWindow compose :my_window do title "RubyNEAT Panel" show PLACEMENT_SCREEN width 700 height 400 fx_tab_book :my_book do |tab_book_ob| x 0 y 0 width 500 height 100 pad_bottom 10 fx_text :my_text1, :my_window { |text_ob| width 200 height 100 text_ob.target my_window: :on_click } fx_text :my_text2, :my_window { |text_ob| width 200 height 100 text_ob { |t| puts "called after object initialization" } } end end def on_click ... end end #+end_src Class-free enhancement: #+begin_src ruby mw = fx_main_window :my_window do title "RubyNEAT Panel" width 700 height 400 opts DECOR_ALL x 10 y 10 instance { show PLACEMENT_SCREEN } fx_tab_book :my_book do |tab_book_ob| x 0 y 0 width 500 height 100 pad_bottom 10 fx_text :my_text1, :my_window { |text_ob| width 200 height 100 instance my_window: :on_click } fx_text :my_text2, :my_window { width 200 height 100 instance { |t| puts "called after object initialization" } } end end def mw.on_click ... end end #+end_src **** [[file:examples/hello.rb][Hello World]] example (full) the Enhancement Way #+begin_src ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby require 'fxruby-enhancement' include Fox include Fox::Enhancement::Mapper fx_app :app do app_name "Hello" vendor_name "Example" fx_main_window(:main) { title "Hello" opts DECOR_ALL fx_button { text "&Hello, World" selector FXApp::ID_QUIT instance { |b| b.target = ref(:app) } } instance { |w| w.show PLACEMENT_SCREEN } } end # alias for fox_component is fxc fox_component :app do |app| app.launch end #+end_src **** Hello World the old fxruby way: #+begin_src ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby require 'fox16' include Fox application = FXApp.new("Hello", "FoxTest") main = FXMainWindow.new(application, "Hello", nil, nil, DECOR_ALL) FXButton.new(main, "&Hello, World!", nil, application, FXApp::ID_QUIT) application.create() main.show(PLACEMENT_SCREEN) application.run() #+end_src Even though the old way has a slightly smaller line count, you can see how messy it can be assigning each newly-created object to a variable, and then having to pass that variable to the children. Perhaps this example is too small, but perhaps the next one will more illustrative. **** [[file:examples/bounce.rb][Bouncing Ball]] example (full): #+begin_src ruby #!/usr/bin/env ruby require 'fxruby-enhancement' include Fox include Fox::Enhancement::Mapper ANIMATION_TIME = 20 class Ball attr_reader :color attr_reader :center attr_reader :radius attr_reader :dir attr_reader :x, :y attr_reader :w, :h attr_accessor :worldWidth attr_accessor :worldHeight def initialize r @radius = r @w = 2*@radius @h = 2*@radius @center = FXPoint.new(50, 50) @x = @center.x - @radius @y = @center.y - @radius @color = FXRGB(255, 0, 0) # red @dir = FXPoint.new(-1, -1) setWorldSize(1000, 1000) end # Draw the ball into this device context def draw(dc) dc.setForeground(color) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 0, 64*90) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 64*90, 64*180) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 64*180, 64*270) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 64*270, 64*360) end def bounce_x @dir.x=-@dir.x end def bounce_y @dir.y=-@dir.y end def collision_y? (y<0 && dir.y<0) || (y+h>worldHeight && dir.y>0) end def collision_x? (x<0 && dir.x<0) || (x+w>worldWidth && dir.x>0) end def setWorldSize(ww, wh) @worldWidth = ww @worldHeight = wh end def move(units) dx = dir.x*units dy = dir.y*units center.x += dx center.y += dy @x += dx @y += dy if collision_x? bounce_x move(units) end if collision_y? bounce_y move(units) end end end fx_app :app do app_name "Bounce" vendor_name "Example" fx_image(:back_buffer) { opts IMAGE_KEEP } fx_main_window(:bounce_window) { title "Bounce Demo" opts DECOR_ALL width 400 height 300 instance { |w| def w.ball @ball ||= Ball.new(20) end def w.drawScene(drawable) FXDCWindow.new(drawable) { |dc| dc.setForeground(FXRGB(255, 255, 255)) dc.fillRectangle(0, 0, drawable.width, drawable.height) ball.draw(dc) } end def w.updateCanvas ball.move(10) drawScene(ref(:back_buffer)) ref(:canvas).update end # # Handle timeout events # def w.onTimeout(sender, sel, ptr) # Move the ball and re-draw the scene updateCanvas # Re-register the timeout ref(:app).addTimeout(ANIMATION_TIME, ref(:bounce_window).method(:onTimeout)) # Done return 1 end w.show PLACEMENT_SCREEN ref(:app).addTimeout(ANIMATION_TIME, w.method(:onTimeout)) } fx_canvas(:canvas) { opts LAYOUT_FILL_X|LAYOUT_FILL_Y instance { |c| c.sel_paint { |sender, sel, event| FXDCWindow.new(sender, event) { |dc| dc.drawImage(ref(:back_buffer), 0, 0) } } c.sel_configure{ |sender, sel, event| bb = ref(:back_buffer) bb.create unless bb.created? bb.resize(sender.width, sender.height) ref(:bounce_window) do |bw| bw.ball.setWorldSize(sender.width, sender.height) bw.drawScene(bb) end } } } } end if __FILE__ == $0 # alias for fox_component is fxc fox_component :app do |app| app.launch end end #+end_src **** Bouncing Ball the old fxruby way: #+begin_src ruby require 'fox16' include Fox # How long to pause between updates (in milliseconds) ANIMATION_TIME = 20 class Ball attr_reader :color attr_reader :center attr_reader :radius attr_reader :dir attr_reader :x, :y attr_reader :w, :h attr_accessor :worldWidth attr_accessor :worldHeight # Returns an initialized ball def initialize(r) @radius = r @w = 2*@radius @h = 2*@radius @center = FXPoint.new(50, 50) @x = @center.x - @radius @y = @center.y - @radius @color = FXRGB(255, 0, 0) # red @dir = FXPoint.new(-1, -1) setWorldSize(1000, 1000) end # Draw the ball into this device context def draw(dc) dc.setForeground(color) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 0, 64*90) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 64*90, 64*180) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 64*180, 64*270) dc.fillArc(x, y, w, h, 64*270, 64*360) end def bounce_x @dir.x=-@dir.x end def bounce_y @dir.y=-@dir.y end def collision_y? (y<0 && dir.y<0) || (y+h>worldHeight && dir.y>0) end def collision_x? (x<0 && dir.x<0) || (x+w>worldWidth && dir.x>0) end def setWorldSize(ww, wh) @worldWidth = ww @worldHeight = wh end def move(units) dx = dir.x*units dy = dir.y*units center.x += dx center.y += dy @x += dx @y += dy if collision_x? bounce_x move(units) end if collision_y? bounce_y move(units) end end end class BounceWindow < FXMainWindow include Responder def initialize(app) # Initialize base class first super(app, "Bounce", :opts => DECOR_ALL, :width => 400, :height => 300) # Set up the canvas @canvas = FXCanvas.new(self, :opts => LAYOUT_FILL_X|LAYOUT_FILL_Y) # Set up the back buffer @backBuffer = FXImage.new(app, nil, IMAGE_KEEP) # Handle expose events (by blitting the image to the canvas) @canvas.connect(SEL_PAINT) { |sender, sel, evt| FXDCWindow.new(sender, evt) { |dc| dc.drawImage(@backBuffer, 0, 0) } } # Handle resize events @canvas.connect(SEL_CONFIGURE) { |sender, sel, evt| @backBuffer.create unless @backBuffer.created? @backBuffer.resize(sender.width, sender.height) @ball.setWorldSize(sender.width, sender.height) drawScene(@backBuffer) } @ball = Ball.new(20) end # # Draws the scene into the back buffer # def drawScene(drawable) FXDCWindow.new(drawable) { |dc| dc.setForeground(FXRGB(255, 255, 255)) dc.fillRectangle(0, 0, drawable.width, drawable.height) @ball.draw(dc) } end def updateCanvas @ball.move(10) drawScene(@backBuffer) @canvas.update end # # Handle timeout events # def onTimeout(sender, sel, ptr) # Move the ball and re-draw the scene updateCanvas # Re-register the timeout getApp().addTimeout(ANIMATION_TIME, method(:onTimeout)) # Done return 1 end # # Create server-side resources # def create # Create base class super # Create the image used as the back-buffer @backBuffer.create # Draw the initial scene into the back-buffer drawScene(@backBuffer) # Register the timer used for animation getApp().addTimeout(ANIMATION_TIME, method(:onTimeout)) # Show the main window show(PLACEMENT_SCREEN) end end if __FILE__ == $0 FXApp.new("Bounce", "FXRuby") do |theApp| BounceWindow.new(theApp) theApp.create theApp.run end end #+end_src The Ball class is the same, but the actual Fox-related code should clearly illustrate the power of Enhancement. More examples can be found [[file:examples][HERE]]. ** Release Notes | Version | Date | Notes | |---------+------------+---------------------------------------------------------| | 0.0.2 | 2017-01-11 | Initial release | | 0.0.3 | 2017-01-15 | Needed to require fox16/colors for FXColor to be loaded | ** Known Issues | Version | Date | Issues | |---------+------------+-------------------------------------------------------| | 0.0.2 | 2017-01-11 | Not enough example code!!! Need more documentation!!! | ** Contributing to fxruby-enhancement - Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet. - Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it. - Fork the project. - Start a feature/bugfix branch. - Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution. - Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally. - Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it. ** Copyright and Licensing Copyright (c) 2016-2017 Fred Mitchell. See [[file:LICENSE.txt][MIT License]] for further details. ** The Junkyard / Scratchpad These are my personal notes, not meant for anyone else. You may see some interesting tidbits here, but I am not gauranteeing anything to be useful or reliable in this section. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. *** Genesis of the meta-meta programming, whereby brain goes boom #+begin_src ruby class FXToolBar # monkey patch include Enhancement attr_accessor :_o end def fx_tool_bar name, &block # DSL o = OStruct.new o.title = "default title" ... def o.title t @title = t end def o.instance a, &block o.instance_time_block = block end f = FXToolBar.new ... f._o = o end <% for @class, @details in @api %> #<%= @class %> < <%= @details[:class][1] %> <% unless @details[:initialize].nil? %> <% for @iniparams in @details[:initialize] %> #<%= @iniparams %> <% end %> <% else %> #No initializer <% end %> <% end %> #+end_src