[fxruby-users] Attribute Binding

[Berin Loritsch]

Joel VanderWerf wrote:

> Berin Loritsch wrote:
>
>> I am generally new to Ruby and more specifically FXRuby.  I come from 
>> a Java background, but have been recently looking at SmallTalk and 
>> Ruby and I wanted to compare and contrast the languages.  I have a 
>> library in Java that will allow me to bind a class attribute directly 
>> to a GUI control.  It uses JavaBean technology and the 
>> PropertyChangeEvent signals that are sent every time the value 
>> changes.  SmallTalk provides this support as part of the core 
>> language.  My question is how do I do that with Ruby?
>>
>> For example, I have a BankAccount class (yes I know its a toy app, 
>> but it will help me understand what to do) with a "balance" 
>> attribute.  The BankAccount class works wonderfully by itself.  I 
>> have a method to deposit and a method to withdraw funds from this 
>> BankAccount class.  I want to be able to set up a button like this:
>>
>> FXButton.new(window, "&Deposit").connect(SEL_COMMAND) { 
>> @account.deposit 200 }
>>
>> And as a result of that action have the FXTextField automatically 
>> update itself with the new balance.  I don't see a lot of examples of 
>> this type of thing, and I am not even sure if it is possible (it must 
>> be).  Has anyone had any luck with this?
>
>
> Berin,
>
> There are two ways I know of doing this. Fox itself provides one way, 
> FXDataTargets. There is an example in the FXRuby distribution.
>
> Another way is to use two libraries I have developed: FoxTails and 
> Observable, available at http://raa.ruby-lang.org. Briefly, Observable 
> lets you designate an attribute as "observable", in which case various 
> parts of your app can register to be informed when the value changes. 
> FoxTails uses this to wire up widgets like text fields, sliders, 
> scroll bars, etc. (There are some other things in FoxTails, too.)

Thank you.  Are FoxTails and Observable gems?  Or do I have to download 
and install them separately?

>
> Your example might look something like this:
>
> ---------------------------------
> require 'foxtails'
>
> include Fox
> include FoxTails
>
> class Account
>   extend Observable
>
>   observable :balance
>   def deposit amt
>     self.balance += amt
>       # Don't use @balance, or observers not notified.
>   end
> end
>
> class AccountWindow < FXMainWindow
>   def initialize(*args)
>     super
>
>     @account = Account.new
>     @account.balance = 0
>
>     FXButton.new(self, "&Deposit").connect(SEL_COMMAND) {
>       @account.deposit 200
>     }
>
>     int_field = FTIntegerField.new(self, 10, @account, :balance, 
> FRAME_SUNKEN)
>   end
>
>   def create
>     super
>     show
>   end
> end
>
> class AccountApp < FTApp
>   def initialize
>     super("Account", "TEST")
>     FoxTails.get_standard_icons
>     AccountWindow.new(self, "Account")
>   end
> end
>
> AccountApp.new.run
> ---------------------------------
>
> You can also register for notification from non-gui code, using 
> "when_" clauses:
>
>   some_account.when_balance CHANGES do |new_bal, old_bal|
>     ...
>   end
>
> The CHANGES thingy is just something that matches the new value, using 
> ruby's === matching. CHANGES is actually the class Object, which 
> matches everything. (Because === is =~ for strings, you can use 
> regexes to match strings. Also, you can extend it as you wish by 
> defining === in your classes.) This is documented in the observable 
> project.
>
> FoxTails is currently for Fox 1.0, but I have a "shim" file you can 
> include to get most of it to work with 1.2. I apologize in advance for 
> the state of the documentation, but at least there are examples, and 
> the FT*Field classes have almost the same api as the FX*Field classes.
>
> Btw, the current version of FoxTails has a nice way of generating text 
> fields, check/radio buttons, option menus, and static text using a 
> syntax much like good ol' printf. The fields are automatically wired 
> up to the observable attrs that you specify. See examples/fields.rb.
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