2.9 `FrameWork` -- Interactive application framework

Availability: Macintosh.

The FrameWork module contains classes that together provide a framework for an interactive Macintosh application. The programmer builds an application by creating subclasses that override various methods of the bases classes, thereby implementing the functionality wanted. Overriding functionality can often be done on various different levels, i.e. to handle clicks in a single dialog window in a non-standard way it is not necessary to override the complete event handling.

The FrameWork is still very much work-in-progress, and the documentation describes only the most important functionality, and not in the most logical manner at that. Examine the source or the examples for more details. The following are some comments posted on the MacPython newsgroup about the strengths and limitations of FrameWork:

The strong point of FrameWork is that it allows you to break into the control-flow at many different places. W, for instance, uses a different way to enable/disable menus and that plugs right in leaving the rest intact. The weak points of FrameWork are that it has no abstract command interface (but that shouldn't be difficult), that it's dialog support is minimal and that it's control/toolbar support is non-existent.

The FrameWork module defines the following functions:

Application( ): An object representing the complete application. See below for a description of the methods. The default __init__() routine creates an empty window dictionary and a menu bar with an apple menu.

MenuBar( ): An object representing the menubar. This object is usually not created by the user.

Menu( bar, title[, after]): An object representing a menu. Upon creation you pass the MenuBar the menu appears in, the title string and a position (1-based) after where the menu should appear (default: at the end).

MenuItem( menu, title[, shortcut, callback])

Create a menu item object. The arguments are the menu to create, the item title string and optionally the keyboard shortcut and a callback routine. The callback is called with the arguments menu-id, item number within menu (1-based), current front window and the event record.

Instead of a callable object the callback can also be a string. In this case menu selection causes the lookup of a method in the topmost window and the application. The method name is the callback string with 'domenu_' prepended.

Calling the MenuBar fixmenudimstate() method sets the correct dimming for all menu items based on the current front window.

Separator( menu): Add a separator to the end of a menu.

SubMenu( menu, label): Create a submenu named label under menu menu. The menu object is returned.

Window( parent): Creates a (modeless) window. Parent is the application object to which the window belongs. The window is not displayed until later.

DialogWindow( parent): Creates a modeless dialog window.

windowbounds( width, height): Return a (left, top, right, bottom) tuple suitable for creation of a window of given width and height. The window will be staggered with respect to previous windows, and an attempt is made to keep the whole window on-screen. However, the window will however always be the exact size given, so parts may be offscreen.

setwatchcursor( ): Set the mouse cursor to a watch.

setarrowcursor( ): Set the mouse cursor to an arrow.

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2.9 FrameWork -- Interactive application framework

2.9 `FrameWork` -- Interactive application framework