Hi Sven, I count myself as a beginner with Pharo, although I've been dabbling with Pharo UI choices for a few months now. Like Sebastian, I wrote Spec off as too immature for prime-time, but I too come from the commercial world, so maybe my expectations were unrealistic.
So I took the time to learn Spec. My very first requirement is to display some data in a grid or table like manner, so I took a look at the TreeModel, and tried to adapt one of the examples to fit. However, whenever I try to add a third column to the model, I get a "Subscript Out of Bounds". I also tried to change the oddRowColor, but it had no effect. I hope that is specific enough for you. Craig -----Original Message----- From: Pharo-users [mailto:pharo-users-boun...@lists.pharo.org] On Behalf Of Sven Van Caekenberghe Sent: 13 February 2015 11:12 AM To: Any question about pharo is welcome Subject: [Pharo-users] Learning Spec Hi, >From now on it is forbidden to complain about Spec in general, unspecific >terms unless you have taken the time to learn about it. Here is a guide to >documentation about Spec, most recent first. There is an excellent presentation by Johan Fabry did during the last Pharo Days, 'Using Spec to Build a UI'. *MUST WATCH* (the video is not yet fully public, but soon will be, the link should work though): http://youtu.be/OL23s9ZUIR0?list=PL4actYd6bfnz98ngrKALwwStl3C3odEKG The slides are also not yet available, but soon will be (the talk is much better that the slides on their own). This draft chapter 'Spec: a framework for describing user interfaces' for an upcoming book: https://ci.inria.fr/pharo-contribution/view/Books/job/PharoBookWorkInProgress/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/Spec/Spec.pier.html Look in the image. Browse the hierarchy below AbstractWidgetModel in the category Spec-Core-Widgets in Pharo 4, look at the protocols called 'protocol' & 'protocol-events' mainly. Look for references to each class. Trace senders of methods until you arrive at examples. Study the examples, play with them, change them. The UI of most tools in Pharo is also implemented using Spec. Browse the hierarchy below ComposableModel to find them. (Komitter, Versionner, Critics, Metacello, the old Eye Inspectors, ..). Watch and learn. The cool Spec website: http://spec.st Read some cool articles like: https://medium.com/concerning-pharo/rediscovering-the-ux-of-the-legendary-hp-35-scientific-pocket-calculator-d1d497ece999 See the section 'HP35CalculatorModel' for the Spec part. The following papers (some older ones refer to API that has changed): 'Seamless Composition and Reuse of Customizable User Interfaces with Spec' http://rmod.lille.inria.fr/archives/papers/Ryse13a-SCICO-Spec.pdf 'Spec - A Framework for the Specification and Reuse of UIs and their Models' http://rmod.lille.inria.fr/archives/papers/Ryse12b-Spec-IWST12-Final.pdf 'Spec – Technical Report' http://rmod.lille.inria.fr/archives/reports/Ryse12a-SpecTechReport.pdf Use the image to build a couple of simple UIs using Spec. You will be surprised to learn that it is not that difficult. Just go with the flow, don't try to enforce your world view on it, wait until you are further along. Have fun ! Sven PS: Once you have done all the above, you are most welcome to help improve Spec by discussing specific, concrete issues. -- Sven Van Caekenberghe Proudly supporting Pharo http://pharo.org http://association.pharo.org http://consortium.pharo.org
