How Exactly Do You Build A GUI Application in Squeak

Question

All the tools that i searched are 2005 or 2006 and so i dont even dare to try those. I understand that morphic is ok , but i am looking for something like Morphic Designer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmlgU5p4g3o

If you look at this link you will feel all excited and will be tempted to try it out. But unfortunately in todays squeak you cannot even load those mentioned packages. Its a pity. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

AFAIK the Morphic Designer is currently in a better state than the GsoC project to build a UI designer for spec. It seems to be usable for more complex interfaces, atm. The main issue in making it work with Pharo is probably the use of the signals library. That is somewhat equivalent to Announcements, but it follows QT style. And of course there are differences in which widgets are being used.

The number of actual users seems to be too low. I think HPI should open up their CI for these kinds of projects.

In a discussion on the Pharo Users mailing list some issues and solutions for making Morphic Designer work on Pharo 2.0 and 3.0 are described.

Answer 2

Have you tried loading the Morphic Designer? If so, how?

https://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/trac/SqueakCommunityProjects/wiki/designer

The Designer should load in Squeak 4.3 and I see no reason that it won't load in 4.4.

If you find issues loading the Designer, pleas let the developer know! I happen to know that Marcel really cares that the designer is usable.

Answer 3

The development version of the Morphic Designer works fine in Squeak 4.4 as I use it frequently for my research:

(Installer mc http: 'http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/squeaksource/')
    project: 'MetacelloRepository';
    install: 'ConfigurationOfDesigner'.
(Smalltalk at: #ConfigurationOfDesigner) loadDevelopment.
UiDesigner open.

As you may have noticed, this will bootstrap Metacello and also load Signals, Animations and Widgets into your image. I am using the latest build of the CogVM.

I started to port it (Widgets & Designer) to Pharo 2.0. However, Pharo 2.0 is not fully supported yet.

Answer 4

Finally i could open the UiDesigner.

Im not sure if i am all0wed to use this in my personal projects. as @aka.nice ponted out this dont belong to the squeak community, rather it belongs to Hasso Plattner Institut. Correct me if i am wrong. Anyway i belive since i was able to get it, i can use it too. So ppl looking for Morphic Designer/ UiDesigner/ GUI in Smalltalk/Squeak can get it this way. WARNING - this is - as of 23/12/2013. This may change without prior notice and that u will have to look for other alternatives to get this.

Also id like to see this in pharo too. I had asked this question to the pahro community some months before. At that time i managed with glamour.

(Installer monticello http:'http://seaside.gemtalksystems.com/ss')
project: 'metacello';
install: 'ConfigurationOfMetacello'. 
((Smalltalk at: #ConfigurationOfMetacello) project 
  latestVersion) load.



(Installer mc http: 'http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/squeaksource/')
   project: 'MetacelloRepository';
   install: 'ConfigurationOfWidgets'.
(Smalltalk at: #ConfigurationOfWidgets) load.


(Installer mc http: 'http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/hirschfeld/squeaksource/')
   project: 'MetacelloRepository';
   install: 'ConfigurationOfDesigner'.
(Smalltalk at: #ConfigurationOfDesigner) load.. 

UiDesigner open