menu paradigm of Rev/MC and other goofiness

[Jan Schenkel]

--- "Ivers, Doug E" <Doug_Ivers at lord.com> wrote:
> Does anyone else besides me think that the way
> menuItems are implemented is goofy?
> 
> First of all, there should be a menuItem name,
> number, & id separate from the menuItem text, just
> like there is for controls.  Why was the paradigm
> used for buttons, fields, cards, etc. abandoned when
> menus were implemented?  I suppose it is a
> consequence of equating menu with button?  It seems
> so inconsistent.
> 
> Second, the use of character codes in the text of a
> menu item to create checkmarks and hot keys seems
> particularly archaic and problematic.  Of course
> there are ways to provide a new paradigm without
> giving up compatibility (think:  "set the
> menuObjects to true; set the checkMark of menuItem 4
> of menu "Preferences" to true).
> 
> I don't claim to have all the answers for this, but
> the menu paradigm is goofy.  Another thing that
> bothers me is the gyrations required to deal with
> Transcript's quotes (the inability to nest quotes),
> but that is a topic for another thread.
> 
> Maybe a new interest group should be formed?
> P rogrammers
> A gainst
> T ranscript
> G oofiness
> 
> -- D
> 
> P.S.  I don't currently have access to the improve
> list, so when replying, please cc that list so this
> thread gets the appropriate visibility.
> 

Hi Doug,

Even though I found the menu paradigm quite strange at
the start, it has grown on me, because of its added
flexibility: you can place a menubar anywhere, you can
change contents dynamically on mouseEnter, etc.
You can even assign a 'menuStack' and it will show
that stack instead of a menu ; how cool is that? And
for the things I do miss, I nearly always found a
work-around. Is there anything in particular you need?

As for the quotes, that's inherent to XTalk, and has
been the cause of weird scripting ever since the
original HyperCard came out in 1987. But a little
creativity with 'do' never hurt anyone.
Well, except for the hair-pulling when it fails the
upteenth time for an obscure reason, of course ;-)

Best regards,

Jan Schenkel.

=====
"As we grow older, we grow both wiser and more foolish at the same time."  (La Rochefoucauld)

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