How to Set the Value of a Slider

[Richard Gaskin]

David Burgun wrote:
>> The object type is "scrollbar", and it comes in three styles:
>>
>>   scrollbar
>>   scale
>>   progress
> 
> This is different on the version of RR I am using (2.1.2) it has 4 types:
> 
> Scrollbar
> Slider
> Progressbar
> Little Arrows

I tend to use only Transcript terms to describe objects, since 
ultimately in a scripting environment it's all about code.

"Little Arrows" is a Mac term for what the rest of the world calls a 
"spin box", and it's not a native object style.

Instead, the Rev IDE uses that term to describe the effect you get when 
setting the size of a scrollbar object of style "scrollbar" small enough 
that the thumb isn't visible.  When sized that small, the appearance and 
behavior you get is identical to a spinner.

The Rev IDE's Inspector includes "Little Arrows" in a popup list labeled 
"Type", which is unfortunate because the actual propery being set is 
"style" and because neither "Little Arrows" or "Spinner" is a style of 
scrollbar objects (it's merely an effect of sizing).

A delicate balance is attemped in the Rev UI's nomenclature between 
terms that might help new users visually identify controls and also 
helping them understand the underlying Transcript driving them.  In a 
consumer product a designer has more flexibility, but since Rev is a 
scripting tool I feel it's important to make clear use of Transcript 
terminology available.  In most cases the user has a choice (settable in 
the first pane in Preferences), but this item is apparently not 
addressed by that option.

For the sake of thoroughness I just added a Bugzilla report (#1488) on 
this nomenclature issue, with the aim of seeing the Rev UI continue its 
enhancement to ever better reinforces the learning of Transcript.

To the Rev UI's credit, the Toolbar icon for scrollbar objects correctly 
offers the three options support by the underlying language.


>> This may seem a little odd, but if you think about it all three of 
>> those have very parallel property needs, so maybe it's not crazy. :)
>
> I tried it as you say and it works, but it just seems odd that I have to 
> use the "Scrollbar" type instead of "Slider".

I agree.  I believe this has historical roots, that the object type 
originally did not support styles other than "scrollbar", but as 
progress bars and scales became added it made sense to implement them as 
styles of styles of the same type since their properties are the same 
and the main difference is their appearance.

If you could come up with a term to describe the superset of controls 
which includes scrollbars, scales, and progress bars, I would vote for 
the addition of a synonym for that type and eventually a deprication of 
"scrollbar" as an object type, reserving it for use as a style.

> I always use the full name for the object, I got VERY confused when I 
> started using the abbreviations! I think it would be a good option to 
> have the IDE display the script as using the abbreviations or the full 
> names via a preferences. It's really diffuicult for a newbie to get to 
> know all the abbreviations.

Agreed.  I generally post here in the full form for that reason.  But a 
few hundred thousand lines of code from now you'll appreciate 
abbreviations. :)  Having the option to use abbreviations is one of the 
valuable traits of Transcript, so I felt it was at least worth noting.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com