More newbie problems

[David Burgun]

Hi,

I know exacctly what you are feeling - I had the same experience 
about 18 months ago! Here's what I have found is the best way to do 
this - at least for me!

Instead of using the MainStack/Substacks all in one file approach, 
I've found is it better to made each Main Window (either real or 
dummy) a stack in it's own right. In my system I have a folder 
structure as so:

...BaseFolder/ProjectName/StartUp.rev  <-- Just contains a splash 
screen, you don't have to do anything here if you dont want to, it's 
really just a place holder to build a Standalone App from.

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Stacks/GlobalStack.rev  <-- is a 
Dummy (invisible stack) that just holds functions that can be used by 
any other stack or project - a UtilityStack if you like.

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Stacks/MainMenu.rev   <-- Holds the 
Default Menu Bar for the App

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Stacks/AppMain.rev      <-- This is 
your Main App window (if you have one)

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Stacks/AppPrefs.rev     <-- 
Preferences Window for the App

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Stacks/AppAbout.rev     <-- About 
Box for the App

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Stacks/Whatever.rev    <-- Any other 
windows you need in your App


..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Images/AppSplashScreen.jpg  <-- Put 
any images you need in here

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Externals/ 
<-- Put the External Commands for the App here

..BaseFolder/ProjectName/Runtime/Resources 
<-- Put Language Localization files here

I find this arrangement much better for the following reasons:

1.  If a Stack gets corrupted, you only lose that stack, not everything!!!

2.  Much easier to Manage in Terms of Source Code

3.  Much more flexible since you can just drop a new .rev file with 
the same name into the stacks folder and change the behavour of that 
window.

4.  You can change the order of the linkage really easily.

5.  You can Reuse Stacks/Windows in other Projects/Applications much 
more easily.

I have also implemented a fairly loose framework which makes it much 
easier to build a new window/stack and it debug existing windows.

If you have questions about the above or would like to know more 
about how I go about bulding a new App in RunRev, I would be happy to 
share what I have learned, just drop me a private email and we can 
take it from there.

All the Best
Dave

>Hi,
>
>Having a blast with RunRev... in two ways at least: lots of fun, and 
>shooting myself in the foot
>
>So I made a main stack and got it working quite nicely. I've grown 
>attached to it even.
>
>Now I am coming to realise that this was something of a mistake. I 
>should have made a dummy stack as the main stack and done my work in 
>a substack. Next time for sure.
>
>So I read in the documentation "Changing a stack's mainStack 
>property moves it into the same file as the specified main stack. 
>The stack becomes a substack of the specified mainStack."
>
>Unless I'm doing something wrong -- and this is a distinct 
>possibility -- then this isn't precisely correct. This doesn't do 
>much when the stack you are trying to change the mainStack property 
>of is itself a main stack. In fact it doesn't seem to do anything.
>
>So, barring some error in what I'm trying to do, is there some other 
>way to do this? I can't quite find answers in the documentation.
>
>Can you demote a main stack?
>
>Can you copy a main stack to a substack?
>
>Can you move a card from one stack to another?
>
>Can you duplicate stacks?
>
>Can you duplicate cards?
>
>Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
>
>Cheers,
>Bob
>
>----
>Bob Hutchison          -- blogs at <http://www.recursive.ca/hutch/>
>Recursive Design Inc.  -- <http://www.recursive.ca/>
>Raconteur              -- <http://www.raconteur.info/>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>use-revolution mailing list
>use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your 
>subscription preferences:
>http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution