preOpenStack, openStack in Card 1?? Rules conformation.

[David Burgun]

Hi Richard,

On 30 Mar 2006, at 17:20, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> For behaviors specific to my mainstack, I tend to put those in the  
> mainStack's card script (or if there are multiple cards in my  
> mainStack -- rare for me since I tend to use the mainStack as a  
> repository of handlers -- I use a group in the mainStack).  I do  
> this because the mainStack's stack script is available to all  
> substacks, and the alternative requires a decision point ("if the  
> short name of the target is the short name of me"); to minimize  
> complexity I try to keep decision points to a minimum (more on code  
> complexity and its implications for maintenance coming in an  
> article at revJournal soon).
>

I don't tend to use sub-stacks but I do use multiple cards. I tend to  
have a new mainStack (e.g. separate .rev files) for each main window.  
Although I will could use sub-stacks in the future if there were a  
good reason.

> Initialization of course needs to be done only once, and the  
> mainStack's first card will be the first recipient of the startup,  
> openStack, and preOpenStack messages.  The startup message is only  
> sent at runtime (the IDE gets it in development), so to get  
> initialization in both development and runtime I use preOpenStack  
> instead.
>

I use preOpenStack to initialize the app too. I have the handler  
defined in Card 1 of the (only) mainStack, so this should work if I  
add sub-stacks? I hadn't really thought about it, I'm not sure if the  
mainStack should initialize itself and all it's sub-stacks or whether  
sub-stacks should initialize themselves when they opened.

Also I am not clear of the path the preOpenStack and openStack  
handlers take. For a mainStack I'm guessing its:

mainStack:Card1:preOpenStack and if not defined mainStack: preOpenStack.

But how about a sub-stack?

subStack:preOpenStack ??


> For readability I tend to structure my initialization like this:
>
> on preOpenStack
>   InitApp
> end preOpenStack
>
> on InitApp
>   InitGlobals
>   InitFonts
>   InitColors
>   InitWindows
>   InitMenus
> end InitApp
>
> ...where each of those "Init*" handlers are also included the card  
> script.

I do it like this too.
>
> As a matter of tidiness I usually pass all system messages, in case  
> some other object is added down the road which needs them.  With  
> initialization, however, I prefer that everything be handled in one  
> place so I don't pass that preOpenStack message.
>
> I'm not sure if this is exactly what you were looking for; hope it  
> helps.

Yes, it helps a lot!
Thanks Again
Dave