preOpenStack, openStack in Card 1?? Rules conformation

[Richard Gaskin]

David Burgun wrote:
> 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.

I use substacks less and less, and rarely in the stack that is the 
application.  These days my app stack is just a light shell which looks 
into a Components folder for all the program's meat.  This approach lets 
me update components from within the application on the fly if needed, 
right in the user's current session.

>> 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?

Sure.  As a card script, it'll have no effect on any substacks in the file.

> 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.

I don't have a hard-and-fast rule on that myself, though I tend to 
initialize only the things I need to when I need them.  I really like 
getting from double-click to ready-to-work as quickly as possible.  It's 
been pleasing to eliminate the splash screen from many programs because 
they load so fast; when the splash is only visible for a fraction of a 
second it's more of a distraction ("what was that?" than a help. :)

> 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 a diagram of the firing order see:

<http://www.fourthworld.com/embassy/articles/revolution_message_path.html>

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
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