Mailing List Archive: Re: RFC: Forms generator / RAD dialect

[REBOL] Re: RFC: Forms generator / RAD dialect

From: atruter:hih:au at: 21-Aug-2002 10:08


<SNIP>

But I hate repetitive tasks, especially creating very
basic GUI forms. So why not use Rebol for this?

Thing like this shouldn't be written by hand:

     lab "Company" company: fld return

</SNIP>

I agree, but isn't the answer just to make better use of styles. eg.

<CODE>

to-width: func [x] [
     75 + 8 * x - 8
]

stylize/master [
     ;    VID types
     lbl: lbl blue to-width 1
     field: field to-width 1
     date-field: field [
          if not empty? face/text [
               either none? attempt [to-date face/text] [
                    clear face/text
               ][
                    face/text: form to-date face/text
                    show face
               ]
          ]
     ]
     ;    Derived types
     lab-address: lbl "Address:"
     fld-address: field to-width 3
     lab-date:    lbl "Date:"
     fld-date:    date-field
     lab-code:    lbl "Code:"
     fld-code:    field
]

view layout [
     across lab-address fld-address
     return lab-date    fld-date
            lab-code    fld-code
]

</CODE>

Defining things in this manner means we can easily make global changes to
both VID types and our derived types. I believe this approach is more
efficient than trying to create a dialect that is used to essentially
achieve the same result, but feel free to point out the flaws in my logic /
approach. ;)

Regards,

     Ashley