Graphs and Charts 0.2.x adds a new Bar Chart Custom Control for Glimmer DSL for LibUI (Prerequisite-Free Ruby Desktop Development Cross-Platform Native GUI Library) in addition to the existing Line Graph Custom Control.
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/AndyObtiva/glimmer-libui-cc-graphs_and_charts
Screenshot:
Code:
Glimmer On!!!
Recently, I received a support request concerning Glimmer DSL for SWT (JRuby Desktop Development GUI Framework) and the use of Nebula Custom Widgets, specifically the text_assist widget (auto-complete text field).
For a quick background about Nebula, it is a collection of 55+ enterprise-grade high-quality SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit) custom widgets, including a progress circle, a password revealer, and an oscilloscope. Thanks to Glimmer DSL for SWT, they are usable from Ruby.
“There is a big difference with other SWT widget : there is no constructor TextAssist(Composite parent, int style).The only constructor available is public TextAssist(final Composite parent, final int style, final TextAssistContentProvider contentProvider)”
A recent blog post mentioned that in Glimmer DSL for SWT you can data-bind a table bidirectionally in a single line of declarative code, and that this same single line of code does more now by also data-binding extra cell properties by convention in addition to their text content, such as background color, foreground color, font, and image.
Well, in the latest release of Glimmer DSL for SWT, that single line of code is ever shorter now!
So, instead of entering the following to do the table data-binding:
items <=> [@presenter, :contacts, column_attributes: [:first_name, :last_name, :email]]
You can now just enter the following:
items <=> [@presenter, :contacts]
To give you more context, including the code of the specified table column names, here is the full editable table declaration in the Glimmer GUI DSL:
table(:editable, :border) {
table_column {
text 'First Name'
width 80
}
table_column {
text 'Last Name'
width 80
}
table_column {
text 'Email'
width 200
}
items <=> [@presenter, :contacts]
}
Additionally, you can now customize attribute names only for columns that diverge from model attributes by supplying a mapping hash (instead of specifying all column attributes in an array). For example, if the `table_column` `text` is 'Email Address' instead of `Email`, then the table items (rows) data-binding declaration can map that column to the `email` model attribute, but leave the rest of the model attributes normally derived from column names by convention (e.g. `first_name` and `last_name`):
items <=> [@presenter, :contacts, column_attributes: {'Email Address' => :email}]
Glimmer was the first software library to enable declarative bidirectional data-binding of a table to a simple Presenter/Model collection with a single line of code (without using a visual designer/GUI)!
items <=> [@presenter, :contacts, column_properties: [:first_name, :last_name, :email]]
(table items [rows] are bidirectionally data-bound to the `:contacts` attribute on `@presenter` [every contact represents a row], with the columns mapped to `Contact` model properties: `first_name`, `last_name`, and `email`)
Well, I am happy to announce that the same single line of code that data-binds a table does even more now as of the latest release made yesterday! In Glimmer DSL for SWT v4.24.3.0, that line of code also data-binds the following additional table cell properties without any change to the view code:
Data-bound table row models (or presenters) can now optionally supply this data by implementing methods that match the names of the column properties by convention, but with one of the following suffixes:
For example, for the `first_name` property, the model can additionally implement `first_name_background`, which returns an RGB array (e.g. [24, 148, 240]) in order to set the color of the first_name cell for each model's table row to the specified RGB color. In the same way, `first_name_foreground`, `first_name_font`, and `first_name_image` can optionally be implemented too to specify their extra styling properties if needed. Of course, it would be better to implement presenters that wrap around models to provide these extra details for a cleaner separation of concerns, but I leave that to the discretion of Glimmer DSL for SWT software engineers.
In any case, the Hello, Table! sample has been updated to reflect the new enhancements to table data-binding by coloring booked baseball game table cells green with a white foreground and an italic font:
Here is the new and improved Hello, Table! code:
In other news, Glimmer DSL for SWT v4.24.3.1 ships with `code_text` default behavior support for:
Glimmer DSL for LibUI v0.5.16 (Fukuoka Ruby 2022 Special Award Winning Free & Open-Source Ruby Desktop Development GUI Library) ships with a brand new alpha custom control called `refined_table`, which is basically a `table` control with pagination and filtering support, commonly needed in business applications. That means that it can handle tens of thousands of rows with no problem while still providing users a good user experience via pagination and filtering. Moreover, not only is filtering performance improved, but it runs against all table columns and it automatically caches results for query terms and replays results instantly for repeated queries.
A new example, Paginated Refined Table, has been included to demonstrate the new custom control with 50,000 rows of contacts.
Last but not least, the new `refined_table` custom control has been used in the Rubio Radio application to enable browsing 10,000 top radio stations with excellent performance and usability.
Paginated Refined Table Example Code:
Paginated Refined Table Example Screenshot:
Happy Glimmering!
Glimmer DSL for SWT's got a new custom widget gem (containing 55+ custom widgets): Nebula
The Nebula Project is a collection of enterprise-grade high-quality SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit) custom widgets, which are made available for use with Glimmer DSL for SWT in this Ruby gem. They cover many different widgets, such as breadcrumbs, wizard step bars, shelf groups, geo maps, and even oscilloscopes.
Thanks to Glimmer's unique DSL Auto-Expansion feature, its GUI DSL automatically grows when new custom widget libraries are imported, even if they were originally written in Java, like the Nebula Project.
Below is the list of custom widgets newly added by the Nebula Custom Widget gem. Put to good use!
(keep in mind the caveat that I did not test every one of them in Glimmer, but I at least eased the hurdle of including them. Some of the custom widgets had been distributed piecemeal with Glimmer-style smart defaults and easier APIs than the built-in ones just like CDateTime. GanttChart has had some work to ease its use inside the AreWeThereYet project that could be extracted eventually into a piecemeal gem. In the meantime, you may contribute by testing and reporting any issues you encounter as well as solutions you may potentially work out)
LED Display
Used in Are We There Yet?
This is a richer alternative to the table widget.
This is a richer alternative to the styled_text widget with some caveats (uses the browser widget behind the scenes).
This is a richer alternative to the tree widget.
This is a richer alternative to the built-in dialog widget.
This shows memory usage in an application's Java Virtual Machine.
This is a richer alternative to the built-in slider widget.
This is an alternative to the combo widget.
This is an alternative to the checkbox widget (aka check or button(:check) widget).
A higher-performant alternative to the built-in table widget.
Glimmer DSL for SWT is more than feature-complete. It is enterprise-grade-complete! As such, Glimmer absolutely outdoes its competition in the Ruby world, and I would dare say the entire desktop development world. No other GUI library comes even close to what Glimmer DSL for SWT offers in terms of productivity, readability, maintainability, and extensibility. Think of it like this! While some other libraries are still learning how to wear shoes, Glimmer DSL for SWT has learned to run, drive a car, fly an airplane, launch rockets into space, and zoom at light speed!!! The sky is the limit with Glimmer DSL for SWT. You could think up any desktop application custom widget or custom shape, and your wish is Glimmer DSL for SWT's command with the absolute minimum syntax possible! Go ahead world and make (or save) hundreds of thousands of dollars in service of others by leveraging Glimmer!
I envision Glimmer DSL for SWT to eventually have thousands if not millions of custom widget gems made by the community. As long as they follow the “glimmer-cw-name-namespace” convention, they can be discovered and listed by the “glimmer list:gems:customwidget” command automatically when needed. So, while software developers are too busy crawling in other frameworks, Glimmer DSL for SWT users and software engineers will be delivering excellent service to their customers at warp speed!
Happy Glimmering!
