From: Alex Fenton <alex@...>
Date: 2008-01-21T08:54:59+09:00
Subject: Re: wxRuby 1.9.4

Dominik Honnef wrote:
> In my opinion, a binding to wxWidgets is a great chance for GUIs with ruby, but I'm wondering, if its very ruby-like.
> Lets take the following extract of the tutorial (frames, part 1)

As the tutorial front page warns, some of that material is dated. Much 
more ruby-like syntax is permitted now. The API docs and many of the 
bundled samples are more current.

> [code]
> btn = Wx::Button.new(panel, -1, name + " (Close me)", Wx::Point.new(45,55))
> evt_button(btn.get_id()) {|event| destroy()}
> [/code]

could be written:

btn = Wx::Button.new(panel,
                      :label => "#{name} (Close me)",
                      :pos => [45, 55])
evt_button(btn) { close }


> In my opinion, the button itself should handle its events and not the frame.

Both are valid programming strategies: you might want to encapsulate a 
set of behaviours in a ruby subclass of a widget like a button, or have 
a coherent group of interactions managed by a particular frame or dialog.

Anyway, either is possible. CommandEvents from controls like Button 
bubble upwards to their containing windows. The event handling page in 
the docs discusses this in detail:
http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/doc/eventhandlingoverview.html

> And even if the frame has to handle it, why does evt_button await an ID and not simply the button instance itself?

Event handlers have for numerous versions accepted IDs or just the 
instance itself.

> Maybe there are good reasons for this behaviour, but I cant see them.

In most cases, like you say, using an object is preferable.

You'd normally only use an ID now with "special" identifiers like 
Wx::ID_EXIT or Wx::ID_ABOUT. The great advantage of using these special 
ids to identify, for example, menu items is that they will get all the 
OS-standard behaviour on different platforms. A Wx::ID_EXIT menu item 
will be labelled "Exit" on Windows and GTK, and will get the 
desktop-standard menu icon on the latter. But on OS X it will be called 
"Quit" and will be located in the Application-name menu, not the File menu.

This kind of attention to GUI platform standards is one of 
wxRuby/wxWidget's strengths, along with accessibility. GTK apps, for 
example, feel clumsy and look foreign on OS X in particular. I'm not 
picking on GTK - it's an excellent toolkit too, and wxRuby uses it on 
Linux - but it's a matter of choosing the right GUI library given the 
target platforms and user group for any given project.

cheers
alex