From: Michael Davis <mdavis@...>
Date: 2002-03-17T07:11:06+09:00
Subject: ANN: Locana GUI and GUI Builder version 0.81

I am pleased to announce release 0.81 of Locana.  Locana is a GUI 
interface for Ruby that includes a GUI Builder.  More information can be 
found at http://www.locana.org.  Here is a brief list of the changes 
since 0.80:

- Added an applets directory containing several little applets that 
provide some good examples of how to use Locana.  Currently, there are 
four versions of a simple calculator each showing a different way to put 
objects into a window.

- Added an HTML widget binding and a HTTP server.  Start the HTTP server 
(locana_server.rb) and you can run Ruby applets with Locana using a web 
browser.  Ruby and Locana only need to be installed on the computer 
running locana_server.  Here are some working examples:

	This runs a test applet:
	http://locana.org:8080/tst/tst_locana.rb

	This allows you to run the various apples:
	http://locana.org:8080/applets/applets.rb

	This shows how many times the server has responded to requests:
	http://locana.org:8080/locana_stats

- Converted the x,y,w,h parameters to an attribute.  You can now 
position objects using the new :pos=>[x,y,w,h] attribute.
X and y is the position of the object in pixels within its parent. W and 
h are optional and specify the size of the object.  This makes it easy 
to add new layout managers to Locana in the future.

- Added the following new object attributes allowing greater flexibility 
for putting objects in a window:

> :sticky => 'nsew' allows you to 'stick' the object to one or more of it's parents borders. Any combination of nsew can be used.   
> :above => :object_name will place the object directly above :object_name.  
> :below => :object_name will place the object directly below :object_name.  
> :before => :object_name will place the object directly before :object_name.  
> :after => :object_name will place the object directly after :object_name.  
> :spanw => :object_name will cause this objects width to match :object_name.x + :object_name.w.  
> :spanh => :object_name will cause this objects height to match :object_name.y + :object_name.h.  
> :startx => object_name will cause this objects x to match :object_name.x.  
> :starty => :object_name will cause this objects y to match :object_name.y.  

There are examples of the using new attributes in tst_locana.rb (click 
on the 'Test packing' or 'Test spanning' buttons) and the four 
calculator.rb applets available from applets.rb (click the applets.rb 
link provided above).


- All attribute names and object names have been converted from strings 
to symbols.  For example 'text'=>'test this', 'value'=>3 is now 
:test=>'test this', :value=>3.

- Added a module called Locana making it easier/simpler to access many 
of the Locana objects.

- Added a missing_method() that supports a lot of new possibilities. 
For example, you can change an attribute of an object using: 
:object_name.value = 5.  Where value is the :value attribute (or any 
attribute) of an object.  Events are also supported, for example: 
:object_name.after_update = proc{|event| print 'do something with the 
after_update event'}

What's next:
- add support for menus, pop-up menus, dialogs, and images.
- add new attributes to support color and fonts.

Enjoy!

-- 
Thanks, Michael Davis
Database Architect and Senior Software Engineer, Seva Inc.
Email: mdavis@sevainc.com