menu systems for compound documents

4.2: adde/menubar`contents:

subdesktops:
. a compound document is one composed of
trees and tables of hyperlinks, text,
graphics, numbers, and any new types
for which there are app's to drive them .
. it's as if there are
many app windows in a single document
just as there are
many app windows on a desktop;
therefore,
a compound document can be thought of
as being desktop within a desktop,
and could thus be called a subdesktop .
. adde can then be called
a subdesktop editor .

review of mac`menubar:
. there are various places to put a menubar:
# the mac`menubar is at the top of the display;
it contains a menu belonging to
whichever app is controling the current window;
# many non-mac systems have, instead,
window-specific menu's:
. the app's menu would be located at
the top bar of each window belonging to that app;
whereas the display's menubar would contain only
system-wide menu's (eg, admin' functions,
app's launchers, and a file finder) .
[5.3:
. the mac`menubar has a list of co.menus
(co.menus are side-by-side,
just as submenus are nested under other menus
).
mac's standard co.menus include:
( (system`name)-- about system, param's, updates;
, (app`name) -- about this app, param's, updates;
, file -- interactions with perm'storage;
, edit,format -- modify the currently open file;
, view -- customze how content is displayed
-- (doesn't modify the content);
, (app-specific menus, ...)
, window -- arrange or select the app's windows;
, help -- for both system-wide, and app-specific .
)
. mac'menu's are expected to be complete
in order to represent what the app does;
5.4: eg,
mac`finder's window has a search box,
but it also has this menu:
finder`menu#file/find .

mac`menu#edit:
[5.8:
. mac uses the edit.menu for
anything related to document modifications,
including select, as well as {copy cut, paste};
and, any service that optionally edits:
eg, find(and perhaps replace),
or spellcheck(and perhaps correct) .
. however, there may be other co.menus
that also provide edits;
eg, mac's textedit has menu#format
which modifies the selection's {font,style,...} .
. another editing co.menu is used by vmware,
(if you think of a virtual machine as a document);
vmware`menu#[virtual machine] is used for
pref's that apply only to the current document .]

[5.3: 5.8: a menu#edit for subdesktops:

. mac provides 2 ways to select data:
# edit#menu/select all
# use the mouse to define a subrange .
. therefore,
because subdesktops are compound doc's,
with a variety of datatypes combined;
there are more ways than [select all]
to select things by menu:
you can also subrange by type .
. whether for simple or compound doc's,
there should be a [select some] item
in which a given truth function can define
a subrange of the {moused, typed} selection .
. in sum, selection subrange provides,
for each type in the current document,
a checkbox and an optional constraint parameter;
eg,
[x] is .txt except [find "(todo)]
[ ] is .jpg except [ null ] .

. this can be integrated with the
[select all] like so:
[select all] brings up the
[select some] dialog,
showing you the list of types
with all possible types selected;
so if no subrange constraints are needed
then just pressing enter
works like [select all].
. if the new user doesn't appreciate a dialog,
the dialog can have a checkbox to
"( map this [select some].dialog
to command-shift-A ).

. the currently moused selection
is mirrored in the menu selection:
if a selection is already made,
the [select some] dialog will
reflect that selection state
by checkmarking only the types
that are currently selected .
]-5.8
[5.4: the dynamic menu:
5.4: 5.9:
. mac`menus can have dynamic content:
ie, they will grey-out any menu items
that aren't applicable to the current selection .
. fully dynamic menus can also
add and remove submenus .
. compound doc's have document-specific
combinations of datatypes;
therefore, fully dynamic menus are required
in order to display all the type-specific menus
of all the datatypes contained in the current doc'.
[5.10:
. if mac`menus weren't fully dynamic
then adde's mac`menu could be for adde-wide operations
and then the edit.menu would have a
[type-specific operations ...] item
that would open an adde-designed menu system
which can then support full dynamism .

[5.4: 5.6: 5.8: merging app menus:

. there are several ways in which
the menus of a doc's datatypes
are merged into a single menu system:

# simple:
. a submenu is named by type,
and selecting that command will then
be applied to components of that type only;
other types will be ignored .
. when on the mac,
these type-specific menus would be expected in
menu#edit, along with [select all] .

# subtype polymorphism:
. an example of this is the supertype: number;
its menu items apply to all numeric subtypes
(int,float, Q,Z,R,C) . [5.10:
. the typical supertype menu
would list any operations affecting all subtypes,
and would then have submenus
representing each subtype, and containing only
subtype-specific operations .
. subtyping is concerned with interfaces
rather than implementations;
so, if a float happens to have an integer value
it retags itself as being an int;
however, since ints are a subset of floats
something constrained to int
will never have a chance to
similarly retag itself to float .]

# representational polymorphism:
. representations include
{ value implementations,
, graphical image,
, and programming language image
( adda-representation text )
} eg,
. when numbers are selected,
I can either bold-format a numeric's text,
or I can add the numeric values . [5.11:
. adde must either detect when types use text,
or types must declare this;
types may want to suggest a preference
that would explain to the user
why the preference exists;
the user can overrule any preference
after oking a purpose alert .]
[5.10:
. if an app is using text to represent its content
then a text styling menu
would apply to that app's datatype
(of course, the other text-modifiers
do not apply because
the text represents a type state
not just strings of characters).
. the user may want to vary the text styling
depending on whether the app's mode is:
# show value's graphical image
(might not use text)
# show value's adda-representation
(might be unavailable*)
# show value's implementation .
*:
. while every datatype must be
implemented in adda;
that type's values are not required to
have a written form (adda-representation);
for example,
streetlight.type = (red, yellow, green);
the intended image of the value red
is an icon that is colored red,
the adda-representation of the value red
is the text "(red);
and the implementation of the value red
is the integer: 1 (assuming the
default encoding of enums starts with 1,
and seeing that red is the first value).]

# generic polymorphism:
. the [all types].submenu shows
what operations of identical name
are recognized by every type in the selection
even if each type's authors had no idea
that they were naming their functions the same . [5.11:
. this would include the case of subtypes
where a supertype's interface is shared;
thus it involves supersets of subtype polymorphism .]
]-5.4: 5.6: 5.8 .

[5.4: the editable menu:

mac`menus are not expected to be user-editable;
but they can launch editable windows .
. in adde's menu-editing mode,
the user has access to 4 menu systems:
# the original menu tree;
# the original keymap;
# the user's version of the menu tree,
# the user's version of the keymap:
. the keymap is a table representing the keyboard
labeled to show each key's function .
left hand . . . . right hand
[][][][high].[] [].[high][][][]
[][][][home].[] [].[home][][][]
[][][][low ].[] [].[low ][][][]
. it's colored to make it graphically obvious
where the home key's row and columns are;
and, users can change the graphics:
the colors, background illustration,
and the nested framing arrangements .
. to stay quick, a text-version is loaded first,
followed by the full graphics .
. after ending adde's menu-editing mode,
only the user's versions are shown .

. in the original keymap, app`authors can show
what they think the most popular functions are
by placing them on the easiest-reached keys .[5.6:
. user's can also have a library of keymaps,
including author's map, current map,
and any other user-designed maps .]

. the style of interaction between {user, keymap}
is user-selectable:
# remindful interaction style:
. when users are in command mode (vs text insert)
typing any key brings the keymap into view,
shows you what you just did, and waits for enter .
# compact interaction style:
. hitting a key fills the command box
with the name of the function you just selected,
and then the command box is waiting for
either {esc, enter} to {stop,launch} the command). [5.6:
. hitting enter on an empty command
would show the keymap .]
]-5.4
. users may want both a menusystem
and a keymap --(before now,
I thought a keymap would be sufficient).
. the keymap title bar has a list of
the types of objects in the current selection; [5.8:
but in the menubar this may be relegated to
a submenu of menu#edit .]

. users may want to place the app`menubar
either in the display`menubar,
or in the current window's menubar .[5.6:
. this will be possible on any system;
because, addx is acting as
a system within a system:
ie, it looks like it's being run by a vm player:
each window into addx represents an addx desktop
within which there are windows into adde documents .
summary of the window nesting:
. mac display ->
mac windows for a mac app named addx ->
addx windows for addx app named adde ->
app windows within an adde document .]

[5.4: hierarchical keymaps:

. the whole point of the keymap
is that it flattens the menu hierarchy
into a table of the user's choice;
however,
the existence of optional co.menus
implies the need for hierarchies of tables:
certain keys can be labeled to
launch new co.menus;
and then each optional co.menu item
is mapped to a cell of the co.menu-specific table .
. there could be room on the main table
in which case
optionality is expressed with grey-outs .
. the purpose of a keymap`title.bar
is indicate which table you selected;
left-arrow brings you to previous one .]