[plt-scheme] GUI guides?

The key to width of text is:

> (define dc (send c get-dc))
> (send dc get-text-extent "123456787" (make-object font% 24 "Chess Adventurer" 'symbol))

264.0
32.0
0.0
0.0

This while the dc in question exists...

--hsm

On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 9:12 PM, Hugh Myers<hsmyers at gmail.com> wrote:
> Added to list:
>
> Care and feeding of Status Line---a subject worth a guide in of itself:
>
> Create a status line
> Open a status line
> Write to a status line
> Close a status line
> Remove a status line
>
> Note that the overall status line is partitioned into writable areas.
> For instance for a chess board, I would want to show the move text,
> the move number and the move ply (move number without regard to color;
> ply 1 is move 1 as is ply 2 [white's move followed by black's move
> etc.]). Perhaps also information on castling, draw information etc. An
> example rich environment.
>
> --hsm
>
> On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 8:41 PM, Hugh Myers<hsmyers at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks for the pointer to dc% What you mention seems like a logical
>> (heaven forbid) arrangement given the concepts involved. Having
>> survived the age of roll-your-own gui (usually text), original
>> windows, and then MFC this should be just another notch in my
>> gui-belt. Even as we e-speak I'm in the middle of investigating frame%
>> which has some of the answers in my shopping-list. I think one of the
>> things that will be in my version of 'GUI Editor Guide' will be a list
>> of what all can be set/modified for a given window. Sometimes it is
>> easier to pick and choose from such a list than to comb a detailed
>> reference--- I think as a guide, this approach might be the one to go
>> with.
>>
>> --hsm
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 5, 2009 at 6:51 PM, Ryan Culpepper<ryanc at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:
>>> Hugh Myers wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Am solving some of these as I try and think of questions to ask. Some
>>>> of the answers raise questions about what is or isn't do-able. For
>>>> instance given fixed width symbol font (like all chess fonts) it would
>>>> be nice to ask how wide and how tall a given text string is. This
>>>> could be used to 'size' the window before display. Nothing I've seen
>>>> yet even hints that this is possible, yet it seems quit reasonable.
>>>
>>> I think you want 'get-text-extent' in 'dc<%>' (drawing context).
>>>
>>> Here are some rough guidelines:
>>>
>>>  - 'editor<%>' and 'text%' deal with the text, its styles, modifications to
>>> the text, high-level display concerns (word wrapping, visible/ region, etc).
>>>
>>>  - 'canvas<%>' and 'editor-canvas%' deal with the gui concerns: dimensions
>>> of the editor widget, its auxiliary gui elements (scrollbars), etc.
>>>
>>>  - 'dc<%>' deals with rendering issues, like how big a string in a
>>> particular font will be rendered on screen.
>>>
>>> Browsing those classes and interfaces is a good way to get an idea of what
>>> functionality is available and how it's provided. Remember to look at the
>>> superclasses and superinterfaces, too.
>>>
>>> Ryan
>>>
>>
>