[Dev] New name for the TrunkParentBlock mechanism

[John Anderson]

Hi Bryan:

Here are some ideas:

TreeSocket
TreeRoot
TreeRootSocket
SocketBlock

John

Bryan Stearns wrote:

> Many people have complained that the TrunkParentBlock mechanism has a 
> crappy name. I'm soliciting new names.
>
> Here's an overview of the mechanism to help you understand what it's for:
>
> CPIA represents the UI world as a hierarchy of blocks: the root of the 
> hierarchy is a block that corresponds to the outermost frame window, 
> and every two-dimensional space within is represented by a child block 
> in this hierarchy.
>
> For the most part, huge chunks of this hierarchy are "static": For 
> instance, the sidebar is composed of a little sub-hierarchy of blocks 
> whose relationship is invariant; some blocks may not always be 
> visible, but the hierarchy always looks like this:
> - SidebarContainer
>  - Sidebar
>  - PreviewAndMiniCalendar
>    - PreviewArea
>    - MiniCalendar
>
> However, in other places in our grand hierarchy of blocks, we need to 
> be able to dynamically change a subtree hanging off that particular 
> point. It happens that there are three places where we do this currently:
> - The most obvious case of this is the detail view: depending on what 
> kind of item you've got selected in the summary or calendar, a 
> particular "tree of blocks" is built for displaying that kind of item, 
> and that's what you see in the detail view.
> - If you think about it, you'll realize that this also happens at the 
> point between the sidebar and the main content area: depending on what 
> collections or views you've got selected in the sidebar, you'll see a 
> different tree of blocks displayed in the main content area: the 
> summary table + DV, the calendar + DV, the repository viewer, etc.
> - We also have one of these points at the very root of the block 
> hierarchy; this is the way John implemented "skins".
>
> So, back to naming: The block off of which we hang these trees of 
> blocks is currently named TrunkParentBlock, because it's the parent to 
> a single block, the 'trunk', of one of these trees of blocks.
>
> We can't use "view", which already has special meaning for certain 
> blocks at other points in the tree.
>
> Any other ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> ...Bryan
>
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