[Etoys] Etoys Based Activity - FreeCell Sugar interactions

[Milan Zimmermann]

Hi Bert,

Thanks for your detail comments. I will probably try to get the "patched" 
version working this weekend so that I can get quickly to the part of coding 
the Datastore interactions. I have been stalling on this too long (mostly time 
reasons I cannot get anything done except weekends), so I want to get to the 
Datastore part first as a step 1 experiment. 

But I completely agree it is best to replace SugarLauncher with a more generic 
one asy ou suggested, which I'd make to be step 2. 

Let me see how far I get this weekend on step 1. I have a feeling I will ask 
for help along the way :)

Thanks and later, Milan

On June 1, 2009, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
> On 31.05.2009, at 23:23, Milan Zimmermann wrote:
> > Hi Bert,
> >
> > After 3 weekend delay I got back today to FreeCell. I re-read the
> > email thread and put together high level steps of how FreeCell's
> > statistics state could be managed. I hope the steps are
> > uderstandable, and realize architecturally it is not very nice, but
> > a step..
> >
> > Below, I am listing base code (additions and patches) that would
> > plugin FreeCell into the workflow so that everything is in place
> > where it's statistics state could be managed, serialized and stored
> > in Datastore. Could you comment if the following would work as a
> > first step to play with the Datastore stuff in FreeCell - Thanks.
> > There are some questions at the end, and I appreciate any
> > suggestions and alternatives :)
> >
> >
> > 1) Patch SugarLauncher>>#startUp to call
> > self class allInstances do: [:ea| ea shutdown]. "is this neded?"
>
> It's a safety net, not strictly needed.
>
> > parameters at 'ACTIVITY_ID' ifPresent: [:activityId|
> > objectId := "todo get objectId".
> > "Make FreeCell and recover statistics from journal"
> > FreeCell class startUpInSugarForActivity: activityId object: objectId.
> > World windowEventHandler: self.
> > ].
> >
> > (A note: I realize you suggested to use FREECELL_ACTIVITY_ID and
> > FREECELL_OBJECT_ID instead of ACTIVITY_ID and OBJECT_ID and then we
> > would not have to patch SugarLauncher>>#startup, but it seems we
> > probably need to patch some other SugarLauncher methods such as
> > invite anyway, so I thought this could be ok)
>
> No, in that case SugarLauncher would not be used at all, that was what
> I was proposing. Better implement the whole caboodle on your own so
> you know what's happening. Less magic ;) OTOH SugarLauncher is hard-
> wired in some places, like in the SugarNavBar, so some refactoring may
> be needed anyway.
>
> A potential problem is that the FreeCell code gets loaded via
> ProjectLauncher so it depends on ProjectLauncher being started first
> before SugarLauncher:
>
> 	AutoStart installedLaunchers
>
> > 2) Add method FreeCell class>>#startUpInSugarForActivity: activityId
> > object: objectId
> >
> > which would perform the steps currently performed in the FreeCell.st
> > doits:
> >
> > Project current flapsSurpressed: true.
> > World color: Color black.
> > FreeCell
> > instance
> > (recoverStatisticsOnSugarStartUpForActivity: activityId object:
> > objectId)
> > openInWorld.
> > (... center and zoom to screen extent)
>
> Yes, though objectId may not be present (if this was run the first
> time).
>
> > 3) Add method FreeCell class>>#instance
> > FreeCellSingleton := FreeCell new. "just a class var"
> > ^ FreeCellSingleton.
> >
> > 4) Add method FreeCell>>#recoverStatisticsOnSugarStartUpForActivity:
> > activityId object: objectId
> > this method is eventually called from patched
> > SugarLauncher>>#startUp, and it would do:
> > - use activityId and objectId to read Datastore, and obtain value
> > for key=serialized_statistics
>
> You only need the object id to read from datastore.
>
> > - obtain sessionWins, sessionLosses, totalWins ... etc from
> > serialized_statistics_value
> > - set the deserialized values on the FreeCellStatistics members.
> > (This will need a simple setter of the statistics values)
> >
> > 5) Patch SugarLauncher>>#shutDown as follows:
> > activityId := parameters at: ACTIVITY_ID.
> > objectId := parameters at: OBJECT_ID.
> > freeCell := FreeCell instance.
> > freeCell #shutDownInSugarAsActivity: activityId object: objectId.
> >
> >
> > 6) Add method FreeCell>>#shutDownInSugarAsActivity: activityId
> > object: objectId
> > which would :
> > - serialize sessionWins, sessionLosses, totalWins ... etc to
> > serialized_statistics_value
> > - put on Datastore, for activityId and objectId, an entry with
> > key=serialized_statistics, value=serialized_statistics_value
> >
> > 7) Add method FreeCell>>#quit which would do:
> > Sugarlauncher current quit
> >
> >
> > 8) Patch SugarLauncher>>#quit to call
> > self leaveSharedActivity. "is this needed?"
> > Smalltalk quitPrimitive. "i hope this calls shutDown?"
>
> No, this quits immediately ...
>
> > FreeCell class startUpInSugar.
>
> ... meaning you need to do the FreeCell shutdown before quitting.
>
> > 9) Export the changes to FreeCell.st. so it will contain roughtly:
> > - patches for:
> > - SugarLauncher>>#startUp
> > - SugarLauncher>>#shutDown
> > - SugarLauncher>>#quit
> > - FreeCell>>#quit
> >
> > I did not run any of this .. this is my next step, but I wanted to
> > run it by you for obvious problems, so:
> >
> > Questions, comments and doubts:
> > =============================
> >
> > - Would this work in principal? I am especially not sure around
> > handling the shutDown on quit.
>
> In principle it should work, yes.
>
> > - Are there better more elegant/reusable ways if someone else wants
> > to do something similar to other Etoys activity (ZIP, Speach etc etc)?
>
> Well, replacing SugarLauncher with a more generic one would be good.
> At least the Etoys-specific parts should be factored out. But then
> again getting it to work first is not the worst idea.
>
> > - In step 6, what would be the mime type for the new datastore
> > record, so it is associated with Etoys? There are Mime types listed
> > in /usr/share/sugar/data/mime.defaults but it does not list Etoys...
>
> It should not be associated with Etoys but with FreeCell. You could
> make up any mimetype. It does not have to be listed in the mime
> database, unless you intend to transfer these files outside of Sugar.
> If you want that you need to make up an extension and add a mime rule,
> see mimetypes.xml in
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_bundles
>
> > - I need to check when etoys start SugarLauncher>>#startUp is
> > performed when I click on a Journal FreeCell item, as startUp
> > contains the FreeCell creation and initialization mechanism
>
> SugarLauncher is registered with AutoStart.
>
> > - I cannot figure out which class puts the ACTIVITY_ID to
> > AbstractLauncher>>member parameters, but that is not needed for the
> > stuff above.
>
> AbstractLauncher>>parameters does lazy initialization. But before
> that, AutoStart>>startUp: actually sets the parameters. In either
> case, #extractParameters is what gets arguments from the command line
> (as passed in the activity script).
>
> - Bert -
>
>
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