2D APPLICATIONS INSIDE 3D - Part 1

Croquet IS NOT a game engine. The idea is the creation of a 3D virtual space for dialog and work of a group.

And we think that we will work in 2D forms (pages) 80% of the time. But these 2D work areas can be inside 3D spaces.

So: before to learn, in details, the 3D architecture of Croquet, lets go to learn how to create 2D appplications inside a 3D island. Look, by example, these two forms to work with a database in the 3th tier:

For Squeak/Croquet, a 2D application is a project.

Do this basic exercice:

Click in an empty (black?) part of the image and will appear a "World window".

Click in the line: open and will appear another window. Click: morphic project. Now you will have a yellow little window.

Click it. All is white, empty now! You have opened a new desktop for a new application, a new Squeak-Croquet project.

Our first project will be to show the traditional "Hello World!" sentence but inside a TextBox. The text can be changed by any visitor of the 3D space!

TextBox is the usual name for a "Form Control" used basicaly for data entry - but can be used to show data also. In Squeak-Croquet its name is: Textborder. The object is instatialized graphically dragging it from the "Green window":

REMEMBER: To see the halo, if you have a mouse with 3 buttons (or 2 buttons and a wheel) put the pointer over the graphic object and click with the button of the middle. If you don't have 3 buttons and are using Windows: Alt + leftclick. Clicking in any place of the desktop the halo disappear.

But before this, click in the blue button and you will have a new pallete having many lines.

Look to the next figure. Click in the arrow and drag the line of the figure to the desktop and will appear a new box where we will write the program!

Click in the square (3th from left) and a window will open having the basic program that puts "abc" in the Text. "self" means: "me", this Text... Change to "Hello World!". Rightclicking, do an "accept". Click in the "exclamation point" (yellow) and the text will change.

[To be continued] 


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