sugarcube 0.2.1

[Colin Thomas-Arnold]

Been pushing some new stuff to sugarcube recently, thought I would let anyone interested in on the new features.  I'm using it on a *real* project these days, and as I need shorthands & aliases, this is where I put 'em.  I also grabbed some ideas from this list and BubbleWrap.

My usual disclaimer: sugarcube has some odd notions that, while _I_ (and some others) find them beneficial, might not be appealing to you.

I recommend you NOT use sugarcube if you don't like it. :-P

sugarcube's paradigm shift is that it extends base types to perform higher-level operations, or to become a UIKit or Foundation object.

e.g. "FontName".uifont(20)  # => UIFont.fontWithName("FontName", size:20)

Changes since 0.1

1) It's a real gem now!  require 'sugarcube'

2) NSUserDefaults get/set

3) NSURL additions

4) CoreGraphics coercion functions (Rect, Size, Point)

5) UIView animation methods (fade_out, move_to, delta_to)

6) NSNotification - post notifications from any string

7) Easy frame adjustment for the REPL - this is very useful during development!

# NSUserDefaults

I'm not going to defend this, it looks outright bizarre, I know.  It's exemplary of sugarcube's "backwards" style.

NSUserDefaults 
 1 
:key.set_default(['any', 'objects']) 
 2 
# => NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults.setObject(['any', 'objects'], forKey: :key) 
 3 
:key.get_default 
 4 
# => NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults.objectForKey(:key) 

There *is* an advantage, though, which is that it is obvious what is getting saved.

Possible advantage? 
 1 
App::Persistance[:test] = { my: 'test' } 
 2 
App::Persistance[:test][:my] = 'new'  # nothing is saved.  bug? 
 3 
 
 4 
:test.set_default { my: 'test' } 
 5 
:test.get_default[:my] = 'new'  # nothing is saved, but more obvious(?) 

# NSURL

"http://github.com".nsurl  => NSURL instance

"http://github.com".nsurl.open  => `open` method on an NSURL calls NSUIApplication.sharedApplication.openURL(NSUrl.URLWithString(url))

# CoreGraphics

The objects output by `view.frame` are not the prettiest - and are they arrays or objects?  structs?  is it CGMakeRect or CGRectMake? BAH.

These are namespaced in SugarCube::CoreGraphics, so use `include SugarCube::CoreGraphics` to make them more easily accessible.

CoreGraphics 
  1 
# wrap frame and such in a "pretty" object 
  2 
f = Rect(view.frame) 
  3 
o = Point(view.frame.origin) 
  4 
s = Size(view.frame.size) 
  5 
 
  6 
# create them easily 
  7 
f = Rect(x, y, w, h) 
  8 
f = Rect([[x, y], [w, h]]) 
  9 
 
 10 
# in many different ways! 
 11 
o = Point(x, y) 
 12 
s = Size(w, h) 
 13 
f = Rect(o, s) 
 14 
 
 15 
# and yes, they can be assigned (they are Array objects in the end) 
 16 
view.frame = f 

# UIView animations

Need a fade out?  move a view across the screen?  I'll add more (I want a "shake" animation already) as needed/wanted.

UIView animations 
  1 
# default timeout is 0.3 
  2 
view.fade_out { |view| 
  3 
  view.removeFromSuperview 
  4 
} 
  5 
# options: 
  6 
view.fade_out(0.5, delay: 0, 
  7 
                  options: UIViewAnimationOptionCurveLinear, 
  8 
                  opacity: 0.5) { |view| 
  9 
  view.removeFromSuperview 
 10 
} 
 11 
# move to position 0, 100 
 12 
view.move_to([0, 100]) 
 13 
# move over 0, down 100, from current position 
 14 
view.delta_to([0, 100]) 

# NSNotification

NSNotification 
 1 
"MyNotification".post_notification 
 2 
"MyNotification".post_notification(obj)  # uses `obj` as the context, or something like that... 
 3 
"my notification".post_notification(obj, user: 'dict') 
 4 
# => NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter.postNotificationName("my notification", object:obj, userInfo:{user: 'dict'}) 

# Frame Adjustments in the REPL - NEAT!

One thing I find myself doing a lot, since I don't use Xcode, is pixel-pushing views. sugarcube has a nifty way to make this less painful, even when you can't cmd+click on the right view.

These methods are namespaced by default, but if you `include SugarCube::Adjust` in app_delegate.rb (or wherever you need it - depends on the compilation order I think...) you can use them during development, and remove that later if you don't need it anymore, of if those methods are conflicting.

Sugarcube::Adjust example
  1 
# (In the REPL) 
  2 
# cmd-click on a view - but it might not be the view you want, in which case 
  3 
# you'll need to traverse it using superview & subviews 
  4 
> adjust superview.subviews[4].subviews[1] 
  5 
> up 1 
  6 
> down 1  # same as up -1, obviously 
  7 
> left 1 
  8 
> right 1  # same as up -1, obviously 
  9 
> origin 10, 12  # move to x:10, y:12 
 10 
> wider 10
 11 
> thinner 1 
 12 
> taller 1 
 13 
> shorter 1 
 14 
> size 100, 10  # set size to width:100, height: 10 
 15 
> restore  # original frame is saved when you call adjust
 16 
 
 17 
# short versions!  and let's assume I ran `include SC` 
 18 
> a superview.subviews[4].subviews[1]  # this is not uncommon in the REPL 
 19 
> u          # up, default value=1 
 20 
> d          # down 
 21 
> l          # left 
 22 
> r          # right 
 23 
> o 10, 12   # origin, also accepts an array (or Point() object) 
 24 
> w 10       # wider 
 25 
> n          # thinner 
 26 
> t          # taller 
 27 
> s          # shorter 
 28 
> z 100, 10  # size, also accepts an array (or Size() object) 
 29 
> r          # restore 
 30 
 
 31 
# if you forget what view you are adjusting, run `adjust` again 
 32 
> a 
 33 
=> {UITextField @ x: 46.0 y:214.0, 280.0×33.0} child of UIView 

#colinta

github.com/colinta

[Websembly]

You should *never* apologize for innovation.

I really like your approach.  The "Pixel Pusher" especially.  YOU STOLE MY IDEA!!  I had plans to build some sort of UI/CLI to do exactly what you have done.

Excellent work.  I will watch (and maybe contribute) to your project.

Thom

[Colin Thomas-Arnold]

Ha!  Great minds... ;-)

I forgot to post a link to the project, though it's not like it's hard to find.

github.com/colinta/sugarcube - fork and pull!

For teacup users, I will be announcing "sweettea" soon, which combines sugarcube shortcuts with teacup, so you can do things like assign image by name, have `UIImageView`s auto-size, style methods for assigning normal/highlighted images to UIButtons, stuff like that.

github.com/colinta/sugarcube/tree/sweettea

#colinta

github.com/colinta

[Colin Thomas-Arnold]

wrong link!  sorry all, force of habit.

https://github.com/fusionbox/sugarcube

#colinta

github.com/colinta

[Rodrigo Alves Vieira]

Thank you.

-- rodrigo alves vieira