UNICON and ICON need alternative names
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david_costanzo
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#109 UNICON and ICON need alternative names
closed
1
2015-09-22
2015-08-08
No
When I think back a few weeks, I remember that I didn't know how to minimize or maximize the Commander / another window. By chance I found UNICON and ICON and read that these names were chosen for historical reasons, but it seems to me that those names are not appropriate, certainly not for children. I suggest the alternative names MINIMIZE and MAXIMIZE and a mark as obsolete to the original names, at least an entry in the index.
UNICON does not maximize a window. It "restores" it. Were you looking to maximize the window or restore its original size/location after minimizing it? The only way to maximize a window is with WINDOWSET.
Adding MINIMIZE and MAXIMIZE as library routines seems reasonable. I hesitate to use the word RESTORE for this purpose, as it means I won't be able to use it for a different purpose later (for example, if I want to provide a command to restore a workspace), but I also don't want to call it WINDOWRESTORE or RESTOREWINDOW, as that would look like it's part of the WINDOWCREATE family, which I think would be confusing. So I guess it would have be called RESTORE.
Hi David!
Yes, I know. When I created this request I wasn't sure about it, but while translating this command into German, I figured it out. ;) I called it "WIEDERHERSTELLEN" (It makes me crazy that every German word is so long), which means the "restore" you suggested. Stefan Vogel called it "RESTAURIERE", but this means to restore for an example a building or a painting in German.
I used ICON and UNICON to hide and show the Commander in games - so I wanted to restore - and not to maximize it. I think "restore" is not a common term for this in Germany.
You mean "restore" after FMSLogo crashed?
I don't think it would make sense to create a command for this, it would be more user-friendly if a dialog would appear for this, don't you think?
I just asked myself why it's not part of the WINDOWCREATE family. Just because ICON and UNICON uses the windows caption and not the name? It seems quiet logical to me to call it "WINDOWRESTORE". But anyway - in German this would be "FENSTERWIEDERHERSTELLEN". :)
Greetings
Jan
I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just that "restore" is a good word and using it for this purpose means it cannot be used for some other purpose. For example, I think the BASIC programming language has a RESTORE command, but that doesn't mean that Logo would need one.
It's because it's implemented in a completely different way and works on any window on the desktop, not just ones that you create with WINDOWCREATE. For example, you can't use WINDOWDELETE on the FMSLogo commander window, but you can use WINDOWSET, ICON, and UNICON on it. You can't use WINDOWDELETE on a notepad window, but you can ICON and UNICON on it.
Anyway, I think I'll add three new library proceedures: MINIMIZE, MAXIMIZE, and RESTORE. MAXIMIZE is not supported currently, but the API feels incomplete without it.
I have added MINIMIZE, MAXIMIZE, and RESTORE and marked ICON and UNICON as deprecated in the manual. These changes will be first available in FMSLogo 6.35.0.