I need some guidance

[David Christopher]

That helps much.

I found a good tutorial for Scheme and am plugging away at it.  It is way
to complicated for me to even think of GNUcash tinkering until I can do
some of my own coding with Scheme.  I learned C to a degree, but moved to
C# because, I did not "get" pointers.  [let them kick my butt is more to
the point].

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 8:36 AM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be>
wrote:

>  On Tuesday 24 February 2015 09:06:09 David Christopher wrote:
>
> > New to Linux. I just converted my computer to Mint 17.1 from the
>
> > Windows OS. I was learning to code in Visual Studio. I want to work
>
> > on GNUcash reports, for fun and to learn more about the program.
>
> >
>
> > I have been learning to use Guile and Scheme, but here is my mental
>
> > block.
>
> >
>
> Hi David,
>
>
>
> I can understand your confusion. I have been there as well a couple of
> years back.
>
>
>
> > When you write code is Scheme script, are you literally building the
>
> > Options, what I call a form, literally?
>
>
>
> No, this is all heavily abstracted. The report system in gnucash is a mix
> of C code and scheme code. The parts that actually draw the form and even
> define which widget (graphical representation of an option on the form) to
> use are in the C code.
>
>
>
> The scheme code related to options is spread over several areas in gnucash.
>
>
>
> First off there is src/app-utils/options.scm. This scheme file defines the
> data model for most options. Not how it is graphically represented, but
> what data can be stored in which kind of option. For example a text option
> can store a bit of text. A date option can store a date,... All this is in
> options.scm.
>
>
>
> Building on that, the kind of option directly defines how it is
> represented visually to the user. As said these graphical representations
> are written in C, most can be found in
>
> src/gnome-utils/dialog-options.c.
>
>
>
> Lastly the reports don't define the options, nor the way to present them
> visually to the user. Simplified you could say the options section in the
> reports is more like an ingredient list. It merely tells which options you
> want for the report of what kind of data they represent. This section is
> called the "options-generator" in most reports.
>
>
>
> The lower level code takes these "ingredients" and transform them into a
> form with option to show the user whenever this is requested.
>
>
>
> However although you don't define the graphical representation of the
> options, you do have some limited control over their appearance in the form:
>
> - the form is divided in tabs or sections. You can choose the section name
> in which your option is to be displayed. There are several predefined
> sections (like General) or you can invent your own if needed. This section
> name is passed as the first parameter in each of the gnc:make-<xyz>-option
> calls.
>
> - secondly within a section you can manipulate the display order on the
> form. Most reports use a single or double letter string to order the
> options. In the hello-world.scm report you can see these in each of the
> gnc:make-<xyz>-option calls as the third parameter.
>
>
>
> > I have been looking at the
>
> > Hello world .scm file while in a tutorial. I understand I can change
>
> > the text in a label, but how did the label get on the form, where did
>
> > the form come from, and the buttons on the form?
>
> >
>
> All this is set up in C code based on the option description you pass in
> the report code.
>
>
>
> > Is there a small tutorial that shows how to make the form and put
>
> > controls on it? Is that even what is being done?
>
> >
>
>
>
> Unfortunately I'm not aware of such a tutorial.
>
>
>
> Hopefully my explanation helps you understand this somewhat better.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Geert
>