Getting Started with Vedeu

Installation

First, install the gem locally:

gem install vedeu

This will provide a new command to help build your client application. Similar to Ruby on Rails, although not nearly as advanced as the Rails equivalent, hopefully the vedeu command generators will get you off the ground:

vedeu

Generating a new application

The following command will build a new application. Substitute your_app_name for your desired application name.

vedeu new your_app_name

If your_app_name already exists, Vedeu will only write new files that do not exist at the file path. The generated files are a skeleton Vedeu client application. Let's take a look at these files individually.

|
|- app_name/
|   |
    |- app/
    |   |- controllers/
    |   |   |- application_controller.rb
    |   |
    |   |- helpers/
    |   |   |- application_helper.rb
    |   |
    |   |- models/
    |   |   |- keymaps/
    |   |       |- _global_.rb
    |   |
    |   |- views/
    |       |- interfaces/
    |       |- templates/
    |
    |- bin/
    |   |- app_name
    |
    |- config/
    |   |- add_name
    |   |- configuration.rb
    |
    |- lib/
    |- test/
    |- vendor/
    |- application.rb
    |- Gemfile

app/controllers/

The controllers directory is the place to store the events and behaviour logic of your application. It will manage the choosing of views and models based on previous choices. Think of them as the orchestrators of your application.

In web applications, the controller typically handles the routed request and interacts with the models and sets up the views. In Vedeu, it does much the same, minus the requests.

app/helpers/

'Ruby on Rails' has a concept of helpers, which although not very object-oriented, allow you to share functionality/behaviour across multiple views. Vedeu uses this concept too, as it will be familiar to many Rails developers and might be helpful to beginners.

app/models/

Much like lib, this directory is for your application logic code. Some people prefer to use app/models, others like to use lib. Some even use both!

app/models/keymaps/

This will contain the global keymap (which affects all of your application) plus any specific interface keymaps which only affect a certain interface when in focus. By default the global keymap contains a few simple definitions:

• q

Quit. Internally triggers the :exit system event which in turn requests the application stops. This triggers the event :cleanup which the client application can bind to and perform any tidying up it wishes to perform before exiting.

• <esc>

Mode Switch. Toggle between cooked, fake and raw terminal modes.

• <tab>

Focus Next. Focus the next interface in the focus list.

• <shift+tab>

Focus Previous. Focus the previous interface in the focus list.

app/views/

This will contain classes which produce the views needed by Vedeu to make your application come alive!

app/views/interfaces/

This will contain the information Vedeu needs to draw the various interfaces and views of your application.

app/views/templates/

This will house the templates your application will use to display views. You can populate templates with generic view information and supplement it with variable data from your application.

bin/

This will contain executable Ruby scripts (or Bash, or shell language of your choice) which will launch your application or provide command-line behaviours.

config/

This will contain any configuration your application needs to run, plus the configuration for Vedeu. This configuration affects the way Vedeu works with your application.

lib/

This is for code your application may use to support code you have in app/models.

test/

This is for the tests you might write to help ensure your application executes in the way you expect.

vendor/

This is for third-party code which your application might want to ship with. Usually you will include various Ruby gems to provide functionality, but you might want to do something special.

Adding a new view to your application

The following command will build a new view within your application. Substitute some_view_name for your desired application name. As with generating a new application, If some_view_name already exists, Vedeu will only write new files that do not exist at the file path.

cd your_app_name
vedeu view some_view_name

The generated files are skeleton Vedeu view files. Let's talk about the files it will create and populate:

|
|- app_name/
|   |
    |- app/
    |   |- controllers/
    |   |   |- view_name_controller.rb
    |   |
    |   |- helpers/
    |   |   |- view_name_helper.rb
    |   |
    |   |- models/
    |   |   |- keymaps/
    |   |       |- view_name.rb
    |   |
    |   |- views/
    |       |- interfaces/
    |       |   |- view_name.rb
    |       |
    |       |- templates/
    |       |   |- view_name.erb
    |       |
    |       |- view_name.rb
    |...