Clouseau – The McCLIM Inspector

Jan Moringen (scymtym on IRC)

Agenda

Goal: Introduce and demonstrate Clouseau, mainly from a user's perspective.

Background
- Inspector
- Names
- Brief History
(Re)Design
- Requirements
- Architecture
Demos
- Basics
- Specialized Visualizations and Operations
- Updating
- Customization
Problems and Future Work

Background

Names: CLIM, McCLIM, Clouseau

CL (Common Lisp): An ancient interpreted programming language that nobody uses. Also in desperate need of a revised standard.
CLIM (Common Lisp User Interface Manager): A specification describing a set of protocols for building graphical interactive applications.
McCLIM: One implementation of the CLIM specification.
Clouseau (a.k.a. "The Inspector", "Inspector Clouseau"): Two CLIM-based inspectors included in the McCLIM codebase: the original one and a completely rewritten version.

Inspector

Wikipedia entry for "Inspector Window" (emphasis mine)

The graphical control element inspector window is a type of dialog window that shows a list of the current attributes of a selected object and allows these parameters to be changed on the fly.

For "Inspector" instead of "Inspector Window", I would amend:

It can inspect any value (not just a selected object) and navigate related values
It indicates the kinds or types of inspected values
It does not have to be graphical
Can make more fundamental changes than changing parameter values

Brief History: Inspector in Genera

Source: http://www.ifis.uni-luebeck.de/~moeller/symbolics-info/development-environment/index.html

Brief History: `cl:inspect`

* (inspect climi::*all-ports*)
The object is a CONS.
0. CAR: #<MCCLIM-TRUETYPE::CLX-TTF-PORT :HOST "" :DISPLAY-ID 1 {1006ED6E13}>
1. CDR: NIL
> 0
The object is a STANDARD-OBJECT of type MCCLIM-TRUETYPE::CLX-TTF-PORT.
0. SERVER-PATH: (:CLX-TTF :HOST "" :DISPLAY-ID 1 :SCREEN-ID 0 :PROTOCOL :LOCAL)
1. PROPERTIES: NIL
2. GRAFTS: (#<CLIM-CLX:CLX-GRAFT {100AE29743}>)
3. FRAME-MANAGERS: (#<CLIM-CLX::CLX-FRAME-MANAGER {1006EDC6C3}>)
4. SHEET->MIRROR: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQ :COUNT 1 {1004EC7283}>
5. MIRROR->SHEET: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQ :COUNT 1 {1004EC7313}>
6. PIXMAP->MIRROR: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQ :COUNT 0 {1004EC73A3}>
7. MIRROR->PIXMAP: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQ :COUNT 0 {1004EC7433}>
8. EVENT-PROCESS: #<SB-THREAD:THREAD "#<MCCLIM-TRUETYPE::CLX-TTF-PORT :HOST \"\" :DIS…
9. LOCK: #<SB-THREAD:MUTEX "port lock" (free)>
10. TEXT-STYLE-MAPPINGS: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQ :COUNT 4 {1004EC74E3}>
11. POINTER-SHEET: #<CLIM-CLX::CLX-784-TOP-LEVEL-SHEET-PANE CLOUSEAU:INSPECTOR {100B7…
12. GRABBED-SHEET: NIL
13. MIRRORED-SHEET->CURRENT-POINTER-CURSOR: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQ :COUNT 0 {1004EC757…
14. SELECTIONS: #<HASH-TABLE :TEST EQL :COUNT 0 {1004EC7603}>
⋮

Brief History: The SLIME Inspector

Brief History: The Original Clouseau

Brief History: The Rewritten Clouseau

(Re)Design

Requirements and Goals

Visualize values
- Nested values and multiple values at once
- Relations between values
- Indicate kind or type
- Handle multiple occurrences well (including circular structure)
- Take full advantage of graphical capabilities
Navigate
- Search
- Zoom/Expand/Visit
- History of visited values
Update view when value changes
Manipulate
- Offer suitable operations based on value type and its context

Key Difference: First-class Places

First Clouseau: Parent value → Child value
Second Clouseau: Parent value → First-class place → Child value

New Architecture

Values are not stored
Specialized places and object states

More details in Apps/Clouseau/DESIGN.org.

Demos

Demo: Basics

Window Layout
- Show/hide interactor
Navigation
- Expand/Collapse
- Visit and History
Evaluate in context

Documentation https://common-lisp.net/project/mcclim/static/manual/mcclim.html#Inspector

Demo: Specialized Visualizations

Occurrences
Numbers:
- Integer
- Double
- Complex
Hash-table
Class
Array
Lists
- As graph
- Dotted, Alists, Plists
Color and McCLIM-specific value types

Demo: Specialized Operations

Functions
- Trace
- Show Disassembly
Instance
- Change class
Adjustable vector
- Place drag and drop
- Remove value of place

Demo: Update

(defvar *inspector* (nth-value 1 (clouseau:inspect #C(1 2) :new-process t)))

(loop :for i :from 0 :to (* 2 pi) :by .1
      :do (setf (clouseau:root-object *inspector* :run-hook-p t)
                (complex (cos i) (sin i)))
          (sleep .1))

Demo: Customization

(defmethod clouseau:inspect-object-using-state ((object asdf:system)
                                                (state  clouseau:inspected-instance)
                                                (style  (eql :expanded-body))
                                                (stream clim:extended-output-stream))
  (clim:format-graph-from-root
   object
   (lambda (node stream)
     (clouseau:formatting-place (object 'clouseau:pseudo-place node nil present)
       (present stream)))
   (lambda (object)
     (map 'list #'asdf:find-system
          (remove-if-not #'atom (asdf:system-depends-on object))))
   :stream stream :merge-duplicates t :maximize-generations t)
  (call-next-method))

More details in https://common-lisp.net/project/mcclim/static/manual/mcclim.html#Extending-Clouseau

Problems and Future Work

Disadvantages compared to SLIME's Inspector

Unusable without mouse
- Commands can be typed but selecting presentations can (currently) only be done using the mouse
There is no usable (i)search
No Emacs integration (but debugger and listener integration)

Future Work

Make presentations selectable via keyboard shortcuts

Prototype
Implement double-buffering in McCLIM

Prototype

Thank You

Thank you for your attention!

McCLIM

IRC Channel: #clim on freenode
Code: https://github.com/McCLIM/McCLIM
Documentation: https://common-lisp.net/project/mcclim/static/manual/mcclim.html

Clouseau

Code: https://github.com/McCLIM/McCLIM/tree/master/Apps/Clouseau
Documentation: https://common-lisp.net/project/mcclim/static/manual/mcclim.html#Inspector