# Learning Shoes - Have some questions! **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 19, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-shoes-have-some-questions/195202 "2010-09-19T18:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rubina](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@rubina](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rubina)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-shoes-have-some-questions/195202/1 "2010-09-19T18:13:39Z")
Hello All, I recently started playing with Shoes to learn it during my Ruby learning journey. It appears to be easy, although the current doc is not what a beginner like I would prefer. googling around I found a nice website, [http://shoes-tutorial-note.heroku.com/](http://shoes-tutorial-note.heroku.com/), which has some nice simple samples programs, just what beginners, like I, need. On my learning, I heavely borrowed from a program, simple-calc.rb, listed on the tutorial mentioned above. I hope the developer of this pgm does not get upset. I have some questions which I would like help with. First, should I post Shoes questions to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid or should my questions go to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid? or Both? I tried subscribing to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid but it was impossible! I am attaching my image so you can analyze it and comment on it. The image was rejected by the ruby forum. I can send it to whoever would like to see it to comment on it. 1 - When placing a number of buttons, such as the ones found in a calculator, how can I tell Shoes to place them on the center of the pane, without having to specify margin? ``` flow :width => "100%", :margin => 58 do %w(7 8 9 + sin 4 5 6 - cos 1 2 3 * sinh tan cot 0 ln / ``` cosh Exp log tanh = Mod n! sqrt x_2 x_y % e Pi Clr Ce).each do |btn| button btn, :width =\> 46, :height =\> 46 do method = case btn when /[0-9]/; ‘press\_’+btn when ‘+’; ‘press\_add’ when ‘-’; ‘press\_sub’ when ‘\*’; ‘press\_times’ when ‘/’; ‘press\_div’ when ‘=’; ‘press\_equals’ ``` ect, etc, etc end # case end # button do end # each do end # flow ``` 2 - I am using a stack do with nothing inside (between the do and the end) to keep items within a flow one on top of the other, is there a different way to do this? flow :margin =\> 6 do radio; para strong(“512b BK”) radio; para strong(“1K BK”) radio; para strong(“MB”) radio; para strong(“GB”) radio; para strong(“TB”) ``` stack do # I am using this as a way to stack up groups. # There might be a much better way! end radio; para strong("Deg") radio; para strong("Rad") radio; para strong("Grad") radio; para strong("DEC") radio; para strong("HEX") radio; para strong("BIN") end # flow ``` 3 - I tried to use the Pi symbol and the square root (√) symbol and other symbols as caption/lable for the corresponding buttons, but I got an errors or the wrong thing displayed. Is there a way to accomplish this? 4 - It looks like I can achieve the same function with para and caption. What is the difference between the two? 5 - How can I reduce the space between flows? Thank you for your help! ---
**Author:** ![rubina](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@rubina](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rubina)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-shoes-have-some-questions/195202/2 "2010-09-20T06:12:58Z")
> I recently started playing with Shoes to learn it during my Ruby > learning journey. > It appears to be easy, although the current doc is not what a beginner > like I would prefer. Hey, thanks for trying out Shoes! What would make the documentation better for you? > I hope the developer of this pgm does not get upset. I have some questions which I would like help with. Absolutely not. Feedback is the only way that things get better. First, should I post Shoes questions to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid or should my questions go to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid? or Both? You’re free to post questions to both, but you’ll get better help from removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid. I try to pay attention to ruby-talk, but sometimes I miss threads. I read everything on the shoes-specific list. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the other core team members post to Ruby-talk, either. I tried subscribing to removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid but it was impossible! Could you elaborate more on what you mean by ‘it was impossible?’ or is that what’s in this image you’re talking about? feel free to mail it to me off-list. 1 - When placing a number of buttons, such as the ones found in a calculator, how can I tell Shoes to place them on the center of the pane, without having to specify margin? Does this help? [http://shoes.heroku.com/manual/Styles.html#:align](http://shoes.heroku.com/manual/Styles.html#:align) 2 - I am using a stack do with nothing inside (between the do and the end) to keep items within a flow one on top of the other, is there a different way to do this? I’m not sure of exactly what you’re asking. Maybe a screenshot would help? 3 - I tried to use the Pi symbol and the square root (√) symbol and other symbols as caption/lable for the corresponding buttons, but I got an errors or the wrong thing displayed. Is there a way to accomplish this? Are you using Shoes 2 or Shoes 3? They use 1.8 and 1.9, respectively, and so there might be some encoding issues based on which one you’re using. 4 - It looks like I can achieve the same function with para and caption. What is the difference between the two? I am not sure, off the top of my head. 5 - How can I reduce the space between flows? I’m not sure about this one, either…