While it is certainly possible to write form-based code in
allegro common lisp, I think it is quire beside the major
thrust of the programming language to use LISP in this way.

If you are new to lisp, as you say,  I suggest you find a
tutorial on lisp,  and deal with the IDE form-development
stuff after you have some experience.  I don't know what
you found as sufficient help for LISP itself, but there are
many many terrible introductions.  A good book is ANSI
Common Lisp by Paul Graham.
After you have understood that book, I think you will have
an appreciation for Lisp.  AFter you've done some more
programming, maybe doing some user-interface stuff will
seem simpler, and the IDE tutorial will be more understandable.
RJF


> Zack Wickes wrote:
> 
> I am a student of Computer Systems Technology.  I have experience
> programming in several other languages.
> 
> I have just started with Allegro LISP.  I have been able to find
> sufficient help and instruction for the LISP language itself and am
> making slow but steady progress learning the syntax of CL.
> 
> However, I, (and the rest of my class-mates), am/are having extreme
> difficulty with the Allegro IDE.
> 
> The Allegro online help is sparse (to put it lightly) with almost no
> sample code.  The on-line tutorial that ships with Allegro would be
> better named a "procedure" as it continually instructs you to "copy
> and paste this code" with no explanation of what is going on
> (and *zero* in-code comments either).  Obviously the IDE is full of
> features, (typical of other IDE's we are familiar with such as MS
> VC++, Delphi, Visual Basic, etc.)  And obviously shares some parallels
> with the other IDEs we know. But we have been unable to find
> instructions/examples of how to do the simplest of things.
> 
> Specifically, (and for starters), I want to design two forms, say:
>  "Main-Form" and  "Second-Form".
> Main-Form is just that: (the main form that the program starts
> execution with first)
> Second-Form is-a Dialog.
> I want to place a button on Main-form that when clicked will display
> Second-Form (say for input).
> 1) I drop a button on Main-Form - no problem
> 2) I use the inspector to view the events associated with that button
> - no problem
> 3) I click on the ellipsis in the "on-click" event field, which
> generates skeleton code for the event - no problem
> skeleton Allegro generates:
> (defun mainform-button4-on-click (dialog widget)
>   (declare (ignore-if-unused dialog widget))
> 
>   t)
> 4) OK - here is the problem - we don't know how to (in the skeleton
> function defined above) refer to and make the Second-Form simply
> appear.
> (sounds simple -- but we are at a loss.)  We have tried a number of
> things with no luck.  We have searched all available help and on-line
> resources we can find --- no luck.
> 
> Unfortunately, our kind instructor has been put in the position of
> teaching us this course without having used Allegro since the time of
> Windows 3.1 and she is at a loss too (not for lack of trying - she
> knows CL syntax *very* well - Allegro 5.0.1, *not* so well).
> 
> Please help by answering the above problem and/or directing me to
> resources which will help (specifically with Allegro 5.0.1 IDE).
> 
> Thank You
> 
> *****************************************************************
> Zack Wickes <home.com at zwicks>  ICQ#  6464203
> Web Page: http://www.zackwickes.com/
> BCIT Set: COMP3E  -- Applied Artificial Intelligence
> *****************************************************************
> 
>