| I only tried this under Linux (CentOS 4.4) on a relatively recent SBCL | (0.9.14 RPM), using a relatively recent McCLIM (CVS updated approx | Sept 15th). If anybody would please suggest further experiments, I | would carry them out post-haste.
Assuming you really meant this (whre INSTANCE is used instead of FRAME in (find-pane-named ...)
(defmethod run-frame-top-level :before ((instance test-frame) &key) (setf (gadget-value (find-pane-named instance 'tester)) "this doesn't"))
This does what you expected in Lispworks CLIM. I've used this sort of initialization many times.
Paul