Re: [Openrocket-devel] motor data

[Sampo N. <sam...@ik...>]

On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 21:31, Gary Crowell <gar...@gm...> wrote:
> Dropdowns?  Are you referring to what I posted?  The lists aren't dropdowns,
> but populated scrolling lists.

Ok, I understood the consept but my mental image was of dropdowns.  I
see how lists are more useful than dropdowns in that usage.  Still,
the dialog is already quite cramped for space, and lists would take
quite a lot of space.

The search is currently a partial free-text search from any of the
fields, so "est" will match estes motors, "d7" will match D7* motors
and "24" will match 24mm motors.  It should probably be tuned a bit
more, as it currently is not limited to the start of the line, so "h"
will match both "H45" and "Aerotech".  Some additional rules might
make it even more robust, like a plain number must match exactly that
value in a field, and a single letter might mean a motor class instead
of a generic search string.

I'd say the search field is the most efficient when you know what
you're looking for (and I pretty much without exception do), but not
the best when browsing for motors.  I've also had feature requests of
a "motor recommender" that could automatically find, simulate and
recommend motors suitable for a rocket design.  Maybe the "motor
browsing" could be integrated as part of that somehow?  What features
would be desireable when browsing for motors, in a realisic use-case?

(The motors available here in Finland are so limited that browsing for
motors seem almost utopistic...  ;)


-- 
   Sampo Niskanen   <=>   http://www.iki.fi/sampo.niskanen/