Re: problem with "set x11 {size WW,HH} {position XX,YY}"

[Ben A. <bpa...@ma...>]

On Feb 11, 2009, at 6:56 PM, Ethan Merritt wrote:

> On Wednesday 11 February 2009 15:30:30 Petr Mikulik wrote:
>
>>> In any event, I'd prefer that gnuplot allow an existing window be  
>>> resized
>>> and/or repositioned. That would remove the need to "close" an  
>>> existing
>>> window.
>>
>> The problem is not in the "close" option. The problem is that Octave
>> issues before each "plot" this command:
>>
>> 	set terminal x11 close enhanced title "Figure 1" size 560,420
>> 	position 300,148
>>
>> i.e. Octave wants to reset size and position. However, I think that  
>> the
>> size+position options should be added only if user has explicitly
>> "set(gca,..., size/position, nnn)"; otherwise, these values should  
>> not be
>> passed to gnuplot and the positioning should be done by the window  
>> manager
>> and user's mouse movements. The default value of size/position in  
>> Octave
>> should be "auto" or "default" but not an explicit number.
>
> I strongly agree.  An application program has no business changing my
> window sizes or positions.

I think we are all in agreement. From the perspective of octave the  
user communicates to gnuplot via octave. The intent is that octave  
will only change the window position when the user requests it. And  
when moved by the mouse, the window will remain where the user placed  
it (provided he does not ask octave to move it).

> I was reluctant to add this capability to
> gnuplot in the first place, and the current conversation is not
> reassuring me.  At the least, I advocate for some simple way that the
> end user can disable all such position/sizing commands.
> I am tempted to add an XResource:
> 	gnuplot.leave-my-windows-alone:	yes   (default)

I'm confused by the context of your comments, or perhaps you're not  
familiar with the details of what I'm hoping to do?

 From the octave side each figure/window has a list of properties  
which the user may modify. These properties include position and size  
(the actual figure property is called "position" and includes position  
and size info [X, Y, W, H]).

> Anyhow, what if the end user wants to use some terminal type other
> than x11?  Is there any particular reason that Octave wouldn't work
> independent of the gnuplot terminal type?

Actually, we like to be able to allow our users to modify the position  
and size of all figure windows, regardless of the terminal type.  
However, my impression is that this is not realistic ... what about  
aquaterm for example?

> I don't see any particular
> advantage to pushing the x11 terminal given the better performance  
> of wxt,
> or the newly proposed qt, or even aquaterm if the aqua team would get
> off its butt and  release the version that's been sitting in cvs for  
> the last 2 years.


If the same functionality were available for wxt and/or qt I'll be  
highly motivated to support that as well ... aquaterm too, but I  
agree, its development appears to have sloooowwweeed down :-(

Ben