Re: [Gramps-devel] Simplified report generation

[Don A. <don...@co...>]

Yes, I know that these are problems with the current report system.
However, I don't need to tackle them, because you already are :-)

The Database API can be a bit much for a lot of users. For example, to
get the birth date of a person, you need to do the following:

ref =3D db.get_birth_ref(person)
if ref:
   event_handle =3D ref.get_reference_handle()
   if event_handle:
      event =3D db.get_event_from_handle(event_handle)
      date_obj =3D event.get_date_object()
      if date_obj:
         date_str =3D DateHandler.displayer.display(date_obj)
else:
   date_str =3D u''

I think that "self.birth_date(person)" is easier. :-)

But in all reality, a major ulterior motive behind this new, abbreviated
syntax is to make it easier to port LifeLines reports to GRAMPS.

Don



On Fri, 2007-04-27 at 08:54 -0700, Brian Matherly wrote:
> Don,
>=20
> >The biggest issue is that accessing the database can be a bit confusing.
> >So I've created a simpler interface for basic reports.
>=20
> I disagree. I've worked on plenty of reports and helped other people deve=
lop new ones. From what I've seen, people can understand the database acces=
s relatively easy by looking at other reports as examples (and the tutorial=
 on the Wiki is quite good).
>=20
> The difficulties, as I see it, are:
> 1) Layout (expecially with graphical reports like the calendar).
> 2) Adding user options and understanding how those options are handled by=
 the report system.
> 3) Understanding the general report structure and what functionality is a=
lready inherited from base classes.
>=20
> A lot of magic happens behind the scenes, and in my opinion, the API coul=
d be improved to make things seem less magical. For example, how is a user =
who is writing a text report supposed to know that he can't use the "draw_t=
ext()" function inherited from BaseDoc()?
>=20
> I don't think much can or needs to be done for #1. That's the heart of a =
report - presenting data in a user friendly layout.
> I believe I have made some progress already on #2 and #3 by simply reduci=
ng the amount of functionality that is inherited from base classes (Particu=
larly Report and BaseDoc).
>=20
> This whole topic has been my inspiration for improvement in the 2.3
> branch. I wrote a little about it on the Blog:
> http://blog.gramps-project.org/?p=3D53
>=20
> In summary, I don't think your time is being wasted, but I also don't thi=
nk you get the largest benefit possible from your effort.
>=20
> Feel free to disagree :)
>=20
> ~Brian
>=20