Re: [Pythoncard-users] time to share your PythonCard gripes and likes

[<bra...@om...>]

I'm beginning to spend more time using PythonCard during the course of 
work,
and...so far, so good.  I'm glad to have  a tool like this available for 
Python, and 
I'm grateful to Kevin and the other contributors for their work on 
PythonCard and all
the help I'm getting on the mailing list. When my skill level improves, I 
hope to help
in whatever way I can.

One of the things I really like about PythonCard is the HyperCard-like 
event
handling hierarchy.

Another thing I like is that PythonCard wraps a lot of wxPython stuff
that I'm not ready to take on yet, but still allows me to use wxPython in 
small
ways when I need to. In that respect, I think of PythonCard as 
wxTrainingWheels.
But in other respects, PythonCard is a powerful IDE whose features I am 
still
learning about.

For the 1.0 release, I vote for sticking closely to the .81 release but 
fixing some
of the Resource Editor glitches. It would be nice to have new features but 
stability
of the API is very important to me. That said, maybe some small 
improvements
and refinements can be added without upsetting the apple cart. In 
particular,
I'm wondering if the Resource Editor can be improved without significantly 

changing PythonCard's underlying structure.

On the other hand, there is one big feature that I'm hoping can be in the 
1.0 release
-- the PageBackground (wxNotebook). This is in the .81 release, but it 
seems to 
be in an experimental stage. I'd like to have some of the kinks worked out 
and 
have good documentation for it. The ability to create a tabbed interface, 
with tabs
inside of tabs, is vital to the kinds of applications I'm going to be 
working on. 

The splitter interface seems less important to me.

I've been saving up a list of ideas for improvements in PythonCard, some 
of which may be
best suited for a much later release. Maybe this stuff is obvious to those 
who have
been using PythonCard for awhile, but it can't hurt to mention them....

* ability to add parameters to childWindow and have them show up in the 
backgrounds
        on_initialize

* Create a new Text Entry dialog which allows for multiple input fields, 
so you don't
        have to build a custom dialog for that feature. Maybe it takes a 
list of 
        fieldnames as a parameter.

* Placing text into widgets requires string values. It would be nice to 
have type 
        coersion of primitives handled automagically, as it was in 
HyperCard. 
        Even better, it would be nice to have them return values of their 
original 
        type when accessed. 

* Resource Editor:
        * unpredictable about resizing some widgets. I'd like to see more 
consistent 
                resizing behavior.
                - this is worse on Mac, hopefully will improve w future 
wxWidgets
                - new users are scared off by flaky Resource Editor 
behavior
                - if we can't fix this short term, we should warn new 
users
                - not to think the rest of PythonCard is flaky, because it 
isn't.
        * when you click a widget, it shouldn't move. It should only move 
when you
                hold down the mouse for a noticeable time. As it stands, 
                I keep accidentally moving widgets.
        * ability to select multiple multiple widgets and move them as a 
group
        * with multiple widget select, could also have an Alignment tool 
ala FileMaker
        * format painter, similar to FileMaker 6+ 
                1. select a widget, and choose "Format Painter" from menu
                2. the cursor changes to a paintbrush
                3. any widget you click takes on the color and font 
properties
                4. press ESC  to get out of format painter mode
                *An alternative to format painter concept is copy/paste 
properties idea
        * Property Editor needs to be brought to the fore when the main 
Resource Editor 
                window is selected (I get tired of having to re-invoke 
Property Editor 
                when I'm switching between apps)
        * Ability to delete widget by pressing delete key
                (mine doesn't work under Mac or WinXP)
        * Notebook widget easier to use
                Maybe a Notebook property to hold a list of resource 
module names,
                and tab titles. Then the tabs would automatically appear, 
just like
                multicolumn list columns.
                You could even store the resource for each tab inside main 
window resource
        * a nice clever UI for specifying tab order.
                FileMaker's approach to this isn't bad, but may be too 
difficult
                in the short term. Maybe a simple "Tab Order" dialog 
listing 
                text entry widgets and allowing them to be reordered.
                Also, tab order should be unrelated to layer level
        * default font property for the background resource which 
contained widgets
                would inherit. This could be specified in the GUI for bknd 
properties

* Tool to convert a resource with statically placed widgets to sizer-based 
layout, 
        and then back again. Ideally this could be done in Resource 
Editor...
        Another idea is the use of little "spring" meta-widgets similar to 
Mac OS X
        interface builder. These little springs keep the edge of a widget 
near the 
        side of the window.