pythoncard-users

[Pythoncard-users] Live property editor

[Neil H. <nho...@bi...>]

   Something I like to see in user interfaces is live updating where
attributes are changed as the user fiddles with them rather than requiring
pressing an "Apply" button. To this end, the property editor can be changed
to apply changes to the text areas and check boxes immediately by adding
this just after the EVT_BUTTON section of debug.py:

        EVT_TEXT(self, self.wTextArea.GetId(), self.onSelectUpdate)
        EVT_TEXT(self, self.wField.GetId(), self.onSelectUpdate)
        EVT_CHECKBOX(self, self.wChecked.GetId(), self.onSelectUpdate)

   To make the font and colour dialogs take immediate effect, add
            self.onSelectUpdate(event)
    as the last line of onSelectColor and onSelectFont inside the if
dlg.accepted() condition.

   A problem with this is that some settings such as the file names used
within image controls will cause error messages with partially updated file
names. Mostly, these should be changed to just silently handle failure or
perhaps have a status area indicator that the field is invalid. For file
names, the file open dialog should ensure that only valid file names are
applied and this has the advantage of being able to select files rather than
just type their names.

   I haven't changed CVS as there may be other opinions and this change
could be made an option instead of always being on.

   Neil

RE: [Pythoncard-users] Live property editor

[Kevin A. <al...@se...>]

> From: Neil Hodgson
>
>    Something I like to see in user interfaces is live updating where
> attributes are changed as the user fiddles with them rather than requiring
> pressing an "Apply" button. To this end, the property editor can
> be changed
> to apply changes to the text areas and check boxes immediately by adding
> this just after the EVT_BUTTON section of debug.py:

I'll try playing with this tomorrow. In theory I like this idea, but the
poorly written code we have today (my bad) is too fragile. I would much
rather see the Property Editor rewritten with a better interface and a more
robust system before making it handle live updates. Are there particular
fields you really want live updates on more than others? The one thing I
really dislike about live updates is that it is too easy to mess something
up accidentally, which implies that we need Undo/Redo.

>    A problem with this is that some settings such as the file names used
> within image controls will cause error messages with partially
> updated file
> names. Mostly, these should be changed to just silently handle failure or

Doesn't this happen for almost all of the text fields?  A partial position,
size, foregroundColor, backgroundColor, file, or font are problematic,
right? So, are you saying that we eliminate being able to hand edit the text
field contents?

> perhaps have a status area indicator that the field is invalid. For file
> names, the file open dialog should ensure that only valid file names are
> applied and this has the advantage of being able to select files
> rather than
> just type their names.

Yes, not having a file selection dialog was an oversight. I also realized
yesterdy that I shouldn't be using eval() on the contents, since that means
if you use a valid class name... say as a 'label' you'll get an error.

>    I haven't changed CVS as there may be other opinions and this change
> could be made an option instead of always being on.

Let's wait and see what other people say. Would it help if the "Update"
button was the default button?

ka