[wxPython-dev] Re: 20071113 test build uploaded

[Kevin Ollivier]

Hi Roman,

On Nov 19, 2007, at 5:39 AM, Roman Rolinsky wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Kevin Ollivier <kevino <at> theolliviers.com> writes:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Some quick notes from testing:
>>
> [skip]
>
>> - What would really rock is a 5 minute screen cast showing how to use
>> Editra and XRCEd together to create a wxPython Hello World
>> application. Not being familiar with XRCEd myself, I kinda felt my  
>> way
>> around it but I would have felt a lot more comfortable with a step- 
>> by-
>> step here's what to do sort of thing.
>
> There's now some on-line help, but you're right, a screencast would  
> be more
> useful for first-comers.
>
>>
>> XRCEd:
>>
>> - Really like the new XRCEd control browser. As a Mac user, though, I
>> instantly tried to drag and drop controls into the treeview (and  
>> later
>> the live preview)...  Any way we can get that, at least the former,
>> to work? (Of course, I've had my problems with DnD and treeviews in
>> the past....)
>
> I'll look into it. DnD into the preview should work already. Make  
> sure you have
> Auto-refresh turned on.

Playing with it some more, I see that DnD will work for the initial  
control in the live preview, but if I, say, drag a panel and then drag  
a button, it will only allow me to drop the panel, not the button.

>
>> - Also, the nice toolbar icons and Control browser icons causes some
>> contrast with the old-style treeview icons. IMHO it'd be great if we
>> could use the screenshot-like icons for those too.
>
> I agree it's better to change the icons, but it is probably  
> difficult using
> their current size (16x16). Do you think we should sacrifice the  
> number of tree
> items visible simultaneously when we increase the icons to 24x24 for  
> example (or
> what size is the best for them)?

It's hard to say without seeing the results, but unless it really cuts  
down on screen space, I'd say it's worth it if they can't be made out  
at 16x16.

>
>> - It'd also be nice if clicking on checkboxes, etc. caused immediate
>> changes in the preview. It seems changes are reflected only when you
>> switch tabs, but being able to make a change and see it's effect
>> immediately helps people explore the various options.
>
> You can force the update using Control+R (Refresh). I'll try to add  
> an option to
> auto-refresh after each focus change in the attribute panel (or  
> check/uncheck).
> In the past I've had some problems with focus going away from the  
> current window
> when the preview is refreshed for a top-level window, as it causes  
> it to be
> deleted and re-created. Is there a way to remember which top-level  
> window has
> the focus?

Ideally I'd like the refresh to happen on check/uncheck for  
checkboxes, dropdown selected for choices/comboboxes, and ENTER key  
and focus lost for text controls and combo boxes. I'm not sure how to  
address the focus issues you referred to, but IMHO the best way is to  
bind to the specific events you want to handle.

>
>> - Any reason the icons couldn't be 32x32 on Mac?  IMHO that size
>> looks better on Mac than 24x24.
>
> No problem to put both versions of the tango icons. I just have to  
> re-create
> xrced-specific icons, I think I have them in higher resolution  
> somewhere.

It looks like you use an art provider for this. Would it be possible  
for it to be generalized to wxPython itself? (Then Editra could use it  
too.)

>
>> - BTW, deleting the only frame in a document leads to a crash. It
>> probably wasn't a smart thing to do, but IMHO it shouldn't crash.
>
> Fixed (crash when deleting with active preview).

Thanks! :-)

>
>> - It might be worth looking at Editra's approach to error handling. I
>> got an "Error when creating Python module" when running "Generate
>> Python" but it didn't give me any details. Editra in these cases will
>> put together a traceback and system info, then prompt to send a bug
>> report. Just seeing the traceback would be helpful for me to know  
>> what
>> is going on.
>
> Detailed exception info is currently printed in the terminal. I'll  
> look at the
> Editra way.

Ah, I probably should have checked Console.app, but the Editra way is  
pretty simple to do. I know because I used it as the basis for similar  
handling in my own error dialog. ;-) The code is in the ErrorDialog  
class here (also see the guiExceptionHook function, just set  
sys.excepthook to it as early as possible), feel free to borrow from it:

http://eclass.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/eclass/trunk/eclass_builder/gui/error_viewer.py?revision=600&view=markup

It should be generally usable aside from the error report sending  
code. In fact, I probably should alter that dialog to just send a  
return code and then run the code to submit the report outside of the  
dialog itself to make it more reusable... Also, it uses SizedControls  
but this shouldn't hurt any and doesn't require any other code in the  
app to use it.

Thanks,

Kevin

>
>> - Lastly, since you have to create some sort of frame/dialog to start
>> working with XRCEd, I think it'd be nice if, when you create a new
>> file, it asks you if you want to create a new dialog/frame/wizard/ 
>> etc.
>
> Good idea.
>
>
> [skip]
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>> On Nov 14, 2007, at 1:46 AM, R'bot wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> A new test build of wxPython has been uploaded.
>>>
>>>  Version: 2.8.7.0.20071113
>>>  URL:     http://wxPython.wxcommunity.com/preview/20071113
>>>  Changes: http://wxPython.wxcommunity.com/preview/20071113/CHANGES.html
>>>
>>> Have fun!
>>> R'bot
>>>
>>>
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>>
>
> Regards,
>
> Roman
>
>
>
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