[wxPython-dev] Re: 20071113 test build uploaded

Fri Nov 23 10:14:49 PST 2007

Hi Kevin,

On Mon, 2007-11-19 at 21:48 -0800, Kevin Ollivier wrote:
> 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.

Ok, I was able to reproduce this, seems like it concerns only top-level
objects. Will try to fix ASAP.

> >
> >> - 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.

Attached screenshot shows the changes I've made to the tree icons. New
size is 22x22. Monochrome colors were used to make them more
"platform-independent" and less distracting. BTW I'm planning to provide
platform-specific tool icons.

> 
> >
> >> - 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.

I'm in the process of doing this. Added for checkboxes already
(Preferences/Misc/"Auto-refresh activated by" should be switched to
"atomic change").

> 
> >
> >> - 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.)

There is already something like this in wx.lib.art. It could be extended
to deal with platform-dependecies (like support for alpha channel) and
different icon sizes. I've tried to use 32x32 icons and was not really
concinced they look better (at least on my MacBook). I think it's more
like screen DPI-specific thing. Is 32x32 some standard size for OSX?
Adium for example seems to be using 22x22 toolbar icons (or 24x24).

Regards,

Roman

> 
> >
> >> - 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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> >
> 
> 
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