[Dev] Detail view moved to right of summary

Bryan Stearns stearns at osafoundation.org
Tue Nov 30 10:37:23 PST 2004 

Hi Ken,

See below... I'm copying the "dev" list because your questions are good, and
the answers might be useful to others (and others can correct me :-).
	
...Bryan 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Krugler [mailto:kkrugler at transpac.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 1:39 AM
> To: Bryan Stearns
> Subject: RE: [Dev] Detail view moved to right of summary
> 
> Hi Bryan,
> 
> >Yes, the application's layout is controlled via CPIA "block" 
> >definitions, defined in parcel XML files. In this case, moving the 
> >detail view from below the summary table to the right side 
> of the main 
> >view, all I had to do was find the splitter window that divided them 
> >(initially, "AllView") and add an orientationEnum element with the 
> >value "Vertical", which overrode the default value 
> ("Horizontal", natch).
> 
> [snip]
> 
> Thanks for the helpful write-up.
> 
> >The commit message you got lists the files I changed today (and has 
> >URLs to view them on the web);
> 
> I didn't get a commit message - I just saw your post to the 
> dev newsgroup. I'm assuming by "commit message" you mean some 
> automatically generated email that I can set up to receive 
> when CVS changes occur, right?

Oh - sorry. I've attached the commit message below. You can sign up for the
"commits" mailing list on this page to get your own:
http://wiki.osafoundation.org/bin/view/Chandler/OsafMailingLists

> >in addition, this file has most of the structure definitions for the 
> >CPIA repository objects (f'rinstance, "Block" and
> >"BlockEvent"):
> >http://cvs.osafoundation.org/viewcvs.cgi/chandler/parcels/osa
> f/framewor
> >k/blo cks/parcel.xml?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup
> >
> >Let me know if you have questions, or ask in IRC.
> 
> I was browsing through /chandler/parcels/osaf/views/main/parcel.xml,
> and had some questions:
> 
> 1. Is the & before a menu title something that wxWidgets 
> uses for command key shortcuts? I also see <accel> for menu 
> item accelerator keys, though.

Yes, the ampersand marking alt-keys is a Windows resource definition
tradition (like "E&xit" to make alt-X work)... &amp; is just the XML
entity-encoding of "&".

Windows has both alt-keys (which allow you to traverse the menu hierarchy)
and accelerator keys. So, you can quit most applications either by doing the
accelerator Alt-F4, or you can browse to the Exit menu item by doing alt
(which moves the focus to the File menu), F (which is the File menu's
alt-key - this expands it), then X (which is E&xit's alt-key).

I'd assume that wxWidgest on Mac ignores the "&" keys and just keeps (and
maybe translates to the "feature" key instead of alt?) the accelerators.

> 2. There are various bits of UI text in the .xml - e.g. a 
> menu's title and helpString, a table's columnHeadings and 
> columnData, etc. I assume these will all need to be 
> localized. Do you know of any plans for handling this?

I don't think this has been considered yet. John will know.

> 3. What issues, if any, would come up if the contents of this one
> (big) file were split out into separate XML files? I'm asking 
> because localization is easier when there's additional 
> grouping/context provided by per-function files of strings.

Right now the parcel format (and the things defined in parcel XML) doesn't
try to separate out localization-related stuff; again, I don't think the
designers considered localization.

(FYI: The parcel files are only read once, when the repository is initially
created; there may eventually be means to "evolve" a repository to a newer
version, but that's another kettle of fish that remains sealed. That may
simplify things, unless on-the-fly language change is a design goal.)

> 4. What's the difference between the ToolbarItem title and label?

I'm guessing this is a bug - it looks like "title" is inherited, but "label"
is actually used under the icon. I'll follow up on this with John; I'm
guessing the right thing is to get rid of "label" and override "title"
instead.

> 5. I see in the <contentModel:Note> that there's a 
> displayName attribute. Likewise there's <mail:EmailAddress> 
> which has a <fullName value="The OSAF Team">. Where are these 
> described?

I don't know of documentation on the content model, other than what's in the
parcel XML where it's defined.

> 
> And some random additional questions:
> 
> 6. Why do the .xml files use 8859-1 as their encoding vs. utf-8?

I have no idea (and I don't know the history here or the technical
ramifications; my blissful ignorance assumes that all the characters we're
using so far are the same in both encodings, so maybe changing is a matter
of editing the <?xml...?> PIs?).

> 7. I see zaobao in /parcels/osaf, parcels/osaf/examples/, and 
> parcels/osaf/views. Why are there three locations?

This is the first I've looked at Zaobao, but I'm guessing:
- The Zaobao content model is what's in parcels/osaf/examples
- The Zaobao views are what's in parcels/osaf/views
- (I'm not sure what you saw in parcels/osaf)

> Thanks,
> 
> -- Ken
> 
> 
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Ken Krugler [mailto:kkrugler at transpac.com]
> >Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 4:07 PM
> >To: Bryan Stearns
> >Subject: Re: [Dev] Detail view moved to right of summary
> >
> >Hi Bryan,
> >
> >It looks like I'll be at the OSAF office on Thursday, to talk about 
> >localization issues.
> >
> >So I'm curious how you're controlling the layout you describe below.
> >I assume it's not via wxWidgets dialogs, but rather CPIA data, right?
> >I don't know much about how the UI gets instantiated, but 
> I'll need to 
> >learn enough (quickly) to be able to provide input on the 
> localization strategy.
> >Any suggestions for the best way to get up to speed on this?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >-- Ken
> >
> >PS - maybe a useful starting point would be the CVS changes that you 
> >submitted for the modifications you're describing below. 
> Then I could 
> >do a diff and see what files are getting tweaked, and how.
> >
> >>FYI...
> >>
> >>One of my 0.5 tasks is to move the detail view to the right of the 
> >>summary; I've just checked in this change.
> >>
> >>To make better use of horizontal space, I change the summary views'
> >>column widths, and reduced the font size in the detail view 
> headers; 
> >>things were still pretty cramped, so I also made the main window 
> >>default size a bit larger (1024 wide instead of 800).
> >>
> >>There are still other problems with the horizontal layout - in 
> >>particular, the mini calendar below the sidebar takes up 
> too much room 
> >>(especially on the PC), but we're planning on replacing it anyway.
> >>We'll improve use of space in the detail view header soon, 
> when we get 
> >>edit-in-place attribute editors going. I expect more and other 
> >>improvements
> >will follow as well.
> >  >
> >>...Bryan
> >>
> >>
> >>_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> >>
> >>Open Source Applications Foundation "Dev" mailing list
> >  >http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
> 
> 
> --
> Ken Krugler
> TransPac Software, Inc.
> <http://www.transpac.com>
> +1 530-470-9200
>

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