Re: Setting the properties of multiple selected objects in stead of just one (the first or only selected->data)

[Hans Breuer <hans breuer org>]

On 11.01.2005 01:54, Philip Van Hoof wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-01-10 at 19:52 +0100, Philip Van Hoof wrote:
>
> > [subject]: This patch will do that.
>
>
> This new one fixes some issues Hans explained on the mailinglists.
>
> Aside from the issue's this one also adds undo/redo history support for
> new functionality.
>
> I haven't yet introduced a checkbox before each property that could
> allow the user to choose whether or not setting it should be shared
> across all selected instances of objects.
>
> I'd rather create a new menu "Object" and a submenuitem "Properties" and
> leave the "Objects->Properties" menu the way after applying this patch. 
>
> It sounds like a much more convenient and more "usable in terms of
> usability"-solution to me, than to introduce a checkbox before each
> property in the intersection of properties of the selected objects.
I tend to disagree - and Aplle, not really known for bad useability
appears to do as well. The link below shows how multiple selection
edits (of mp3s) are handled in iTunes :

http://hans.breuer.org/dia/itunes-multi-sel.png

Beside the checkboxes there is also another thing reflecting different
states of different objects. Fields which share the same value are
initialized to it - different entries fields are empty.

> It's clear to the user that the menu selection "Objects->Properties" is
> about setting the properties of all object in the current selection. If
> the user dislikes that, she'd probably search for a menu "Object->
> Properties" rather than "Objects->Properties". 
Personally I dislike this idea (but it wouldn't stop me
commiting the patch ;)
>
>  [... skipping one-person-usability-test ..]

> About the fact that there's already a python plugin that does this: I
> wouldn't do this in a plugin. 
Sure this shouldn't be done as a plugin, as already noted the plugin
was not meant to be the final thing but just a prototype (also coded
to have some interesting example with some use :-)

> [...]
> To Hans Breuer: My first example wasn't a patch already. It was more a
> sneak preview for the concept which I had in mind. It basically was my
> question to the group linked to the "but"-paragraph in the HACKING file:
>
> Feel free to hack away at dia, but you're advised to contact
> the dia maintainers and/or the mailing list if you do any
> larger work --- this is in everyone's interest so that work is
> not duplicated.
>
> .. Indeed. So I did.
Yes, thanks.

> Since I wanted to code something this evening already, I finished it in
> the hopes that it might just get accepted. I wouldn't have bothered with
> the python plugin since I don't think writing a plugin for everything is
> really a solution for every bug/feature request. As I stated above, this
> feels to me like core functionality. Not like an extension.
Do I really need to say once more, it is a *prototype*.

> The C++ style comments weren't suppose give the idea that I would have
> committed it on approval. It where comments that I had put there while
> writing the E-mail. Nevertheless I've made sure there aren't any 
> C++ style comments left in this new patch. I also removed the extern
> function declaration. I actually copied it from another file which I
> haven't yet altered. So it wouldn't be only me decreasing code quality:
Sure we all sometimes do ;-)

> [freax lort lib]$ grep pdtpp_is_visible_no_standard propdialogs.c
> extern gboolean pdtpp_is_visible_no_standard(const PropDescription
> *pdesc);
>       props = prop_list_from_descs(pdesc,pdtpp_is_visible_no_standard);
> [freax lort lib]$
>
> So .. I recommend removing it from propdialogs.c to increase code
> quality of that file. 
Done.

While improving the python protoype I noticed the necessity to filter
out property values which look the same when directly comparing them
so there was added the compare by string representation. Sure it was
a hack, but working ...

	Hans

-------- Hans "at" Breuer "dot" Org -----------
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to
get along without it.                -- Dilbert