[GRASS-dev] Re: gis.m issues

[Michael Barton]

> From: Hamish <hamish_nospam at yahoo.com>
> Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 14:24:39 +1200
> To: Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu>
> Cc: <grass-dev at grass.itc.it>
> Subject: Re: gis.m issues
> 
> Michael Barton wrote:
> 
>>> some GIS.m / menu.tcl issues:
>>> 
>>> * launch r.digit from gis.m menu with no Map Display open leads to a
>>> <region not set> error.
>> 
>> This is a problem with r.digit.
>> 
>> It won't start up in an xterm. I can't get it to start in an xterm
>> from the command line either--xterm -e r.digit just starts the TclTk
>> gui. It flashes a small dialog that disappears too quickly for me to
>> read.
> 
> please update from CVS.
> 
> now grass-run.sh (lib/init/g-r.src) pauses if the module ends in an
> error.
> 
> also r.digit has been changed to never use a startup GUI.

I updated at the end of last week. Has it been changed again since then? I
tried to update today, but make failed on an internationalization section
error (sent to grass-dev this afternoon).

> 
> 
>> Other commands like i.points start up fine in an xterm. So I don't
>> know what is wrong.
> 
> r.digit needs a GIS.m Map Display window open to get region info from.

It should be getting this, so I'm not sure what is wrong.

>  
> 
>> There is a different issue with d.rast.edit in that it wants to have a
>> map displayed in an xmon, but there is not place to specify the map
>> (i.e., you must open it separately using d.rast).
> 
> we can work on that, either with a bgmap= option or full bgcmd= like
> v.digit.
> 
> same issue for r.digit, but I'd rather we leave r.digit alone and focus
> on a new v.digit/r.digit replacement (write to ascii file on exit then
> feed to "v.in.ascii format=standard" or r.in.poly).

I agree

> I think it is pretty
> simple --- but we need to pick a Wx/Gtk Python flavour to move ahead!

I've done considerable background research and strongly favor wxPython.
Jachym, Trevor, and David Finlayson seem on board on this. Glynn is overall
neutral, though favoring PyGTK a bit. I'm sold on the Python platform and
think the wxWidgets extension is better cross-platform. I don't know whether
GTK has some better widgets or not, but wxPython has more than we need for
now and the future.

WxPython for Linux uses GTK; it uses native Mac and Windows widgets on those
platforms. AFAICT, wxPython creates a very nice interface in all supported
platforms using the same code. There are a few sections that are specific to
Windows, Linux, or Mac, but they are easy to avoid.

So that's what I think. Jachym, Trevor, David, and I are trying to create a
prototype wxPython interface to see if it works OK on Mac, Linux, and
Windows before we completely commit to it, however.

I'm gone on vacation for a week and a half, but will be working on this
afterwards, going through the new book on wxPython.

Cheers,
Michael

__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
Arizona State University

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton