[GRASS-dev] Re: gis.m zoom functions, etc

[Michael Barton]

We're not out of space yet, but this is a good idea. I'm already using this
for saving. It's called a menu button in TclTk. It might be a good idea for
some zooming (zoom to file, zoom to saved region, zoom to default, etc.). I
think it is good to keep commonly used buttons visible at the top level
however (zoom in, zoom out, maybe zoom back).

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



> From: Trevor Wiens <twiens at interbaun.com>
> Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 05:44:09 -0600
> To: Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu>, Cedric Shock
> <cedricgrass at shockfamily.net>, GRASS5 <grass5 at grass.itc.it>
> Subject: gis.m zoom functions, etc
> 
> Cedric and Michael,
> 
> I woke up early thinking about this and I have a suggestion that might
> make this a little cleaner and easier to use.
> 
> If we can have drop down buttons as in QGIS it is much easier. By this
> I mean buttons that can have a built in list of buttons which is
> accessed by clicking and holding to open a drop down of buttons. In
> this way similar functions can be grouped. It isn't necessary but it
> would help to keep the number of buttons across the top from becoming
> too large.
> 
> A modified tool bar button would then appear from left to right as:
> --
> Dropdown list of: Redraw changes, Redraw all
> NVIZ
> Erase
> --
> Pointer 
> Zoom In
> Zoom Out 
> Pan
> -- 
> Info / identify
> Measure
> --
> Zoom to last
> Dropdown list of: Zoom to saved region, Zoom to vector, Zoom to
> raster, Zoom to system region, Zoom to default
> --
> Save
> Print
> --
> 
> To summarize I'm suggesting two things.
> 
> First adding functionality by allowing a forced redraw of everything
> without changing the zoom. For me this is useful as I often try things
> interactively before adding them to a script which involves the
> creation, display, deletion, and recreation, redisplay, ... Having the
> ability to redraw all, even though the system doens't register any
> changes would be nice.
> 
> Second, adding three new buttons to zoom to system wide settings, zoom
> to a vector and zoom to a raster.
> 
> -----------
> Part Two
> -----------
> 
> Separate from the zoom question I have some suggestions about the
> display tool bar and tools. Sorry I'm sure you've heard lots of comment
> on this but if you don't like it, just ignore it. Thanks
> 
> First, for zooming and panning I would really like it if I could have a
> single tool which would default to zoom in, but right clicking would
> zoom out and the middle button would allow for panning. For people
> using Mac's and their single button mouse, control keys could be
> used to emulate this behaviour or one might want to provide both
> control key and mouse button options, because when the control key was
> pressed, the cursor could be changed to provide a functional cue to the
> user. This means when navigating would be a whole lot quicker. I
> realize for newbies, perhaps the extra buttons might be needed, but if
> tool drop downs available we could group the three into one bar with
> the default to the generic tool.
> 
> Second, and related to this is the question of the pointer. Since
> it doesn't actually do anything why have it. Perhaps defaulting to a
> zoom/pan tool would be more natural.
> 
> The net effect of these changes would be increased operational speed
> and ease of use and removal of 3 spots on the tool bar.
> 
> The modified tool bar would then be:
> --
> Dropdown list of: Redraw changes, Redraw all
> NVIZ
> Erase
> --
> Measure
> Info / identify
> --
> Dropdown list of: Zoom/Pan, Zoom In, Zoom Out, Pan
> Zoom to last
> Dropdown list of: Zoom to saved region, Zoom to vector, Zoom to
> raster, Zoom to system region, Zoom to default
> --
> Save
> Print
> --
> 
> Thanks for your consideration of these ideas
> 
> T
> --
> Trevor Wiens 
> twiens at interbaun.com
> 
> The significant problems that we face cannot be solved at the same
> level of thinking we were at when we created them.
> (Albert Einstein)