[GRASS-dev] Re: [GRASS-user] Compiling grass 6.2.1: i.class error

[Hamish]

Glynn Clements wrote:
> 
> If a monolithic C application is required, you realistically need a UI
> toolkit, and I'm not sure that any of the alternatives are a
> significantly better choice than Motif (Athena also seems to be
> treated as an "add-on" nowadays; you can't rely upon it being
> installed along with the rest of X).
> 
> OTOH, GTK has the advantage of native Windows and MacOSX ports (I
> don't know how stable the native MacOSX version is, but the Windows
> version is perfectly usable).

Will SWIG hooks allow wxPy GUIs to be nearly as fast as C + toolkits?
I don't see any point in adding a new, but different, 1-off GUI toolkit,
as that is the main issue we are trying to undo.


> > > I'm not sure what r.digit can do that GIMP + r.in.ppm can't.

IMPO r.digit needs a wxPy replacement of some flavour; the xterm version
must die before GRASS 7.

Requiring GIMP + user understanding how to do multi-layer gimping &
reimport is too much to ask IMO, so we'll eventually need something
built in presenting a streamlined process. (e.g. gimp solution will lead
to endless r.in.{tiff} unregistered re-imports into lat/lon locations +
>90 error reports)

Due to the v.digit + v.to.rast solution I don't consider a r.digit
replacement to be ultra-high priority, but I don't think it will be a
huge hard task once someone gets started on it.

> > seamless georeferencing?
> 
> I'm not sure that's an issue; presumably, you are going to be drawing
> over an existing map, in which case you can use "r.region rast=..." to
> align the new map with the original.

at minimum it would take a mini-tutorial, as the solution is not
obvious. (r.digit is obvious, even if it is awkward)
 
> > not a PITA to use?
>
> I can't see how anything could be more of a PITA than something built
> using terminal I/O and libraster.

user perspective, not devel perspective. (understanding that dev
complexity usually trickles down into user pain)

Current r.digit may be odd, but the steps are presented in a straight
forward order, and I don't recall ever answering a usage question about
it.

> > Set cat + label for each new feature?
> 
> The category is just the colour number (obviously, you would use a
> paletted image); you would have to set the labels separately, though.

see "PITA" above. also note that we'd have to make a new r.support GUI
to edit the cats file, without an xterm.



Hamish