[Qgis-developer] QGIS Processing Framework

[Mayeul Kauffmann]

Le mercredi 27 avril 2011 à 20:46 +0200, Paolo Cavallini a écrit :
> Il giorno mer, 27/04/2011 alle 12.00 -0400, Camilo Polymeris ha
> scritto: 
> > Good point. SAGA, as far as I know, does not provide information on
> > which parameters are considered basic and which are advanced. Perhaps
> > a list of parameters considered advanced can be included with the
> > plugin. Not very elegant, because it would be out-of-sync with SAGA,
> > but practical.
> 
> It is the same approach used in GRASS: in fact, it is better (even if
> not elegant, I agree) to be able to decide which options should be
> exposed as default, and which ones as advanced). In fact it would be
> also good to add a general option "user/power user"; in the first case
> only default options will be exposed, in the second the full options.

+1 for the concept of a "user/power user" checkbox.
You could call it "Always show advanced options" which is more neutral
(does not make any judgement on the user) and describes exactly what it
does.
Would be great to have an "Advanced options" checkbox on each window
anyway, to be able to switch their visibility on a case by case basis.

In addition, where relevant (functions that use command-line tools or
have command-line tools equivalent) and in advanced mode only, it would
be great to have the GUI generate the command line corresponding to the
options chosen in the GUI; the GUI would show this command line and let
the user edit it (or run it as it is). There are many advantages:
- the user knows exactly what is going to be executed; advanced QGIS
users will be able to use the GUI but benefit from existing help
targeted at the command-line users; debugging, sharing questions and
ideas in a forum or saving/automating a frequent task is facilitated
- you do not have to put very rare options in the GUI (power users can
still add the options here when they need it, which should be rare).

The idea is to partly bridge the gap between GUI and command line by
having the advantages of both (GUI is often easier, command line is
generally more powerful). This concept is used successfully in quite a
variety of software; just to give a few names:
- pgadmin (SQL preview of any schema modification)
- vlc (save, convert & broadcast functionalities)
- R (a few functions of the default Rgui; the Rcommander GUI package)...

Just my 2 cents. All the best for this work!
Mayeul
> 
> > Again, SAGA provides no tag information. It would have to be generated
> > programatically from library/module name & description or provided in
> > a list.
> > Any thoughts on the GUI for that tree? More like SAGA's module tree or
> > more like GIMP's filter menu? I don't think the
> > search/filter/favorites/frequently used part is very hard.. but still,
> > I will keep things simple.
> 
> I think filtering is often the easiest option.
> 
> All the best.