[Qgis-developer] Composer Management

[Bernhard Ströbl]

Hi Larry,

Am 28.02.2013 17:38, schrieb Larry Shaffer:
> Hi,
>
> On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 12:01 AM, Bernhard Ströbl
> <bernhard.stroebl at jena.de <mailto:bernhard.stroebl at jena.de>> wrote:
>
>     Hi Kelly,
>
>     I am doing something similar for my company but I am developing it
>     for the next release, because master has
>     QgsComposition::__loadFromTemplate method, which 1.8 has not.
>
>     However to get a new printComposer you can use
>     self.iface.__actionPrintComposer().trigger(__)
>     which adds a new composer to the project's list of composers.
>
>
> In master branch, and in the last week, the actionPrintComposer() (i.e.
> QgisApp::createNewComposer) action will now present the user with a
> dialog to help choose a unique composer title, before the composer is
> created. Since iface.actionPrintComposer().trigger() still appears to be
> the best means of programmatically creating a new composer, this
> presents an issue.

hmm, my master dates from Febr. 21, have to update...
Is this a needed feature? I mean any text processing software creates 
"document1" or "unknown1" if you hit the new document button
>
> There are a couple of possible solutions:
>
> * Expose Qgis::createNewComposer in iface (which returns pointer to new
> composer). Maybe adding duplicateComposer, deleteComposer and
> deletePrintComposers, as well. Makes the most sense to me. New PyQGIS
> code would be different from 1.8.

+1
the actionPrintComposer().trigger() thing is not so straightforward
>
> * Add a preference in Options for turning it on/off (e.g. [x] Prompt for
> composer name), and maybe simple get/set methods to QgisApp and iface.
> New PyQGIS code would require a couple of lines of additional code if
> the prompt was not to be shown.
>
> * Use a different action in the GUI than actionPrintComposer(). Might
> lead to some confusion, having semi-redundant actions. New PyQGIS code
> remains identical to 1.8.
>
>
>     But AFAIK you can not load a template into it with 1.8
>
>
> I think this is possible. QgsComposition has readXML and addItemsFromXML
> exposed in 1.8 [0]. If you look at loadFromTemplate[1], the initial
> routines are for clearing a composition's existing items (btw: I think
> that is bad. IMO loading from a template should always be in a fresh
> composer).

Not neccessarily, I sometimes happen to work on a composer (created from 
template) but I somehow screw things up and then it is nice to restart 
again without leaving the composer. This is the behavior of QGIS, so 
IMHO it is ok if loadFromTemplate behaves in the same manner.

> Not a concern if you are starting with a fresh composer
> anyway. After that, there is substitution replacement (not sure if
> relevant to 1.8), reading of the XML doc, then adding the items, all of
> which should be doable in Python, unless I am mistaken.

I did not fiddle with those 1.8 methods, but thinking about it it should 
even be possible to do substitution using PyQt methods, i.e.
1) read file
2) do substitutions
3) create the XMLDoc
4) load into composer

I will check and report back

Bernhard
>
> [0] http://qgis.org/api/1.8/classQgsComposition.html
> [1]
> https://github.com/qgis/Quantum-GIS/blob/master/src/core/composer/qgscomposition.cpp#L382
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Larry
>
>     Bernhard
>
>     Am 28.02.2013 03:38, schrieb Kelly Thomas:
>
>         Hello,
>
>
>         I am building a python plugin for QGIS 1.8 and am trying to
>         manipulate the map composers.
>
>         The goal is to load a template, customise a few elements, and
>         then leave the composer window up for the user to modify / print
>         / etc.
>
>         I know that current composers can be listed by calling
>         qgis.utils.iface.__activeComposers().
>
>         However I have been unable to create or destroy composer windows
>         without resorting to spoofing user input to the composer manager
>         dialog!
>
>         Is there a technique by which I can add/remove composers
>         programmatically?
>
>         Thanks,
>         Kelly Thomas
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