[Qgis-developer] How to enable labeling tools to move labels (since last merge of Larry's work)

[Larry Shaffer]

Hi Régis and Michael,

On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 3:53 AM, Larry Shaffer <larrys at dakotacarto.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 2:09 AM, kimaidou <kimaidou at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> 2013/5/27 HAUBOURG <regis.haubourg at eau-adour-garonne.fr>
>>
>>>  Hi Larry, ****
>>> Putting expression item to the bottom of list, and renaming the entries
>>> as follow should be better IMHO, since expression is more advanced:
>>>
>>> “Field types : String, Int, Double”  -> “choose Field ( enable map
>>> tools)”****
>>>
>>> “Edit expression” ->” Calculate value with expression (disable map tool)”
>>> ****
>>>
>>> Does that sound good?
>>>
>>
>> This sounds good to me, as I had the same problem easilly finding the way
>> to choose fields here.
>>
>
> Switching the order should help. Originally, the button's menu didn't have
> a field's submenu, and the fields were listed at the bottom of the menu (to
> allow for an unknown number of entries). That didn't work well for tables
> with lots of columns, since it often pushed access to expression menu
> actions off the screen; so I made a submenu.
>
> Changing the menu action text to long descriptions, like the proposed one
> for expression, may lead to 'missing' the entry to the submenu while
> mousing that far to the right. The text's width will dictate the total
> width of the menu. This was a problem with the expression string menu
> entry, which is now truncated.
>
> I'd prefer to just explain it better in the text below the buttons and in
> those button's description/tool tip.
>

I've made improvements today to the QgsDataDefinedButton, along the lines
of your suggestions, in commit dd60a34 [0].

Commit message:
Update QgsDataDefinedButton
- Add 'Usage info' functions; displays in description and tool tip
- Reorganize menu, adding conceptual section titles
- Add ability to paste in expression
- Add ability to clear defined expression
- Add check for non-matching data field types
- Add better truncation of expressions in tool tip and menu

Of note, I added the ability to set custom 'Usage info' for each button,
which allowed me to remove the general text "( Define attribute fields to
enable labeling map tools )" from below, and include more descriptive,
contextual information in the tool tip and description popup:

Usage:
In edit mode, layer's relevant labeling map tool is:
  Defined attribute field -> enabled
  Defined expression -> disabled

I would appreciate any further feedback on the button's new menu layout. I
consider the button's functionality to be ready for release, but there is
always room for improvement.  :^)

[0]
https://github.com/qgis/Quantum-GIS/commit/dd60a34fae326fcf28d3415d55140e3488f84d62

Regards,

Larry


> Regards,
>
> Larry
>
>
>
>>
>>> ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> [0] https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/72368800/label_dialog.png****
>>>
>>> All the best****
>>>
>>> Régis
>>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Michael
>>
>
>
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