[Qgis-developer] Composer... current status and the way forward?

[Nyall Dawson]

On 08/11/2014 6:11 am, "Olivier Dalang" <olivier.dalang at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I don't get the point in keeping the old classes if we upgrade the
composers to layouts at opening ? Doesn't migration happen at XML level ?

It would allow standalone scripts which utilise compositions, or scripts
which operate within qgis but without any gui, to still function.

>
>
> Maybe while thinking about reworking the composer, we could think about a
new feature : real templates (aka "masters" in Indesign).
>
> All elements added to a "master" appear on all the page that apply it.
This is very handy: you can always edit the master (move some elements,
change the fonts/colors, etc.), and the changes are reflected on all the
layouts. The challenging part from an UI point of view is the required
ability to override the content of templates elements (for instance the
extent of a map, the text of a textbox, etc.)
>
> I thought of making a plugin for this, but got discouraged because of the
problem you exposed... So it would be a good test case to see if the future
API for the layouts allows to implement this easily ;)

Hmmm.. Intriguing idea. On my longer term radar is a rework of how composer
item properties work. I think eventually we need to switch to a property
browser for setting item properties (think qt designer style). A new button
just like the data defined button could be used to set property
inheritance. (I think eventually labelling could use the same widget). This
is out of scope for the planned 2.8 work, but I'll keep it in mind whilst
doing the redesign.

Nyall
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