[SoC] Proposal for wxGUI layout modifications

[Michael Barton]

Actually, I think what (I hope) was envisioned was not a true MDI-- 
which has lost considerable popularity--but attaching the layer  
manager to the display window. Ideally, this could be done by docking  
or undocking.

That said, Markus and I had some offline discussions about this since  
he was the proposer, in response to some user comments and his own  
experiences. The main complaint is having too many windows open in  
GRASS.

After some talking about it, the real problem may not lie primarily  
with the layer manager/display windows but with all the module windows  
which a lot of people don't realize that you can set to close  
automatically when you push OK. Some possible solutions to this would  
include having all modules open in a single window with tabs or  
modally in a single window or modally in a window attached to the  
layer manager to keep down clutter. By focusing a bit much on the  
initial display configuration of a couple of other GIS programs  
(ArcGIS and QGIS, but not in a lot of others by the way), we may have  
missed the real cause of the perceived screen clutter. Anyway, it's  
something to think about.

Michael

On Apr 14, 2009, at 3:55 PM, Martin Landa wrote:

> Hi,
>
> 2009/4/14 Casey Vandenberg <casey.vandenberg at sjgeophysics.com>:
>> I have recently noticed the proposal to alter the wxGUI interface  
>> this
>> summer as part of the Google Summer of Code. I am not certain if  
>> developers
>> have brought this to the community for discussion as of yet, but I  
>> did want
>> to throw in my two cents.  I am personally against the idea of  
>> having one
>> window consisting of the display layers, toolbars and map window.   
>> I feel
>> that the current setup is ideal as it allows users the opportunity to
>> maximize the map window size (particularly beneficial if one is  
>> working with
>> two monitors, as the map window can be dedicated to one monitor and  
>> all
>> other tools and programs to the second window). I feel by docking  
>> everything
>> together in one screen would limit the quality and usefulness of  
>> the map
>> display window.
>>
>> If this proposal were to be accepted or implemented, procedures  
>> should be
>> put in place to ensure that the map window can be docked/undocked  
>> from the
>> main display so that it can still be maximized across an entire  
>> monitor.
>
> AFAIU, the idea is to implement both layouts (SDI/MDI). The user will
> decide which he/she prefers... e.g. using environmental variable
> GRASS_WX_LAYOUT.
>
> M.
>
> -- 
> Martin Landa <landa.martin gmail.com> * http://gama.fsv.cvut.cz/~landa
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