[Bf-committers] Pupmenu conventions. (Was: CVScommit:blender/source/blender/src edit.c)

[Ton Roosendaal]

Hi Robert,

If you like proposals to be accepted, it's important to read carefully  
what people write, digest that information, and propose something that  
fits better. Giving opinions confuses... and makes the threads hard to  
read.
I don't have much time for mail these days, so I also made the error of  
too quickly scanning mails, probably irritating you as well. :)

What I expect from you:
- be more clear in text. Include pieces of old threads, so people can  
still follow what's being discussed.
- swallow opinions, and move on to design proposals

What I should do:
- trying to summarize discussions, and find good a wording for  
functionality we all can be happy with.

Let's go back to the beginning:
Here is the first reaction to you proposal from Alexander:

--------------
I completely agree with this approach - additionally,
it could be used to keep the best from both worlds.
Simply keep the old "number"-shortcut functional _AND_
add a usual hotkey for them. So the new options would
just get a hotkey - and the old functions would react
to TWO keys - EITHER their new (logical for new users)
hotkey OR their old (for old users used to it) number
key.
--------------

This is something everyone can live with, including me! You add new  
functionality, a real improvement, wich can live next to the old  
convention.

Important is to realize that 'hotchars' then are *not* allowed to be a  
number. The new 'hotchar' is added functionality, and doesn't have to  
mess with old conventions at all. SHIFT+S-4 will remain the 4th item.

Here's what your 'recapping' could look like:

----------- technical design proposal ---------

1) Pupmenu definitions will get an optional hotkey to activate this.  
This will be called a 'hotchar', which only resides within the context  
of the menu itself.

2) The hotchars are not allowed to be a number, to achieve  
compatibility with the previous system, and to communicate to a user  
there's an additional method for choosing a menu item.

3) If a hotchar is available in a Pupmenu, it will be an additional  
choice for a user, the old convention to use number hotkeys will remain  
unchanged.

3) In the code we will usa a "%k" to indicate a hotchar, a menu string  
would look something like:

"SPECIALS %t|Subdivide %kS %x1|Smooth Subdivide %ko %x2|Fractal
Subdivide %kF %x3|Knife Subdivide %kK %x11|Merge %kM %x4...."

The pupmenu drawing code will underline the character in the previous  
word. The code will accept keyboard input as if it's all in lower case.

(note: I changed your syntax, now it remains readable & consistant)



-Ton-



On Thursday, Oct 9, 2003, at 05:00 Europe/Amsterdam, Robert Wenzlaff  
wrote:

> On Wednesday 08 October 2003 06:03 am, Ton Roosendaal wrote:
>> The fact that it wasn't communicated well is correct, but no reason to
>> drop it.
>
> Maybe not, but the fact that it is not logically expandable is reason  
> to drop
> it.
>



------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation ton@blender.org  
http://www.blender.org