[Bf-committers] handling large lists in Blender (vertex groups, shape keys, materials)

[Tobias Oelgarte]

Lists are somehow able to know how many entries they want to display. 
That is already for the Shift+Mousewheel resize of the lists. But i 
guess it could be a bit difficult to determine how many elements should 
be displayed if the corner (not a big fan, since it partially hides the 
eye-icon or the scroll bar) if it is dragged by some distance.

Overall i don't think it is an good idea to generate the layout 
everytime again and to have no actual components. If it were actual 
components we could also avoid the python mess that properties have to 
be assigned to bpy.types.* instead using the properties defined inside 
the class of the UI element. It works for operators, since they are real 
objects, but it doesn't work for UI elements.

Am 07.12.2012 12:38, schrieb Lukas Tönne:
> Making lists resizeable would be great. The problem afaik is that all
> UI elements in Blender are generated on-the-fly, with no info about
> layout or size stored persistently. I also played with the idea of
> making drag&drop style reordering of list elements, which faces the
> same issue (you'd need to know the location of a button outside the
> actual drawing). Not sure how this could be tackled.
>
> On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Gaia <gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org> wrote:
>> On 07.12.2012 11:45, CoDEmanX wrote:
>>> I really like them!
>>> But dunno if it's a good idea to put the stuff inside of the list
>>> (visually yes, but how to implement this properly?)
>> Well, i understand this sort of constraints happen all the time and
>> everywhere. So getting any improvement over what we have now
>> would be a step forward regardless of visual layout.
>>
>>> Here are two variants which could be done with little change to UI code:
>>>
>>> http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=41471
>>> http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=41472
>> If that has a chance to get implemented, then i vote for
>>
>> http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=41471
>>
>>
>>> Basically, all what's needed is C code for list filtering. In python,
>>> there should eventually be an extra parameter for lists to specify a
>>> StringProp, which would be the prop of the search field.
>> It would be cool to get such functionality accessible from python. However i
>> would be already happy if we'd get it only for shape keys and vertex groups.
>>
>>> bpy.types.Scene.search_shapekeys = bpy.props.StringProperty()
>>> ...
>>> row.template_list(key, "key_blocks", ob, "active_shape_key_index",
>>> rows=rows, filter_data=scene, filter_prop="search_shapekeys")
>>>
>>>
>>> Am 07.12.2012 01:39, schrieb Gaia:
>>>> Having the filter in a popup box might have the advantage
>>>> of saving some space on the screen. But on the other side
>>>> your top variant shows the filter settings together with the
>>>> resulting list. So i like the top variant most.
>>>>
>>>> Here is another comparison based on your top variant
>>>> which saves one line of space:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=41449
>>>>
>>>> It would be awesome if someone from the blender
>>>> development team could comment on this and allow
>>>> to get something done here. Maybe the layout is wrong
>>>> but at least it would be just cool if we could get the
>>>> functionality.
>>>>
>>>> Gaia
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 06.12.2012 22:25, CoDEmanX wrote:
>>>>> 3 variations of possible filter integration:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=41437
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Am 06.12.2012 18:44, schrieb Gaia:
>>>>>> I played with my 2d image editor and created this mockup:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>           http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=41429
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I added a drag handle to the lower right corner of the list.
>>>>>> What do you think? Would that be convenient, acceptable
>>>>>> and easy to implement ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> cheers,
>>>>>> Gaia
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 06.12.2012 17:43, Bassam Kurdali wrote:
>>>>>>> I was myself wishing for filtering in vertex groups recently. +1 from
>>>>>>> this user. Also agree the resize is a bit hidden.
>>>>>>> On Thu Dec  6 2012 11:01:59 AM EST, Gaia <gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org
>>>>>>> <mailto:gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 06.12.2012 16:52, Tobias Oelgarte wrote:
>>>>>>>>> We have resizeable list areas. Hold Shift and and use the
>>>>>>> mousewheel to
>>>>>>>>> resize them. It's not always as responsible as it should be. I often
>>>>>>>>> need to move the mouse around a bit while rolling the mousewheel, so
>>>>>>>>> that it will continue to grow or shrink.
>>>>>>>> Heh, that is cool :) Very good to know that!
>>>>>>>> However wouldn't it be more intuitive to add a drag handle
>>>>>>>> to the lower left corner of the list ?
>>>>>>>> That might also solve the responsiveness issue in an elegant way.
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