[PD-dev] [ pure-data-Patches-3296739 ] make helpbrowser separate directories and patches

[SourceForge.net]

Patches item #3296739, was opened at 2011-05-03 04:44
Message generated for change (Comment added) made by eighthave
You can respond by visiting: 
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=478072&aid=3296739&group_id=55736

Please note that this message will contain a full copy of the comment thread,
including the initial issue submission, for this request,
not just the latest update.
Category: puredata
Group: bugfix
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: IOhannes m zmölnig (zmoelnig)
>Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: make helpbrowser separate directories and patches

Initial Comment:
starting Pd(0.43)  with custom search paths (e.g. "-path /path/to/Gem), results in a not-so-nice help-browser experience: 
basically the left column (the one that is crucial for navigating the various directories) is filled with all help-patches found in all search-paths, sorted alphabetically (so directories are lost somewhere between files), and upper-case before lower-case.

if a search-path is a child of another search path (e.g. /usr/lib/pd/extra/Gem is child of /usr/lib/pd), then both the directory ("Gem/") and it's content (too many to list here) are listed, making the information accessible several times (adding more confusion)

i don't know exactly where to fix the problem, but a simple solution would be to only allow directories on the left side (and add an entry for "<searchpaths>" (probably an entry for "all searchpaths" and separate entries for each searchpath), rather than throwing everything together.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

>Comment By: Hans-Christoph Steiner (eighthave)
Date: 2011-05-04 15:31

Message:
Looking into GNOME, it has a preference to put folders on top of files in
the listing, but I am pretty sure that this is off by default, and things
are mixed.  At least in Ubuntu.  Windows 2000 sorted folder first, then
files. Who knows, this might have changed in Windows, my Windows knowledge
stops really at Windows 2000.

I'm fine with doing folder first by default, i.e. accepting this patch, as
long as:

a) this line is removed from the patch, that ---- line separates the
static from the auto generated, there should be only one line like that,
not a second separating folders and files.
+    $current_listbox insert end "-----------------------"

b) the old, commented out code is removed.  It just clutters things up
being in there.  git has the history.



----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: IOhannes m zmölnig (zmoelnig)
Date: 2011-05-04 13:13

Message:
you are right that the problem first occured to me when dealing with Gem;
however there is nothing Gem specific to it.
however, i don't know why this makes the patch pre-mature.

as for sorting files and directories: here on xfce4, the Pd filebrowser
will sort directories before files.
however, i don't see how this would matter, as the helpbrowser does not
behave like an ordinary file browser on most systems anyhow; e.g. the
"Pure-data" and "-------" entries are quite uncommon.

i'm only suggesting to add "sections" for the various libraries/libdirs
before displaying all the help-patches.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: Hans-Christoph Steiner (eighthave)
Date: 2011-05-04 12:32

Message:
I'm guessing this is related to your problem with the Gem abstractions
showing up in the root of the help browser.  I think the problem is
elsewhere since its not happening with gridflow or other Gem builds, so
this patch is pre-mature. As for the relative merits of sorting files and
directories, that is a bigger, more annoying question.  Windows sorts
directories at the top then files after,  other OS file browsers that I
have seen (mostly GNOME and Mac OS X) sort files and dirs together. 
Therefore, I think this patch would only make sense if that behavior was
Windows only.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment By: IOhannes m zmölnig (zmoelnig)
Date: 2011-05-03 04:47

Message:
an alternative is to separate directories from files in the root-column,
rather than mixing them together, which makes the browser somewhat
navigable (and was way easier to implement :-))

see attached patch.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

You can respond by visiting: 
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=478072&aid=3296739&group_id=55736