Re: gEDA-user: Comments after successfully running gnetman . . . .

[sdb@cloud9.net (Stuart Brorson)]

> >  I don't know what trouble Carlos is
> > having . . . . =20
> 
> I really don't know what happened. I have to "rm -rf *", untar a clean
> tarball, apply the patch and compile again to get it working...

No fun!  But you have now gotten it working, right?

> > Carlos, since it worked for me, and I haven't made any other changes
> > to the code, can you please forward your patch to Ales?
> > Alternatively, I could forward it too, but you're the author, and
> > should take credit!  Please let me know if you prefer me to forward
> > it. =20
> 
> I will forward it to Ales if desired, but the main purpose of the patch
> was to try if what you want was possible without major modifications.
> The patch doesn't implement things as you liked (with a button and a new
> window).... do you like it anyway?

Umm, yes, at the top level it does the right thing now: you can enter
multi-line text.  Thank you for your effort!

However, like Ales, I think that it would be better to have a separate
pop-up window for multi-line text.  Here are some reason for this:

*  I get the feeling that one would like to treat one line attributes
architecturally differently from multi-line text attributes.  To
re-enforce this distinction, it is sensible to force the user to use a
different box for multi-line entry.

*  A separate multi-line text entry pop-up could have a fixed-size
text input area and scroll bars.  Right now, the text entry area
expands to fit the text as you type it in.  This just "feels" funny.

I continue to look at GTK+ to try to figure out how it works so that I
can make some changes in gschem like you have done.  But GTK is quite
large . . . .

> 
> > Some additional comments:
> >=20
> > *  I think that if we allow for multi-line attribs in the multi-line
> > dialog box, then we need to have a column in the attrib display
> > indicating if the attrib is single lined ('s') or multi-lined ('m').
> > This would work something like the current "visibility" indicator.
> >=20
> > *  I don't know what happened to the black line which surrounds the
> > multiple-lin text entry box.  Is this some kind of switch that needs
> > to get set in the widget?  I am not an GTK+ expert . . . .
> 
> Which line? The only thing I noticed is that the background color of the
> multiline text entry widget is clearer than the combo widget, so the
> window has an strange look (well, I suppose the gtk theme we use has
> something to do with this). As far as I know, I only replaced one widget
> by another, and I don't know such GTK switch... :(

Well, I mean that the white text entry area next to "value" has no
demarcation line from the surrounding light-blue widget area.   In
contrast, the text entry area next to "name" is clearly distinguished
from the widget by virtue of the faux-shading surrounding the text
entry area.  Ideally, your text entry area should also have some
shading too.  This is probably a "feature" of the widget you are using
for the text entry area.

> One more comment:
> 
> At least for me, if I enter a multiline text value, the text is
> vertically justified in the attribute list. If the value has an even
> number of lines, you will see half of a line and half of the next line,
> so I don't like it very much. 

This is not good.

> One solution is to hack a bit more, and
> display always the first line and the multiline flag you mention, 

I think this makes more sense.

> but I
> think gschem needs a really good attribute editor...

So then my question is:  what are the requirements of the "really good
attribute editor"?  The one we have right now is not bad, and would be
better if there was a secondary text-entry window for multi-line
attributes.  What else would one want?

Here is one thought:  Replace "close" with "OK" and "Cancel" buttons,
which are more intuitive because they are more common. 

Beyond that, the attribute dialog works well for me.  But I'm sure
more clever people than I may have some better ideas.

Stuart