Re: nb 4.1 feature request

Alan Stange wrote:
> Tim Boudreau wrote:
> 
>> Alan Stange wrote:
>>
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I've been using the 4.1 Q build.  Works great.   I have 2 requests:
>>>
>>> 1)  it would be great if somehow one could color the editor tabs in 
>>> some way that correlated with the project.  So, when I'm editing File 
>>> F from  Release X of my project, all the tabs might have a red 
>>> underline on the file name, while File F from Release Y would have a 
>>> blue underline.  Of course, Release X is in Netbeans project X and 
>>> Release Y is in project Y.
>>>
>>> The underline color could default to "invisible" and a user could set 
>>> the color in the project properties.
>>>
>>> There are some obvious extensions to this as well.  For example, in 
>>> the projects and files explorers, the left margin of the screen could 
>>> have this color in it.  For large projects, it's way too see only a 
>>> list of file names and not the project context.  Cut/Copy/Paste are 
>>> tricky to use when one can't easily see from where one is cutting, or 
>>> to where one is pasting, etc.
>>>
>>> Right now, it's way too easy to clobber a file from the wrong project 
>>> as the only hint in the UI for the project name is in the window 
>>> title bar.
>>
>>
>>
>> It wouldn't be hard to do something like this, but I could easily 
>> imagine it getting more confusing than having nothing there at all; 
>> also, I use a mac most of the time, which has the ability to set the 
>> background color of the title of files in the Finder (equivalent of 
>> Windows Explorer).  I've never actually used this - typically I've 
>> found that with things which require some setup to use, like this, 
>> I'll use it the first time, and then never get around to doing it again.
>>
>> Here's a possible alternative that would solve the problem:  Though 
>> it's not currently used in NetBeans, there is functionality in 4.1 to 
>> allow tabs to "blink" - basically they just flash a few times.
>>
>> What if there were a shortcut that would blink all the files that 
>> share the same project with the one currently showing in the editor?  
>> That would probably be relatively trivial to implement - would it 
>> solve the problem?
> 
> 
> 
> Sending this from my Mac as well...
> 
> 
> I think what you describe, some method to visually separate "these" from 
> "those" instead of having to mark every package, would be sufficient and 
> better than what I was thinking.   I'm somewhat partial to a more 
> persistent visual cue like an underlined or bold file name or even an 
> extra red dot in the corner of the tab.
> I have nothing against the blink as I think it's a move in the right 
> direction, I'm just more partial to something that is always there.

The next step would be to file an enhancement request (probably against 
the project module) for this.

-Tim