Re: Re: [nbdev] Too many editor tabs?

> From [email protected] Mon Mar 20 15:16:38 2006
> Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:16:24 +0100
> From: Marian Petras <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected], NB UI <[email protected]>
> Subject: [nbui] Re: [nbdev] Too many editor tabs?
> 
> I have read the other comments and I think that the following mechanism 
> could work.
> 
> 1) There is not a special mode (frame) but a special "navigation tab" 
> for files opened just for browsing/navigation. The navigation tab is 
> opened when a navigation action (Ctrl+click, debugger action, etc.) 
> leads to a file not currently opened in the current tabs.

That's a problem.
If I want to open file X, I have to magically divine whether it's
in the "current tabs" or in the navigation tab.
We want 1 "cache" for user to look into not two

Tab's in my view are "implementation artifacts" they are associated
with buffers/models. Why do we need them? An editor view should provide
easy access to files.


> When another 
> such file is to be opened, content of the navigation tab is replaced 
> with that file and the old content is lost.
> 
> 2) The navigation tab keeps history of files that are open in it. It 
> allows quick navigation to files which have been open during navigation 
> but are not currently visible.
> 
> 3) The navigation tab has a special action which "releases" the 
> currently displayed file - it opens it in a "normal" tab. If the 
> currently displayed file is the only file in the navigation tab, the tab 
> simply becomes a "normal" tab.
> 
> 4) Modification of a file opened in the navigation tab invokes 
> auto-release of the file, i.e. the "release" action described in 
> paragraph 3) is performed automatically.
> 
> Please send your answers to <[email protected]>. Thanks.
> 
> Marian
> 
> 
> David Strupl wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I apologize for the crosspost but thought this might draw attention of 
> > different audiences. Please select alias according to the types of 
> > comments (nbdev for "your code sucks", nbui "your UI sucks", nbusers for 
> > "I cannot make it run").
> > 
> > I was looking at my wife working with Eclipse the other day and she kept 
> > saying that she did not like it. She was using Visual Age for Java 
> > before and keep telling my how much better it was compared to those 
> > today's IDEs. After chatting for a while why she thought it was not 
> > convenient to work with the modern IDE we found out that if you work for 
> > a while you end up literally buried in the flood of opened editor 
> > windows. As today's NetBeans uses the very same UI for opened editor 
> > tabs I have noticed that I also quite often end up using the action for 
> > closing all opened editor tabs.
> > 
> > I think that closing all the opened tabs might be useless if there would 
> > not be that many opened tabs in the first place.
> > 
> > So I have created a little module as a proof of concept only. You can 
> > find it here (binary):
> > http://www.solutions.cz/cz-solutions-simpleedit.nbm
> > Sources in CVS:
> > contrib/tool/simpleEdit
> > 
> > The module keeps closing the tabs for you if you open a new editor. I 
> > have added 2 new controls to the main toolbar:
> > 
> > 1. [ ] Checkbox allowing to keep an editor view opened
> > 2. < Back arrow for opening the previously closed editor view
> > 
> > To enable the closing functionality please go to
> > 
> > Tools --> Options --> Misc --> Editor tabs --> and check the checkbox.
> > 
> > I am well aware that this is only for testing, much better UI would be 
> > e.g. if the checkbox would be present directly in the editor tab somewhere.
> > 
> > I know that this change touches the very delicate decision about what 
> > should the GUI do by default (keep the editor tabs opened (and close per 
> > user's request) or to close them by default (and keep opened only per 
> > user's request).
> > 
> > I am waiting for any kind of comments, best regards,
> > 
> > David
>