Re: libgnome: User level

[Dietmar Maurer <dietmar ximian com>]

IMO you can also solve this with stackable databases, as used in bonobo-config.

- Dietmar

Colm Smyth wrote:

> In one useful incarnation, this could become a "configuration context" that
> identifies a series of GConf directories that allow an efficient search/retrieval
> of multiple related settings (like a structure), with the possibility
> for data "inheritance".
>
> Here is a somewhat contrived, simplified and definitely fictional API example:
>
> /* a "search-path" for one or more related settings */
> gchar *config_context[]={
>         "/user",
>         "/client-protocols",
>         "/client-protocols/imap",
>         "/client-protocols/imap/server/my_great_mail_server"
> };
>
> /* two settings that occur together, a "pseudo-structure" */
> gchar *settings[]={
>         "name",
>         "host"
> };
>
> GSList *mail_settings = gconf_context_get(db, config_context, settings);
>
> The result is a GSList(GConfValue) and the config_context should probably also
> be a GSList but you get the idea.  GConf would internally look for the value for
> the user's IMAP mail login name at /user/name, /client-protocols/name,
> /client-protocols/imap/name and lastly
> /client-protocols/imap/server/my_great_mail_server/name (and does
> the same for the host setting) in a single API call.
>
> What do you think ;)
>
> Colm.
>
> >Delivered-To: gnome-2-0-list gnome org
> >X-Authentication-Warning: icon.labs.redhat.com: hp set sender to hp redhat com using -f
> >To: Colm Smyth <Colm Smyth Sun COM>
> >Cc: michael ximian com, bratsche gnome org, gnome-2-0-list gnome org
> >Subject: Re: libgnome: User level
> >From: Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>
> >MIME-Version: 1.0
> >
> >
> >Colm Smyth <Colm Smyth Sun COM> writes:
> >> To be honest though, it's far more important to think about designing
> >> a good user interface than trying to carve up it's features into
> >> easy, hard and impossible to understand. If everything is easy and
> >> natural, there doesn't need to be such artificial distinctions.
> >>
> >> When a feature gets forced into a user interface by jamming a menu
> >> option onto a menu or a tab onto an already over-loaded dialog,
> >> you can't fix it by just hiding it sometimes; it's always going
> >> to be hard to understand and use.
> >>
> >> As I have absolutely no idea how to design a UI for use by anyone except
> >> myself, I'm all too happy to ask for help from someone who can, like Calum.
> >>
> >
> >My view is that the advanced user level is basically a dumping ground
> >for crack-rock settings to avoid flamewars. ;-)
> >
> >If we had some way to simply pick the good ideas and delete
> >e.g. nearly all the Sawfish or panel options that would be ideal.
> >But I think there would be a lot of complaints if we removed those
> >options.
> >
> >Michael makes a good point that user level should be global for "the
> >desktop" (users don't consider panel/WM/FM separate apps) but
> >maybe specific to larger apps like Gnumeric.
> >
> >Havoc
> >
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