Re: a new combo box

["Jasper St. Pierre" <jstpierre mecheye net>]

So let me ask a very basic question here, since I feel it's at the heart of the dumb internet argument we're having.

What is this design trying to solve? What problems with the old ComboBox are we trying to fix? What use cases is it designed for?

Is it the usability problems? Are we adding the search field to behave more like Chosen [0] ? Because that's really cool. If that's the main purpose of the redesign, I'd like to keep the old GtkComboBox API so that users benefit by the new usability immediately.

Is it a just a "visual refresh", making the new widget seem more "new GTK+" than the old one?

Is it the ability to use widgets instead of cell renderers in ComboBox? OK. Is that worth a new visual refresh and new usability scenario? Could we upgrade both at the same time, and have one API for widgets, and one API for cell renderers? Would that be feasible?

My issue, really, is that I haven't really been keeping up with GTK+ development and new widgets over the course of time. I hack on some personal apps in my spare time.

If we add GtkCombo as a separate question, I have one simple question: when should I use GtkCombo and when should I use GtkComboBox?

Cosimo talks about GtkPopover and GtkMenu, but those just sort of have me stunned. Why should I use one instead of the other? We have GtkMenuButton, GtkMenu, GtkModelMenu, GtkModelButton, GtkPopover, GtkPopoverMenu, and they all sort of do the thing. I have no idea which to use nowadays.

(This is not a chance to explain what they do: I have an understanding of what does what after reading the docs. But imagine someone who's never done GTK+ development before. What's the new hot, "correct", widget to use if you want a menu button in your app? What's it called? OK. Why are the others there?)

[0] http://harvesthq.github.io/chosen/

On Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 5:02 AM, Matthias Clasen <matthias clasen gmail com> wrote:

Hi,

over Christmas, I had some for a little side project, a  new combo
box. It is based on these mockups:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gnome-design-team/gnome-mockups/master/theming/widgets/combobox-replacements.png

One question I need some feedback on is naming: We currently have
GtkComboBox and
GtkComboBoxText. I've gone with GtkCombo for now, which has the
downside that there is a widget by that name in gtk2. Alternatives
might be GtkChoice or GtkComboButton (with a possible avenue for
making the list-of-choices available for direct embeeding as
GtkComboWidget later).

There are some lose ends in the code, like the interaction of grouping
and search, but it is complete enough to give it a try and evaluate
the design. If you want to try it, the code is in the wip/combo
branch, and there is a testnewcombo test app with some examples.

I'm off for a few days now - would be great to hear some feedback when
I come back.

Matthias
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--

  Jasper