Re: Displaying a popup before the main window

[Dave Howorth <dhoworth mrc-lmb cam ac uk>]

Emmanuele Bassi wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-09-15 at 11:45 +0100, Dave Howorth wrote:
> > Emmanuele Bassi wrote:
> > > in this case, spinning the main loop is just masking the fact that
> > > you're blocking the main loop. the correct way to deal with this is *to
> > > stop blocking the main loop*.
> > We are discussing a splash screen that is shown during initialization
> > while the GUI is being constructed and before the main loop is reached.
>
> the premise is, in this case, irrelevant: you're blocking the main loop,
> spinning it is pointless and dangerous.

You haven't given a single example or description of what is dangerous.

> actually, by showing a splash screen you're *delaying* the start up of
> your application: don't use splash screens. it's no 1997 any more.
>
> if your application starts slowly, bring up the UI as soon as possible
> and fill it up with real data lazily;

What do you expect a user to want to do with a UI that's incapable of
doing anything because it has no data?

> using a splash screen is just
> papering over the issue that you're blocking the user because. wait,
> that's *exactly* like manually spinning the main loop! who would have
> thought.

Sorry, I have no idea what that means.

> > You're proposing a complicated alternative mechanism and to what end,
> > I'm not sure.
>
> my end is to ensure people write *correct* application code, and use the
> toolkit in the *correct* way.

So again, please provide a reference to a description of "the *correct*
way".

> >  Perhaps if you gave a reference to a good explanation of
> > your rationale, instead of simply pouring scorn on people, it would be
> > more helpful.
>
> the rationale is: by spinning the main loop you're masking issues in
> your application. don't do that. I thought it was clear by the amount of
> scorn I used.

Again, you have not given any characterisation or example of what such
an issue might be. You're just blustering.

Cheers, Dave