comboboxes - sorted lists in KDE4 - idea

[Matthew Woehlke]

Matthew Woehlke wrote:
> Ferdinand Gassauer wrote:
>> We introduced one (or more)  group levels - separated by 
>> "----------------" (like in help)
>> and a "sort number" for each item.
>>
>> the necessary attributes for every item are
>> * group * sort
>> * item text
>>
>> a list is always sorted by group, sort, item text.
>> [snip]
> 
> I, for one, think that *having* this is an excellent idea (I won't take 
> a stance on whether or not apps should be required to use it, but having 
> it *available* would be awesome).
> 
> I think Ferdinand has the right idea. 'group' and 'sort' (I would call 
> it 'key') should be *non-negative* numbers. Here's why:
> 
> const SORT_REUSE = -1;
> const SORT_INC = -2;
> const SORT_GROUP = -3;
> 
> ...'reuse' would use the same value that was previously used (i.e. when 
> adding items one after another), 'inc' would automatically use the next 
> value. 'group' would specify that the item is not a key but the name of 
> a group. This way you would have a list that looks like:
> 
> -- US sizes
> Letter
> Legal
> -- Metric sizes
> A0
> ...
> A4
> 
> ...where the group names are actually displayed (and can be translated, 
> of course), and made distinct by being a different color or through some 
> other means, and also are not selectable.
> 
> So the (pseudo)code to generate the above would look like:
> 
> addItem("US sizes", SORT_GROUP, 1);
> addItem("Letter")
> addItem("Legal")
> addItem("Metric sizes", SORT_GROUP, 2);
> addItem("A0");
> ...
> addItem("A4");
> 
> 
> ...where 'addItem' is:
> <type> addItem(QString name,
>                int key = SORT_REUSE,
>                int group = SORT_REUSE)
> 
> (Note that 'reuse' and 'inc' use 0 for the key after SORT_GROUP.)
> 
> You could of course specify a simple separator with e.g. "-" instead of 
> needing to provide a group name.
> 
> And with this, lists would of course always be sorted. :-) We could even 
> fight over the default for 'key' being SORT_INC instead of SORT_REUSE to 
> make the 'least typing' behavior more like the current unsorted 
> behavior, although I think I would argue against it.

...any word on this making KDE4? Opinions, even? I was thinking about 
filing a RFE on bko.

-- 
Matthew
"What a wonderful smell you've discovered!" -- Princess Leia Organa