One man's view of KDevelop 3

[Amilcar do Carmo Lucas]

Ian Wadham wrote:

>>> d. Tool bars use common icons but with different functions
>>>     (e.g. L and R arrow).
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>BUG. :(
>>
>>    
>>
>Are you sure?  In the Documentation tool bar they have their usual browser
>function (as in Konqueror).  If you open >2 files in the main window, the
>arrows make you go forward and back in the tab bar, which is
>*somewhat* similar.  Maybe you should have arrows of a different colour
>which simply cycle continuously in one direction or the other through all
>the open files.
>  
>
yes, it's a bug that they need diferent colours or icons. But their 
funcionalyty is not buggy.

>>> e. It's hard to see which tool bar is which and where one tool bar ends
>>>     and another begins.  This made customisation hard.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>I've found out which tool bar is which, by using Settings to hide them one
>at a time and then watching to see which one disappears.  Ingenious, huh?
>Problem is threefold: unclear boundaries between toolbars, no labels on the
>toolbars and, when you select a toolbar to be configured (customised), the
>list of buttons in the right hand windowpane (current actions) is incomplete
>(more on this later), so it is hard to match that list with the visible
>toolbar and work out which toolbar is Main, etc.
>  
>
yes it's true, but it's probably not going to change in the near future :(

>  
>
>>> e. Some tool bar icons seem to be "overloaded", which is confusing,
>>>e.g. on the little X: the tool tip says "Close" (File or Project?).
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Could not find this one.
>>
>>    
>>
>More on this later.
>
>  
>
>>> f. The menus, on which, if in doubt, I usually rely, are written
>>>    in some kind of KDE-project language (KSpeak(?)), not plain
>>>    English nor plain German, etc. e.g. View, Raise Editor, etc.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Make the editor window visible (raise it above others if necessary)
>>
>>    
>>
>Thanks for explaining each of my examples, but you missed the point.  The
>language in menu items should be as near as possible self-explanatory (e.g.
>"plain" or everyday language or the same phrase as used elsewhwere in
>KDE menus).  In this case, for example, the top left icon on a KDE main
>window has "On top" in its menu, alternatively "Show" is a more obvious
>word than "Raise" (no hidden gravitational or z-axis metaphor).  May I
>suggest "Show Edit Window".  It is the window not the editor that is
>the object of the command.
>
>  
>
>>>: Build, Run Doxygen:
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Doxygen is a tool to build API documentation from your code
>>
>>    
>>
>So, how about "Build Documentation from Code" or "Create Doc from Source"?
>If you don't already know what "Doxygen" IS, the present menu is
>meaningless.
>
>  
>
>>Run Doxygen makes doxygen read your C++ files and usualy generate html
>>documentation for them:
>>
>>    
>>
>Nice.
>
>  
>
>>>Tools, Difference Viewer (seems to open only one file).
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>It only ask to open one file because that file is supposed to be a diff
>>file (man patch for more info)
>>
>>    
>>
>So, why not call it "Open Patch File" or "Patch File Viewer"?  I was
>expecting to be able to open two files and do a side by side "diff ".
>Is it Cervisia that does something like that?
>  
>
Nope it's Kompare. The good news is that in the future both Cervisia and 
Kompare will be integrated in Gideon :)

>  
>
>>>  h. I could not find the "Make Distribution" option.
>>>      
>>>
>>Tools > Project Distribution & Publishing
>>
>>    
>>
>Now THAT's well hidden.  What's more it is quite different in scope
>from the other tools and near the bottom of the list.  Please, please
>can it go back in the Project menu where it really belongs?
>
>  
>
>>Data files are suported by the "Automake mananger" so there is no need
>>to edit Makefiles.am any more.
>>
>>    
>>
>I need Makefile.am edits for other reasons.  I am sending another email
>asking if you can help me on this one.
>
>  
>
>>Yes, you got a bunch of new html files probably in a html subdir of your
>>project. Take a look at them. :)
>>
>>    
>>
>Nice.  But maybe this function needs a popup message box to tell you
>what is going to happen and whether it finished successfully.
>  
>
I like the principle of "Do not bother the user if all is fine". Based 
on this principle I coded the
"Auto hide" messages window. Messages window is the window at the bottom 
where you see
the output of the commands that you issue to gideon.
"Auto hide" means: if the command you issued finished sucessfuly then 
hide the messages window because ther's nothing "interesting" (errors) 
to see there!
That's why you didn't see the result of "Run Doxygen"!
Belive me you'll love this operating way if you have to seat in from of 
a computer 10 H a day!
Clicking OK on a pop up window that insists to appear every time a 
command was sucessfull is anoying!!

>  
>
>>Thanks for testing, I'll be more than happy to answer any other questions.
>>
>>    
>>
>I've done a few minutes MORE testing and found some bugs, all when
>trying to clarify the "Close" (X) button overload on the Main toolbar.
>
>  1. The default X button is already overloaded, in a sense.  It will close
>      either a program file or an HTML document, dep. on what is showing.
>
>  2. Try this ... Open an HTML doc (e.g. Qt Reference) with KDevelop
>      in "Ideal" mode.  The Main toolbar has 7 icons.  Now do Settings,
>      Configure Toolbars --- Main Toolbar.  Only 3 of the 7 icons are
>      showing in current actions.  You cannot configure the other 4.
>
>  3. That's not too serious, but the Main toolbar for a program file has
>      about 15 of these "mandatory" items and they really clutter it up,
>      making it hard to see the "Project" forest when all those trees
>      get in the way.
>
>  4. Back in step 2, scroll down the left hand window pane and you
>      will find a "Project Close" item with an "X" button.  Move it to
>      Current Actions.  When you exit from Settings, you will have
>      TWO "X" buttons, with different functions, i.e. overloading ...
>
>  5. Continuing on, open >2 program files, bring one on top ---
>      raise ;-) --- and now you have a main toolbar with about 18
>      items.  Now do Settings, Configure Toolbars --- Main Toolbar
>      again and add an action to Current Items.  When you exit from
>      Settings the number of icons in Main toolbar DOUBLES !
>
>      Actually I tested this by starting from the default toolbars and
>      adding just one icon, the "Close Project" button.  If I USED
>      a button (I think it was Close [File]), the doubling went away.
>
>      At some point during all this, KDevelop crashed.  I think
>      toolbars and Settings need some stress-testing ...
>
>  6. I got another crash later when closing Gideon.  Not sure what
>      I did, but I hope the attached logs are useful.
>
>I hope this is all of some help, Amilcar.
>
>All the best, Ian W.
>
>
>
>  
>
Regards,

-- 
Amilcar Lucas


PS: issue make on doc/kdevelop and you'll get a index.cache.bz2 
uncompress it
You can open the resulting index.cache file in konqueror and enjoy
a KDevelop instruction's manual.