RFC: Opening non-code files embedded or standalone

[David Nolden]

Am Sonntag 12 Juli 2009 10:37:29 schrieb Andreas Pakulat:
> Hi,
>
> before I just change things, what are people's opinions about embedding
> non-code files (via KPart) vs. opening them in the preferred application
> standalone?
>
> Specifically I'm thinking about .ui files, which are currently opened in
> an embedded kpart which doesn't allow changing the .ui file. So to edit
> a .ui file I need to start designer on it manually.
>
> I'm thinking about doing it similar to what ecplise does, that is allow
> to open embedded or in external application and remembering that
> decision based on the mimetype. I'd also like to have a "open as text"
> too, so I can edit a .ui file inside kdevelop as xml.
>
> Opinions?
>
> Andreas

Since an IDE is meant for editing files, and not for viewing them, the read-
only kparts are not really useful. I think we should by default open files 
with a component that can also be used for editing.

The nice thing about opening files within KDevelop is that they stay 'in 
context' with the other currently edited or viewed files.

For .ui files, we should use the original Qt designer for now.

What about embedding the whole application directly within a tab using XEmbed, 
with an option somewhere in the UI to enable/disable this behavior, and a 
button somewhere to 'free' the application? With this approach, we could just 
open any file directly with its associated editor within KDevelop in a tab. 
For example .svg files using inkscape, .odf files using openoffice, .lyx files 
using lyx, etc..

It should also be possible to open any file as text directly within KDevelop, 
so ideally there would be a right-click menu Open With -> Default editor 
(KDevelop if it's a supported file type) | Standalon Editor 1 | Standalone 
Editor 2 | ...

Greetings, David