[rkward-devel] Request for feedback on plot history

[Stefan Rödiger]

Am Dienstag 31 August 2010, 03:43:57 schrieb Prasenjit Kapat:
> Hi,
> 
> Following this thread from Thomas:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/rkward-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg00872.htm
> l
> 
> I would like to get some feedbacks, especially bugs.

I used the latest SVN and found no bugs (I use the feature relative 
intensively during my work).

Handling is overall intuitive IMHO. However, for a moment I didn't grasp the 
idea of the "Activate" button which turned out to be genial when I saw the 
screen cast. Definitely a "Won't miss it".
Everything else stated hereafter applies to for future versions as you stated 
yourself. 

To my pleasant surprise it works (move through history, remove elements, ...) 
without problems with "split.screen()" too. But trouble here is that I find it 
hard to tell which window is "open" without calling Plot properties manually 
(this issue would be addressed in future versions for non-splitted windows if 
I understand you right). Either Plot properties get a more prominent position 
(persistent status bar as you suggested) or you could establish some kind of 
visual feedback (see below "Visual feedback", or other active GUI elements of 
RKWard have a read square  for example) in future version. But this has no 
priority in my opinion.

One thing I find a bit distracting is the output presented in the console and 
command-log when a plot is invoked (example output attached). This is an issue 
for me since I use to work on a 10 inch netbook from time to time and 
therefore need to scroll more than I used to.
> 
> Here is a screenshot of the new screen device window:
> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/rkward/index.php?title=Screenshots#Gr
> aphics_history_actions_.28from_trunk.29
> 
> And here is a screencast (download the ogv file from here; could not
> upload it to any of the video sites):
> http://www.mediafire.com/?z3gp737xa5h1t
> (Meik: see [1] below)
> 

That helped to understand

> Quoting Thomas:
> "Basically, please create a few plots in one or more windows, try the
> toolbar buttons, and comment on any aspect that is not intuitive, or
> buggy."
> 

stated above

> Some notes:
> 
> 1. Settings > Configure RKWard > Output has settings for the history
> length and size
> 

Found it finally after this hint. I which there was a help button as in the 
plug-ins. Even in the current stat the plot history is quite powerful and some 
easy accessible documentation -as users of plug-ins might be used to- would be 
highly appreciated.

> 2. The arrow icons are self explanatory. Note that: if there is any
> "new" plot on the current device then it will be appended to the
> history before moving away.

Works excellent.

Suggestions:
More visual feedback. I would like to see some information in the plot window. 
Something like (Plot 12, active window 3). I'm aware that "Plot properties" 
provides this information too and that you plan this for future versions. My 
suggestion, however is to show this information in the plot when scrolling 
through the plot history.

The dropdown menu ("What next? c") would be really helpful. Indicating the 
number of the plot and the fist bit of the commands used would be sufficient 
for me. Something like:

1	plot(rnorm(...
2	hist(data...
...

This would help to keep track. It would also support the work when removing a 
plot from the history.
But I wonder how do you deal with multiple opened windows? All have one 
history or each has an individual? 

> 
> 3. The "Add to history" (+) button will be confusing. For modified
> (using points () or lines () or ...) standard graphics plot, it will
> overwrite the existing plot; for everything else it will append to the
> history. I plan to fix this. Suggestions are welcome. Thomas had
> mentioned the following:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/rkward-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg00853.htm
> l
> 
> 4. "Remove from history" is self explanatory
> 
True, nothing to add here (but see my suggestion above).

> 5. "Clear history" will clear the entire plot history, but you can
> still add the displayed plot back into the history using "+" icon
> 
> 6. The "Show info" action currently uses kdialog (recently changed it
> from readline ()), but as soon as Thomas returns (and finds time to
> implement a dialog box connection on the C++ side) I plan to change it
> to a more native version. (Although, wherever rkward can run kdialog
> is available, even on windows. One just has to figure out the right
> path to it!)
> 

Simple and informative. Works for me.

> 7. Since his (Thomas's) mail, I have updated the svn code to include
> lattice plots in the plot history as well. (I use lattice very
> frequently.) Recording and replaying these plots is different from
> those of the standard graphics plots. The difference is exploitable in
> a useful way - the plot call can be extracted / displayed. So, if you
> use lattice, give it a try, esp. the "Show Info" action.
> 
> What next?
> a. Fix the "Add to history" action in a more intuitive way
> b. If possible, replace the info button by a persistent status bar
Definitely (see above). My suggestion would include some more feedback within 
the plot region (red square, a plot number, ..., what ever) which would also 
help when working with a splitted screen. 
> c. A drop down menu for the history?
Definitely (see above)
> 
> I plan to have the a. done before the release. The other two can be
> delayed to a later version.

Hope this help
Regards
Stefan
-------------- next part --------------
> plot(rnorm(19))
[1] "0" "2" "0"
[1] "0" "2" "1"
History length   : 0
History size (KB): 0.02
Current devices  : 1, 2
Current positions: 0, 1
Previos positions: 0, 0
gType @ these pos: standard
Plot proerties   :
Device: 2, Position: 1, Size: ?
Type: standard