[rkward-devel] plugins: optionset; use and usability

[d_jan]

Hello RKWard List,

Since I am able to program Javascript and to be involved in a part of
RKWard where I am likely to contribute (at least) parts of the code
myself I had a closer look at the plugins and how they are programmed.

I came across the <optionset> GUI element since it is used in some
plugins I used, it is reused in a number of places and I found it a bit
tricky to use (because of so-called function/representation mapping).

I read at http://api.kde.org/doc/rkwardplugins/optionset.html

It seemed to me that we can use this to combine several settings, e.g.
in recoding a variable the user could set old value, new value and
what-to-do-with-missing-values in-place (aka the place where the status
is represented also is the place for editing)
But I could only find examples where the settings were generated outside
the optionset list and added/removed via a + and a - button.

Is that right, or is there an (unused?) in-place-editing way of interaction?

(as part of this thoughts I did review the recoding UIs of other
Stat-Applications. All are sorta horrid, in brief – I did not want this
post to grow to long.)

Kind Regards,
 Jan

PS.: I hope it is o.k. if I share/contribute the usability
remarks/ideas/questions here. Since mails may have a sense of urgency
rather than suggestions I could put the content somewhere else
(Bugtracker, Wiki…)