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

[Thomas Friedrichsmeier]

Hi,

On Thu, 28 May 2015 15:45:09 +0200
d_jan <d_jan at ymail.com> wrote:
> 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.

great!

> 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?

I am not sure, whether this is what you mean, but there are in fact two
"modes of operation" for the optionset. One is the "manual" variant,
featuring +/- buttons. One example use is in Data->Recode categorical
data. I do know it's a difficult beast to use...

The other is called a "driven" optionset. It is suitable for cases
where a list of "things" is already defined somewhere outside the
optionset, and then the optionset allows to make specific settings for
each "thing". One example is Data->Sort data. Arguably, it could also
be used for recoding, by "driving" the optionset with the existing old
values, and using "unchanged" as the default setting.

It is true that in both cases there is a split between a status display
showing the complete list of settings, and the controls that actually
allow changing the settings for the current item. In a certain sense,
this _is_ in-place-editing: If you select an existing item from the
list and change its settings, these changes take effect, immediately,
and are shown in the list display, immediately. The + button is for
creating new rows in the list, only. Note that there is - some -
flexibility in the looks&layout. E.g. perhaps the usage would become
more obvious if reducing the status display to only a single column,
and placing it side-by-side with the settings controls.

An alternative - and much less confusing - control is the <matrix>,
which is pretty much a simple spread-sheet editor. But on the downside,
this does not allow using any complex controls for editing. (It could
certainly be smarted up, somewhat, compared to what it can do,
currently, but probably not to the point of providing arbitrary
controls for each cell).

> (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…)

Absolutely, in particular as long as there a questions / things to
discuss. However, once there is any sort of conclusion (or at least a
clear problem statement), it does make a lot of sense to record this in
a medium more suitable for task tracking. I.e. bugtracker, or wiki.

Regards
Thomas
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