[Uml-devel] Re: karbon/umbrello

[Dirk Schönberger]

> >core is really meant to be a standalone development environment. iirc,
there
> >was some talk about refactoring karbon's core to provide something like
that.
> >i'm hoping there is because i don't really feel like trying to make
umbrello
> >a koffice app just yet. this _is_ my first qt/kde program :)

> Yes it was not intended as a shared lib from the beginning. OTOH its
> reasonably abstracted
> and just oriented towards vector graphics (hence the V :)).
> That said, I suppose it could be made a shared lib. To make that work we
> would have to  define useful, common base classes like VObject, VPath,
VText, VGroup etc.
> The apps
> can then build on this, for instance karbon builds on VPath/VComposite the
shapes
> VEllipse, VRectangle etc. etc. So I guess first step would be seperating
the common (base) classes and the
> app specific classes built on top of them. Keep in mind kivio (visio like
koffice app)
> may want to use the base classes as well.
> Maybe next step could be, determining minimum rendering properties
> (fills/strokes/gradients/hatches etc.). And after that, maybe exact
demands
> on the canvas, as I doubt VCanvas currently is optimized enough...

I think the rendering model of VPainter (or perhaps KPainter) is a good base
for the above mentioned programs.
I would like to refactor the V* class hierarchy as part of kpainter, i.e. as
shared lib. Basically I woule like to introduce the following base classes
KanvasView (based on VCanvas, basically handles view functionality, calls
the appropriate render element render methods)
KanvasController (handles controller functionality, i.e. translates mouse
and keyboard events to commands / actions), handles selections (currently
selected KanvasElements). I think this class is currently not really clearly
implemented in Karbons V* class hierarchy.
KanvasModel, based on VDocument, handles the model functionality. Holds a
sequence of KanvasElements, delegates the controller actions to the selected
KanvasElements
KanvasElement, the elements which are displayed, printed or otherwise
rendered. I would like to base KanvasElements on my KPainterElement, i.e.
they are rendered using KPainter. Additionally they can handle direct UI
events (keyDown, keyUp, mouseUp, mouseDown, mouseMove, or translated calls
from the model. I hope that VObject can be used for basic behaviour
handling.

Child classes of KanvasElements, or VObjects, I agree with VGroup, VText. I
am not quite sure about VPath,
VEllipse, VRectangle. IMHO there should be implemented application specific
classes, like for UML class views.
I don't really like a "KanvasUMLClassView inherits from VPath" class
hierarchy.

Regards
Dirk