Mouse controls (was: Re: Survex 1.1.3 test version uploaded)

[Olly Betts]

On Mon, Sep 12, 2005 at 04:10:23PM +0100, Mark Shinwell wrote:
> To this end I have produced a patch which allows one to select the
> traditional bindings for current and future Aven sessions.

As I've explained before, I don't want to go down this road.  We need to
have a good default set of key and mouse bindings.  If the new bindings
are genuinely generally disliked, then we should simply revert to the
old ones.  So far all the feedback on the bindings as they exist in
1.1.3 I've had (except from you and Dave Loeffler) has been positive.

But it's quite possible there's a silent majority who hate them.  After
all I was under the impression only I disliked your original revised
mouse bindings until I mentioned it on here and discovered that nobody
seemed to like them, including you!

> unfortunately, despite the fact that Survex would probably not have
> such a functional cave viewer if I had not written Aven in the first
> place, I cannot now commit any changes to the source code.

We all appreciate your work.  And you are able to commit changes - just
send me patches and if they're appropriate I'll commit them.  The same
goes for anyone else.

As I've already explained in private mail, I can't easily just give you
direct commit access at present as the server isn't mine to dole out
accounts on.  I've been considering what the best answer is, but for now
it's easiest for me just to take patches.  I've got quite a backlog of
things to do after almost 2 months away...

You haven't actually sent me any of your changes from expo yet, but
despite that I've already started to commit them (I managed to take a
diff before I left).  Bear in mind I only got back to my dev box
last Monday evening.

So far I've committed the shadowed bounding box and that will be in
the next snapshot.

The other changes are:

* The fancy print preview mode.  I've got a version from you and a
  version from Phil (which I think he started hacking on after you
  left), so I'm unsure what's what anyway.  It looks like it needs
  some more work too - for example I don't see how to set the scale to
  (say) 1:500 which is vital functionality.

* Making the mouse configurable, which I don't think appropriate.

* A total overhaul of the menu structure.  I think this needs
  discussion.  The current menu structure has evolved and grown with
  time and is arguably not optimal.  But major changes like this will
  wind up most existing users even if the new arrangement might be more
  natural if starting from scratch.

* A new program called "cavestats" which I don't have the source for
  as it's a new file (and the disk from the expo machine doesn't seem to
  be online yet).

* A much looser choice of font for generating the file used to draw
  station names.  I suspect this is just a quick hack because you were
  lacking the font as specified (only an issue when building from CVS).
  It at least needs tightening to fix the encoding...

> - You shouldn't have to use both hands to control the cave when you have
>   a three-buttoned mouse (at the moment you have to press Control to
>   tilt, which I find difficult to do with the hand holding the mouse).

You don't have to use a second hand - the scroll wheel tilts the cave
(thanks to a patch from Phil).

Cheers,
    Olly