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wxAUI feature requests

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wxAUI feature requests

Postby tenmon on Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:34 pm

Hi! I find wxAUI nice :), but I would like to see these very important features wxIFM currently haves:

1) Forget XOR rectangles; wxIFM uses the vastly more intuitive drag'n'drop docking system seen in recent betas of MS Visual Studio 2005. As you drag a window, arrows pop up letting you know exactly where you need to place to mouse to dock a window in a specific location. No more blindly wiggling the mouse hoping that XOR rectangle goes where you want it to.
2) Tear-able tabs let you have more than one window in the same spot saving space but still allowing flexability in your interface.
3) Put as many windows into the same floating window as you want.
4) Drag entire containers containing many child windows just like you were dragging any other dockable window.

For 1), currently when you drag a window in wxAUI, you really don't know if it'll be docked or not, or where.

For 2), not having tear-able tabs is a showstopper for my needs. A tabs-handling is really needed :)

Recently wxIFM has improved a lot, be sure to check it out (http://www.snakesoft.net/wxifm/).


Now, for one feature request a bit cosmetical (applies only to wxMSW port):

Using something like wxCoolBar (http://www.planet-berlin-it.de/wx/wxcoolbar/) which implements the native MS rebar control for the toolbars, would be great also.

Regards,
Tenmon
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RE: wxAUI feature request

Postby Aaron on Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:58 pm

Thanks for your feedback!

wxAUI currently supports the following functionality:

* Native, floating/docking frames
* Toolbars, incorporating "spring-loaded" dragging
* Perspective saving and loading
* Customizable floating/docking behavior
* Customizable look and feel
* Optional transparent window effects while dragging and docking

Based on the roadmap, upcoming versions of the library may implement the features you need, including:

* An optional Heads Up Display (HUD) display mode for precisely positioned frame docking
* Tab options to view and organize documents
* Drop-down combos and menus in toolbars and tear-away frames

Best Regards,
Aaron
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Postby tenmon on Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:21 am

Really great!

Now currently using wxAUI in the Code::Blocks IDE.

Looking forward to 1.0 and post 1.0 wxAUI :)
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Postby zz.fugazi on Thu May 04, 2006 10:26 am

I'd like to second (and third, and ...) the request for tearable tabs. These are very common UI elements today (Photoshop, Dreamweaver).

How about changing the current concept of "layers" to something akin to "gravity" or "center affinity" then using the concept of layers for stacked, tearable tabs?
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Another plea for tearable tabs

Postby antony on Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:35 am

First: wxAUI is wonderful! Thank you for developing this and contributing it to the community. I really like the simple API and implementation and the clean, polished feel of the docking interaction.

However, I need to add my voice to those pleading for support for tearable tabs. I am currently porting a proprietary interactive programming environment to wx. In my environment, users can use a little scripting language to create windows with their own real-time interactive analytic tools or to write add-on utilities for the programming environment itself. I would love to use AUI to manage the top-level UI for this environment. But there will be tens of open windows and I can't know a priori what windows will be open or what the users will need to be able to see simultaneously. There will definitely be too many windows to tile effectively, and yet it would be awkward to make all windows floating by default.

Some kind of tabbing support would be the optimal solution. I tried using wxIFM, but found some disappointing shortcomings in its API and think the docking interaction just isn't as nice as wxAUI. (I also wasn't thrilled with the abandon-ware aspect of it...)

I was a bit disappointed that tab support isn't on the wxAUI 1.0 roadmap. Your previous posts hinted that you were maybe considering adding some kind of tab support. Can you give the community a little more of an explicit hint? Are tearable tabs (or some similar functionality) under active development now, or just something you might consider in the future? I ask in in part because maybe those of us who want this should consider contributing a solution, but I want to avoid duplication of effort.

Thanks,

-Antony Courtney
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Postby Aaron on Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:12 am

We agree that tab support would be an outstanding addition to wxAUI. Currently, there are some discussions on the wx developer's list that we need to work through before we can address this, but stay tuned - we think you'll be pleased!
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