> you may already have stated this in one of your emails, but I think > this email signals that this is the appropriate point in time to think > which path the qt version of xcircuit will be heading. It is not a > hard trench, but there is a difference between schematics for pcb and > schematics for full or semi custom designs. Which path will you > pursue?
The hardest one: both are in scope. > Tim has managed to create a tool that is not just schematic capture, > but a very flexible and fast drawing tool with which block diagrams > for system documentation can be drawn faster and more accurate than > any other tool available. I know -- that's why I decided to tackle that code base at the expense of others. > I will vote for the e-key inline editing of > text or objects as the single most powerful editing function. That's understood, it's a feature that I consider a killer one! > Next to > that comes the instant select and move by mouse-button-1 drag That's pretty much implied. Every sane drawing program out there behaves that way -- Xcircuit extends that by allowing to drag non-nodes while preserving Manhattan wire arrangement etc. > followed > by the multiple selection feature not needing any modifier keys either > by repeated selection or middle-mouse-drag selection area. I detest the whole select-with-shift/ctrl fiasco, of course, it's just silly -- worse, one mistake and you have to redo everything. Xcircuit at least lets you undo changes to the selection list -- it's a major usability win IMHO. I think that the important point is: I was merely touching on internal software design issues. The user-facing behavior would be either preserved or enhanced, not degraded. We're talking internals. As for externals, current modus operandi is preservation of the specimen ;) Qt's QGraphicsItem system does not mandate any particular way of user interaction, apart from the limitation already present in Xcircuit that if you have more than one window open to view the same page, the windows share editing and selection context. That limitation will be maintained for now, as doing otherwise is a big task that can be implemented independently of Xcircuit -- it'd be a feature of QGraphicsScene system. Cheers, Kuba _______________________________________________ Xcircuit-dev mailing list [email protected] http://www.opencircuitdesign.com/mailman/listinfo/xcircuit-dev
