Suggestions for improvement
dcampbell24
probably take a few pointers from the way ArcCatalog does things and
maybe think about trying to implement many of the same features. One
of my first thoughts is that the canvas area by default is way too
small. I suggest removing the tabs and creating a unified tree
structure on the left which does not display the size of the files.
Instead, show the file size on a metadata tab on the right and get rid
of the Properties button. Another issue I see is that the GeoApt does
not seem to be very friendly to using the keyboard. You can't navigate
files with the keyboard and there is no key binding to quit.
I also wonder if the source code could be made easier to follow. I
think it would be helpful to get rid of a lot of the temporary
comments that exist which I guess are there for debugging or UI
experimentation. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the debugging
code something that is optionally used with a run time flag? Lines
like
# enable drag
self.treeview.setDragEnabled(True)
are also distracting. The comment does not explain anything that is
not already obvious. I don't understand why there are no doc strings
anywhere or why some indentations are two spaces and others four.
Adopting a coding style/conventions may be useful. I suggest following
PEP 8. Especially if more coders are going to get involved, things
could get really messy. I don't really like the idea of mass editing
the source just to try to make it more aesthetic, but it does not seem
like anyone other than Gary has touched the code at this point, and
now would be better than later. Readability matters a lot if others
are going to be contributing.
I have added my current "wish list" to the wiki and will add more
items as I think of them. Unless told I ought to do otherwise, I am
going to start working on the items I list under my name.
Gary Sherman
> I tried out GeoApt and I think it could use a bit of work. We could
> probably take a few pointers from the way ArcCatalog does things and
> maybe think about trying to implement many of the same features. One
> of my first thoughts is that the canvas area by default is way too
> small. I suggest removing the tabs and creating a unified tree
> structure on the left which does not display the size of the files.
> Instead, show the file size on a metadata tab on the right and get rid
> of the Properties button. Another issue I see is that the GeoApt does
> not seem to be very friendly to using the keyboard. You can't navigate
> files with the keyboard and there is no key binding to quit.
>
room for improvement.
> I also wonder if the source code could be made easier to follow. I
> think it would be helpful to get rid of a lot of the temporary
> comments that exist which I guess are there for debugging or UI
> experimentation. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the debugging
> code something that is optionally used with a run time flag? Lines
> like
>
> # enable drag
> self.treeview.setDragEnabled(True)
>
> are also distracting. The comment does not explain anything that is
> not already obvious. I don't understand why there are no doc strings
> anywhere or why some indentations are two spaces and others four.
> Adopting a coding style/conventions may be useful. I suggest following
> PEP 8. Especially if more coders are going to get involved, things
> could get really messy. I don't really like the idea of mass editing
> the source just to try to make it more aesthetic, but it does not seem
> like anyone other than Gary has touched the code at this point, and
> now would be better than later. Readability matters a lot if others
> are going to be contributing.
The code is somewhat stream of consciousness and hasn't been cleaned up.
I decided to get it out in the open so these kinds of comments would
roll in :)
As for indentation, not sure how that happened but I plan to reindent
and clean it up a bit---unless you have already done that.
>
> I have added my current "wish list" to the wiki and will add more
> items as I think of them. Unless told I ought to do otherwise, I am
> going to start working on the items I list under my name.
>
Great---my evil plan to solicit contributions using incomplete code has
worked yet again! I look forward to contributions!
-gary
--
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Gary Sherman
Chair, QGIS Project Steering Committee
-Desktop GIS Book:
*http://desktopgisbook.com
-Geospatial Consulting & Hosting
*http://geoapt.com
"We work virtually everywhere"
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
David Campbell
> As for indentation, not sure how that happened but I plan to reindent
> and clean it up a bit---unless you have already done that.
I will try to clean things up some, but would prefer if you fix
the indentation. Otherwise, the git history will make it look like
I was the author of a lot of code I didn't really do anything to.
--
David Campbell