[ros-dev] Network connection config dialog prototype

[Andrew "Silver Blade" Greenwood]

Nice design. I hadn't considered a tree-view!

Only thing is, I'm not sure if the tree-view is necessary - how many 
users visit the network config dialogs more than once in a blue moon to 
adjust something? I only ever delve in there if I'm testing a router for 
someone and have to change my subnet.

Also, I think the protocol-specific dialogs are actually in separate 
modules, and appear as dialogs. I could be wrong. But this would mean 
it'd not be possible to do as you describe :(

But as a compromise - if necessary - maybe it'd be an idea to copy the 
Firefox style of "preferences" dialog, with icons where the tree-view 
is, but have each icon represent a different connection...


Jasper van de Gronde wrote:

> Andrew "Silver Blade" Greenwood wrote:
>
>> ...
>>
>> Can you come up with a design?
>
>
> I don't know about others, but one thing that has always bothered me 
> enormously is that it's hard to get an overview. Perhaps it would be 
> possible to list all connections at once in a tree view for example, 
> instead of forcing the user to open and close dialogs all the time. It 
> might even work to put some of the options in this tree view.
> Or perhaps it would be better (as in more attainable) to just open 
> property sheets next to tree view instead of forcing the user to 
> navigate through multiple windows (first selecting the connection in 
> "Network Connections" and requesting its properties, then selecting 
> the desired item, click on properties, and then possibly even a click 
> on advanced).
>
> To illustrate my thoughts I've created a mock-up that shows a lay-out 
> that would at least be an improvement over the XP layout for me:
> http://home.hccnet.nl/th.v.d.gronde/networkconnection.png
> For the mock-up source (Glade+Python, if anyone is interested in 
> expanding on this idea):
> http://home.hccnet.nl/th.v.d.gronde/networkconnection.zip
>
> You'll have to imagine the details like icons and so on, but it shows 
> the general idea of putting all the connections in one tree view, 
> which makes it easy to quickly navigate to the desired property page, 
> to switch between property pages (of different connections) to compare 
> settings and last but not least it avoids screen clutter! (try 
> navigating to the list of IP addresses under Windows, you'll have four 
> windows open!!!)
>
> There would definitely be some details to fill-in. Like what to do 
> when navigating to a different property page when the current one has 
> been modified but not yet applied? But these issues should be possible 
> to resolve, either by looking at what other people do or (when lacking 
> satisfactory examples) by devising new solutions.
>
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