[Lazarus] IDE UI consolidation (was: Re: lfm as pascal)

[Alexander Klenin]

On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 18:28, Graeme Geldenhuys <graemeg.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 2:44 AM, Alexander Klenin <klenin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> FWIW, I often use "Quick search" (Ctrl+E) for code navigation,
>
> How does "quick search" work?  I highlighted an identifier I want to
> seach for, pressed Ctrl+E. It showed "seaching" in the editor status
> bar, but nothing further. Sometimes it highlights a whole bunch of
> stuff like the letter "e". I'm a bit lost. :-(

It is like Firefox built-in search: start typing, and it moves to the next
occurrence of the typed string.

> The wiki pages is trying to give greater exposure as well - visually
> with animation.

Yes, documentation is good.
But it is well-known fact that users do not read documentation ;-)

>> 1) "Find procedure" should be merged into "Code explorer"
>
> I don't know "Find procedure" where is that? I used the filter in "key
> mappings" and found "find procedure definition" and "find procedure
> method" using the age old Ctrl+shift+Up/Down.  I would have expected
> everybody to know the latter key mapping - it's what makes the Lazarus
> and Delphi IDE such a pleasure compared to other programming editors.

Sorry, I meant "Procedure List".

>> 2) "Find in files", "Messages" and "Code observer" should be merged together,
>> with interface most resembling "Find in files"
>
> I can't see how these can be combined. They are totally different
> features. Maybe the result windows could be docked though.

Although different in implementation, they are very similar in output:
they all display a hierarchial list of strings, each string tied to a
code location.
Look how it is done in Visual Studio 2005 and later.

>> 3) "Unit list" (Ctrl+F12) should be merged into "Project Inspector"
> I guess, but I simply have the "project Inspector" window always open.
> So I simply click a unit to open it.

Yes, just add keyboard shortcut and searching feature
from unit list to project inspector, then "unit list" becames
a strict subset of it and can be safely removed.

> As Paul suggested. I think docking is the key here... it will make
> many feature or windows more manageable.

I very much agree that docking is important. However, even with docking
one can manage only a limited number of open windows.

-- 
Alexander S. Klenin