[Gtk-sharp-list] DataGrid control, data binding, ObjectViews, Swf, Gtk

[Mike Kestner]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 10:08 -0500, Scott Ellington wrote:
> > #5) SWF controls are not easy/helpful to port to gtk# in all honesty. In
> > fact, they suck to port. Everything is pretty different, and you don't
> > want to use System.Drawing on Linux if you can use Cairo directly (imo),
> > and even if you did, its still not a good path to rainbows and puppies.
> 
> Indeed.  But a DataGrid type object in gtk# would be sweet.

Data binding is one of the two highest priority features for the next
feature addition interval, which will not be until after 2.8.0 is
shipped.  So yes, some form of DataGrid is likely to make it into Gtk#
at some point.

> Aren't NodeView, NodeStore, and NodeSelection custom gtk# widgets that
> have been rolled into the gtk# library?  I'm not sure that throwing tons
> of custom widgets in their is a great idea.  

1) NodeView, Store, and Selection are all attempts to expose the
TreeView API in a C# friendly manner, not custom widget implementations
from scratch.  

2) I am NodeStore's author and consulted on NodeView/Selection which are
thin wrappers of their Tree* equivalent. The likelihood of me
maintaining a from-scratch widget that I didn't implement or even
consult on is pretty slim, unless it's really really good code and a
really general-use and compelling widget.  Custom widgets are for the
most part outside the scope of Gtk#.

> I'd just like some official
> library that gtk# developers can share, so if Lluis makes some
> improvements or fixes to DockToolbar I get them without having to patch
> my own copy.

The reality is that this just doesn't work.  There have been numerous
experiments in widget aggregation in GNOME from gal to egg.  For that
matter, libgnomeui.  Most of the general purpose widgetry is already
contained in Gtk#.  Do you really want your users to have to download
and install the NPlot widget to be able to use DockToolbar?  And do you
really want the developers of DockToolbar to have to synchronize their
release schedule with the developers of WidgetA thru WidgetZ?

We have already put in place the beginnings of what I think makes the
most sense regarding a widget/control repository for Gtk# derived
widgets:

http://www.mono-project.com/GtkSharp#Additional_Widgets

I think it would be good to turn it into a table with licensing
information available at a glance.  As it starts to grow, it can be
categorized by styles of widgets and so on.  All it needs is an
advocate/maintainer. 

I think a referential repository of independently released widget
libraries that can be imported into or referenced by projects makes much
more sense long term than the
gtk-sharp-extra-widgets-of-all-shapes-and-sizes.dll approach.

-- 
Mike Kestner <mkestner at novell.com>