kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Andy Peters <devel@xxxxxxxxx>]

> On Jun 22, 2015, at 9:09 AM, Henner Zeller <h.zeller@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> On 22 June 2015 at 08:42, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On 6/20/2015 4:38 PM, Henner Zeller wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> The checkbox labels in the annotation dialog are hard to understand
>>> because they are passive voice and not very clear (What does 'Silent
>>> mode' mean ?).
>>> Also, the default for the 'Automatically close dialog' (which is
>>> false) doesn't really make sense in regluar work. So I changed it.
>>> 
>>> Patch
>>> https://github.com/hzeller/kicad/compare/better-annotation-dialog-checkbox-messaging.diff
>>> 
>>> Suggested commit message:
>>> ---------------
>>> Change messaging in Dialog checkbox labelling in Annotation dialog
>>> to more easily digestable active speech
>>>   - 'Silent mode' -> 'Always ask for confirmation'. Default on
>>>     (Same behavior as before, though arguably, it is very annoying and
>>>     should probably be default off)
>>>   - 'Automatically close dialog' -> 'Keep this dialog open'
>>>     Also changed the default to _not_ keep the dialog open (what is
>>>     keeping it open even be useful for ?)
>>> ------------
>>> 
>>> (I wonder, is there ever a reason to keep the annotation dialog open ?
>>> This only really makes sense if this is a non-modal dialog).
>> 
>> I don't understand why the annotation dialog would stay open as opposed
>> to any other modal dialog.
> 
> Exactly, this is why I made the change.
> 
>> The annotate button should perform the
>> annotation and close the dialog box.  I would have no problem with that
>> change.
> 
> I can't think of a reason why the user should want to keep the dialog
> open at all (maybe there were historical reasons ? - someone on the
> mailing list might know).
> Are there ever non-modal invocations of this dialog ?
> 
> If there are no such reasons, I think the next step is to get rid of
> this option entirely.

The only reason I can see for not having the dialog close itself after the annotation completes is if there was some sort of feedback to the user, perhaps a list of changed annotations (similar to the Altium ECO thing).

And I think that feedback would be handy. Who hasn’t reannotated a schematic only to discover that it chose something wacky for the multi-unit parts? (I know that there’s an option in the annotation dialog which keeps those units together, which is brilliant.)

-a