Re: pgaccess problems

On Mon, 8 Jul 2002, Christoph Dalitz wrote:

> Hello,
>
> while trying pgaccess, I have encountered two problems:
>
> a) I did not figure out how to specify username, host etc. from
>    the command line

Hmmm...I thought this worked but I just checked and it's only the host, port
and database that may be specified on the command line.

>
> b) With 100dpi fonts most dialogs are messed up and cannot be
>    used; eg. in the "open" dialog the "password" entry field is not displayed

Yes, you should be able to change fonts using the preferences. Unfortunately
the way place, the geometry manager, works is not compatible with dynamically
sizing of windows to suit different settings, like font sizes, unless the
application codes it. This is the manager that vTcl uses and I believe the
originator of pgaccess used to vTcl to design the windows.

Whilst I agree that having vTcl can make laying out windows easier I have
always prefered the pack geometry manager which allows applications to adjust
themselves to such things without the application having to do the work. But
then I am a great believer in the X11 tradition that the application knows
diddley squat about how a user wants it to look. There are of course advantages
to using place such as easy and consistent postioning or widgets.

So, I suggest you try and set a smaller font size in preferences. My default
causes the password field to only just be visible at the bottom of the open
dialog so I have changed the font and everything has become visible. An
alternate is that the tab key will cycle keyboard focus through the entry
fields in a dialog. For the open database dialog the fields are Host, Port,
Database, Username and Password. So, starting with the Host field having focus
you can get to the Password field by hitting tab 4 times.

>
> While a) is only annoying, b) makes pgaccess unusable.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1) Is there a way to make pgaccess usable with 100dpi fonts?

I think the answer to that is probably no unless you go through the source code
and make every window that's not already resizeable to be so and the change the
widget placements to be relative rather than absolute.

> 2) if not, is there some other comparable tool that runs on Linux?

I hear pgAdminII is good but I also think that is MS Windows only.


--
Nigel J. Andrews
Director

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Logictree Systems Limited
Computer Consultants