Обсуждение: Column types

It would be nice if the list that displays the columns in a table also 
displayed the type of each column:

http://i.imgur.com/VkpQo.jpg

Thanks!
Timwi

Le 05/24/2011 05:36 PM, Arne Heizmann a écrit :
> 
> It would be nice if the list that displays the columns in a table also
> displayed the type of each column:
> 

We try to have some consistency. So for each object's list, we only
display "common" properties: name, owner, comments. If we add other
properties, then everyone will have his favourites. I'm not against, but
it's not that simple to code.


-- 
Guillaumehttp://www.postgresql.frhttp://dalibo.com

On 24/05/2011 20:52, Guillaume Lelarge wrote:
>> It would be nice if the list that displays the columns in a table also
>> displayed the type of each column:
>
> We try to have some consistency.

Even when it clearly impairs usability? :)

Interesting you should say that though, because there are a few 
inconsistencies with native OS behaviour — for example, the Context key 
doesn’t open context menus. Shift+F10 does though. Normally Shift+F10 is 
considered an alias for the Context key.

Would you like me to report more of these as I encouter them? I tried to 
find a public bugtracker where I could file them, but all I found was a 
reference to this mailing list.

> If we add other properties, then everyone will have his favourites.

Well if you add properties just because someone thinks it’s his 
favourite, then of course you’d be impairing usability in the other 
direction. Good UI design requires you to strike the right balance — 
nobody said UI design is easy :)

A column’s type is not a favourite, it’s essential information. Also a 
column in a table is not a J. Random Object, it’s an archetypical 
feature of an RDBMS. If anything deserves special treatment, wouldn’t 
you agree that this is a pretty good candidate? :)

Timwi

Le 05/24/2011 11:55 PM, Arne Heizmann a écrit :
> On 24/05/2011 20:52, Guillaume Lelarge wrote:
>>> It would be nice if the list that displays the columns in a table also
>>> displayed the type of each column:
>>
>> We try to have some consistency.
> 
> Even when it clearly impairs usability? :)
> 

No. That's why we put the datatype field in the first tab of the column
properties dialog. But we didn't at first.

And to be honest, I don't see it as "impairing usability".

> Interesting you should say that though, because there are a few
> inconsistencies with native OS behaviour — for example, the Context key
> doesn’t open context menus. Shift+F10 does though. Normally Shift+F10 is
> considered an alias for the Context key.
> 

Could be a wxWidgets bug. I'll have to look into this.

> Would you like me to report more of these as I encouter them?

Yes, of course.

> I tried to
> find a public bugtracker where I could file them, but all I found was a
> reference to this mailing list.
> 

There's no (read/write) public bugtracker. There's a "private" one
(http://code.pgadmin.org) where we put interesting things to work on (at
least the ones we don't have time to work on immediately).

So, yeah, you found a bug, or you want a new feature? tell about it on
the pgadmin-support mailing list.

>> If we add other properties, then everyone will have his favourites.
> 
> Well if you add properties just because someone thinks it’s his
> favourite, then of course you’d be impairing usability in the other
> direction. Good UI design requires you to strike the right balance —
> nobody said UI design is easy :)
> 

+1

> A column’s type is not a favourite, it’s essential information.

I agree it's an essential information. But that doesn't mean it should
appear on that list.

> Also a
> column in a table is not a J. Random Object, it’s an archetypical
> feature of an RDBMS. If anything deserves special treatment, wouldn’t
> you agree that this is a pretty good candidate? :)
> 

I agree. I also agree it would be a pretty good candidate to be shown in
this list. But I'm worried this is the opening of Pandora's box.


-- 
Guillaumehttp://www.postgresql.frhttp://dalibo.com

Le 05/25/2011 10:50 PM, Arne Heizmann a écrit :
> On 25/05/2011 06:37, Guillaume Lelarge wrote:
>>> Would you like me to report more of these as I encouter them?
>> Yes, of course.
> 
> OK, here’s another one. I normally expect all menu items to have a
> mnemonic (an underlined letter) for easy access, and I normally expect
> all the mnemonics within a menu to be unique, i.e. no clashes. However,
> in pgAdmin quite a lot of menu items have no mnemonics. In particular,
> the context menu has none at all.
> 

Seems a good idea.

> Since I am likely going to be using pgAdmin a lot in the near future, I
> would be happy to set all these mnemonics myself. To this end, I’ve just
> downloaded TortoiseGIT and I’ll be playing with that to see if I can get
> the source code to compile. Suppose that I manage to do this before
> getting too frustrated :) — where would I submit the patch?
> 

pgadmin-hackers is the place.


-- 
Guillaumehttp://www.postgresql.frhttp://dalibo.com

On 25/05/2011 06:37, Guillaume Lelarge wrote:
>> Would you like me to report more of these as I encouter them?
> Yes, of course.

OK, here’s another one. I normally expect all menu items to have a 
mnemonic (an underlined letter) for easy access, and I normally expect 
all the mnemonics within a menu to be unique, i.e. no clashes. However, 
in pgAdmin quite a lot of menu items have no mnemonics. In particular, 
the context menu has none at all.

Since I am likely going to be using pgAdmin a lot in the near future, I 
would be happy to set all these mnemonics myself. To this end, I’ve just 
downloaded TortoiseGIT and I’ll be playing with that to see if I can get 
the source code to compile. Suppose that I manage to do this before 
getting too frustrated :) — where would I submit the patch?

Thanks!
Timwi