[udig-devel] Feedback on uDig 1.1-RC3

[Jesse Eichar]

On 24-Aug-06, at 12:39 PM, Matthias Basler wrote:

> Cory wrote:
>> uDig 1.1-RC3 has been released.  Thanks to everyone who helped out by
>> testing and providing patches!
>
> As usual I downloaded it and gave it some test run with the "usual"  
> shapefiles. Here are my results/comments:
>
> 1. Status bar is now part of the map editor. Why this? It looks a  
> bit strange to me, because the things shown there are typical  
> status bar elements. But it's not a problem to me either.
>
This is so that the actions are always visible.  Before you had to  
select the map tab, but not just click on the map because that might  
trigger a zoom.  It was a real pain.

> 2. CRS button on this status line now again updates its label after  
> the user selected a new CRS. I closed my corresponding bug report.
>
cool
> 3. Map rename is now in the popup menu. Fine!
>
> 4. Deleting a layer (Del key) in the layer view does not update the  
> view until another editor/view is activated.
>
Interesting I will investigate this.
> 5. Being in "mylar mode" and having the "selection view" visible I  
> managed to create a kind of deadlock situation:
> I had bc_2m_lakes and bc_2m_border (among others) in my map. I  
> clicked through the layers to check the mylar effect, accidentially  
> double clicking one. Its properties window opened I closed it.  
> After that I found that uDig was constantly switching the active  
> layer between bc_2m_lakes and bc_2m_border (the layer view +   
> flickered). There were tasks like (translated) "Fetching child  
> elements" - and a big mass of them.
> Then the application became unresponsive - no wonder with 50+ uDig  
> tasks running in parallel... - and I had 100% processor activity. I  
> had to kill uDig.
> I don't know what of the reported things exactly caused the  
> described effect. I havn't created a bug report yet, because I  
> cannot recreate the problem at will. Just wanted you to know.
>
> 6. The help still shows the German basic tutorial for version 1.0.x  
> (without the edit functions). I updated it two months ago!
> At least those images that are shown are not corrupted any more.  
> But a lot of English pages are showing up in the German help. Sure,  
> I havn't yet translated the latest ones but cannot remember putting  
> them into the TOC either. I will have another go at the German  
> translations as soon as you guarantee me you are not going to  
> implement new features and property page entries for 1.1 any more.

Doh.  I guess we just exported the english...  Sorry about that.
>
> 7. Copyright on help pages should be updated to 2006, shouldn't it?
>
> 8. In edit mode (no matter which), I oftern need to scroll the  
> viewport. It would be nice if  there was some mouse action for  
> scrolling without having to leave the edit mode (provided that  
> extended edit mode is on). Zooming wors (scroll whee), so maybe  
> panning could be realized when the mouse is moved with its scroll  
> key being pressed.

There is both actually.  Hold CTRL +Arrow key to pan.  CRTL+= to zoom  
out CTRL+- to zoom in.  You can also use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom.
>
> 9. When editing features, the actual features (filled polygon in my  
> case) is not updated until the edit operation is finished (i.e. the  
> features deselected). In the meantime the changes are only  
> reflected by the yellow edit line. This makes sense from a  
> performance POV, still I find it a bit irritating. I always think  
> the edit operation hasn't worked, although it has.
>
There is a preference you can set that fills the polygons... But the  
old polygon will stay where it is.  I found it too much to request  
that a re-render occur when ever a polygon is selected since certain  
datastores are fairly slow to respond.
>
> Still unresolved "obvious" UI errors (bug reports exist)
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 1. Dragging a layer down in the layer list inserts it at the wrong  
> position.
I have never experienced this.  It may be the feed back isn't  
explicit enough.  Now that we are using 3.2 I think there are more  
options available to us for DND feedback.
>
> 2. Displaying "bc_borders.shp" and zooming in to Vancouver are, one  
> finds that the US-Canadian border and adjacent pieces are not  
> drawn. They simply disappear as the SE corner of BC is outside the  
> window.

>
> 3. Help UI is still English.
>
> 4. The hole cutting tool has always been a bit tenacious, and still  
> is. I am not able to cut holes into bc_2m_lakes as I want to.
> The other edit tools seem to work fine.

Could I get a bit more information on this?  What is your work flow?   
What do you expect? what does is the actual behaviour that you observe?
>
> 5. "Simple" page in style editor definitly needs a better layout.  
> It spoils the nice professional look and feel of uDig.
>

Fair enough.
>
> I could probably find more bugs, but don't have the time for deeper  
> testing now. Hope the above already helps. Good luck.


Thank you as usual.

Jesse