Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

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kritip
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Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

Post by kritip »

I generally run on windows.

MLV has a nice "open" etc window that i can sort by date and view file properties.

TS is different, i can't view modified dates etc.

I guess TS is using a different API? If it's known, and intended due to programming nicetieis, then fair enough, but if the same window can be used in TS eastly, then that'd be nice :)

I can post pictures if you have no clue what i mean :oops: :)

Cheers,

Kristian
Constantly evolving;
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LT401Vette
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Re: Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

Post by LT401Vette »

I know just what you mean.... MLV has 2 different File Open dialog options.

I have gone into this on the MLV forum a couple times, but my biggest complaint with using Java for desktop applications is that the File Dialog option suck!

By default MLV uses the same basic file dialog that TS uses (but with a different skin), the Java swing dialog, but if you have "Use Alternate File Dialog" checked on the Options menu, it uses the standard Windows dialog that it always used in really old versions.

Here is the problem though, using the basic standard windows dialog, I have absolutely no programmatic control over it. All I can do is tell it to open and it pops up in the top right corner. I can't set filters, set placement, allow multiple selects... It really doesn't let me do much.
The other main stream option is the swing dialog, this give me very good control and has a lot of flexibility. Enough flexibility that in TS I make it look pretty much just like a standard windows dialog, But the down side is it is slow, has some bugs, and just doesn't have all the user features for file sorting that windows users are used to.

MLV you can still use the widows dialog with the only lost feature being lack of opening multiple files at once. But in TS I am pretty depended on being able to control the view as a project for example isn't a file but a folder structure.

I have dug into this and found quite a few complaints and bugs logged with Sun on the Swing file dialog, with some commitment to fixing them. The next best options are probably to write my own, which would probably be a longer term waste of time or look at another tool kit like swt, but then I would have additional dependencies and the distribution would grow....
So I am pretty much just at the mercy of Sun to fix the swing one... I hope.
Phil Tobin
EFI Analytics, helping to simplify EFI
Next Generation tuning software.
Supporting all MegaSquirt versions and firmwares.
http://www.TunerStudio.com
http://www.efiAnalytics.com/MegaLogViewer/
Support the firmware running your engine:
http://www.msextra.com/doc/donations.html
kritip
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Re: Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

Post by kritip »

wow, that is a difficult situation and a lot more complex than i had imagined.

Thank you for the in depth explanation.

It is not a big issue in any kind of way. The solution have have taken looks to be the best.

Lets hope Sun sort it out in the future.

Cheers,

Kristian
Constantly evolving;
4 cylinder n/a, 16v 1368cc Fiat Seicento
kritip
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Posts: 712
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:35 am
Location: Nuneaton, UK

Re: Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

Post by kritip »

Just had a further play, turning the alternative dialog off in MLV.

It still does what TS does not, ie. It diplays the modified date in the modified colomn, and you can click and it and sort by date. In TS, it just displays the file type in TS, and there is no modified date, or the ability to sort by them.

This is the pnly feature i miss with regard to the dialog boxes in TS, and it actually now just looks like a bug, as it works fine in MLV.

Image
Shot at 2009-06-08

Image
Shot at 2009-06-08

Is this part of the problem you described, or is just something that slipped through?

Cheers,

Kristian
Constantly evolving;
4 cylinder n/a, 16v 1368cc Fiat Seicento
LT401Vette
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Re: Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

Post by LT401Vette »

I'll have to see why the file type is coming up under date... There should be something I can do with that :)
Phil Tobin
EFI Analytics, helping to simplify EFI
Next Generation tuning software.
Supporting all MegaSquirt versions and firmwares.
http://www.TunerStudio.com
http://www.efiAnalytics.com/MegaLogViewer/
Support the firmware running your engine:
http://www.msextra.com/doc/donations.html
kritip
Master MS/Extra'er
Posts: 712
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:35 am
Location: Nuneaton, UK

Re: Open dialog windows. TS vs MLV

Post by kritip »

Great stuff, cheers Phil :)
Constantly evolving;
4 cylinder n/a, 16v 1368cc Fiat Seicento
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