[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#949) city report fields don't sort well

["Raimar Falke via RT" <rt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Nov 14, 2002 at 09:50:43AM -0800, Jason Short via RT wrote:
> >>The above design will allow sorting of simple numeric fields, and in
> >>conjunction with Tuomas Airaksinen's patch to give the city report more
> >>available fields (already applied), this may be sufficient.  But
> >>consider the "Surplus F/P/T" field.  Under the simple design above, this
> >>field will always be sorted by the F (food) category.  While this is an
> >>improvement on the current situation (sorting it alphabetically), it is
> >>not what we really want.  As a gamer, what _I_ would want is the ability
> >>to have this field be sorted (in either direction) according to either
> >>the F, P, or T fields, or (perhaps) according to their sum.  (Note that
> >>these fields can now be obtained as separate entries in the dialog, so I
> >>can already get the behavior I want - but it is not grouped as nicely.)
> >> When I sort the "currently building" field I would like to see it
> >>sorted not alphabetically, but first by building type (alphabetically,
> >>or by type; whatever) and then by turns remaining to build.  When I sort
> >>the "best defenders" field (very slick idea, Tuomas) I would like to be
> >>able to sort by either the best unit, or the sum of the best two units,
> >>or the sum of the best three.
> >>
> >>With these abilities I think the city report dialog could be made both
> >>simpler and more powerful.
> >>
> >>Doing all of this elegantly (note that the alternative solution is far
> >>from elegant, so the bar is pretty low) is not easy, but I think it is
> >>possible.  It is made more difficult because the different GUIs may have
> >>very different interfaces: even gui-gtk and gui-gtk-2.0 are quite different.
> >>
> >>I've had some thoughts on how to do this, but I'd like to get others'
> >>opinions on it.  First of all: would these capabilities be a good thing?
> >> Secondly: how would you go about implementing it?  (Or, better yet, can
> >>you provide a patch?).
> > 
> > 
> > Yes, these would be a good thing. Problem is, to make a good usuable and
> > intiutive GUI, which is not overloaded.
> > 
> > E.g. Raimer's sorting for F/P/T stressed the user with counting up to 8
> > clicks on the same button. IMO this must be addressed for people with less
> > than five years computer experience (or so, you know what I mean ...)
> 
> Right, without an intuitive graphical interface it is confusing (but no 
> worse than the current situation for new players).

So what interface do you suggest? 

IMHO it is necessary than we can emphasise a certain part of the
column header. For example by underlining or bold or a different
color. For this we need to use gtk_clist_set_column_widget. Code is
welcome.

        Raimar

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