[Sugar-devel] GSoC idea: Chart/graph-making activity

[Frederick Grose]

Why no collaboration-like tube between activities?

   --Fred

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Eben Eliason <eben at laptop.org> wrote:

> Seconding Walter...more inline.
>
> On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Wade Brainerd <wadetb at gmail.com> wrote:
> > This whole thing brings to mind something that I've been curious about
> for
> > awhile.
> >
> > What's the "recommended" way to transfer data between activities?
> >
> > Say, I record some data in Measure and want to import it into Chart.  Or
> I
> > generate some data in Finance and want to import it into Chart.
> >
> > Is the Clipboard the way to do it?  IE, should we support specialize
> "copy
> > as text/csv" (or whatever) and "paste text/csv" in our activities?
>
> I don't think we should be adding specific data formats to the copy
> action, if we can avoid it.  This is better suited to the "Keep as..."
> (some other format) action. However, I do think that basic copy/paste
> within a given activity, or between activities, should be strongly
> encouraged. Sugar adds a visual, multi-item clipboard (with
> forthcoming previews/descriptions) in order to make even better suited
> to this task.
>
> It should never be _necessary_ to save something to the Journal in
> order to move data into another activity, for common image/text/media
> formats.
>
> > Same goes for transferring of pictures.  If I take a picture in Record
> and
> > want to paint over it in Colors!, is Copy in Record and then Paste in
> > Colors! the way to go, or should I have Colors! open the Record Journal
> > entry?
>
> I'm in support of adding "import" buttons for particular media formats
> which make sense within the context of an activity. However, this
> shouldn't be confused with "open" buttons.  The difference there is
> that importing an image should place an image file onto the canvas; it
> shouldn't replace the canvas, or change the canvas size, etc.
>
> In your specific example, taking a photo in Record already results in
> a Journal entry, so I think it's perfectly natural to say that one
> should go to that photo and resume it with Colors! in order to modify
> it there.
>
> I should also mention that I'd like to see the OS provided file
> chooser dialogs grow basic recording functionality, so that an "insert
> image" button could quickly snap a photo from the camera, and an
> "insert audio" button record a quick audio snippet, etc. This would
> prevent need for saving data to the Journal OR copying it from another
> activity, in some cases.
>
> - Eben
>
> > Thanks,
> > Wade
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> The Measure activity is another approach to consider: data collection
> >> from multiple sources are shared and displayed in the same
> >> visualization space.
> >>
> >> -walter
> >>
> >> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Eben Eliason <eben at laptop.org> wrote:
> >> > 2009/3/23 Jameson Quinn <jameson.quinn at gmail.com>:
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Garrison Benson
> >> >> <Benson.Garrison at gmail.com>
> >> >> wrote:
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Jameson Quinn wrote:
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > Implementing a whole spreadsheet is a big enough chore. We do
> really
> >> >>> > care
> >> >>> > about collaboration, but I would advise you to limit your
> ambitions
> >> >>> > to
> >> >>> > something achievable, so worrying too much about collaboration
> right
> >> >>> > now
> >> >>> > is
> >> >>> > not vital.
> >> >>> >
> >> >>>
> >> >>> I don't plan to create a spreadsheet, just a graph/chart tool.
> >> >>> Obviously a
> >> >>> full-featured spreadsheet (with functions, formulas, etc.) would be
> >> >>> great
> >> >>> for Sugar, but I think a simple, user-friendly charting activity
> would
> >> >>> be
> >> >>> much more feasible and more likely to actually be used in a primary
> >> >>> school/middle school environment. (Full spreadsheet applications are
> >> >>> pretty
> >> >>> daunting to learn.) I was just throwing out the idea of a
> >> >>> spreadsheet-style
> >> >>> interface as the most obvious (but not necessarily best) type of
> >> >>> interface
> >> >>> for this kind of program.
> >> >>
> >> >> OK, understood. I think that you're right, a spreadsheet-style
> >> >> interface is
> >> >> best - when you're doing charts by hand, you start with data tables.
> >> >> Still,
> >> >> I recommend that you plan your main deliverable as something that is
> >> >> polished but without collaboration, and keep collaboration as
> something
> >> >> that
> >> >> you'll work on if you have the time. Collaboration is actually harder
> >> >> to get
> >> >> right than formulas, IMO.
> >> >
> >> > Agreed.  I'd simply encourage you to keep future collaboration in
> >> > mind, such that large reorganization of the code isn't needed later on
> >> > to add it.  You might also look into
> >> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Groupthink, which could be a potential
> >> > solution to adding collaboration in the long run.
> >> >
> >> > - Eben
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Walter Bender
> >> Sugar Labs
> >> http://www.sugarlabs.org
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Sugar-devel mailing list
> >> Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> >
> >
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