Todo.txt

To do
-----

Features
--------

* Maker sizer usage less cumbersome
  * Auto-adding controls as sizer items if Sizer is set on window
    * Issues: determining nested sizers
  * Nested tree view
* Non modal Process dialogs 
* Multiple help windows

Future features
------------------

* Multi language support
* I18n support
* DB aware framework
* Actions


Framework Extensions
--------------------

* Plug-in / IDE framework
  Move import level framework registration into a register() function
  (ugly because an import is not enough to setup a valid runtime
   nice because module can be re-registered and plugins can be independent
   of the framework)
* Allow submenus under File and Edit
* Multi-language support
  * 1st phase
    * Define resource files for menus and and menu context help (for i18n)

      format: 
      [ClassName]
      method=('menu', 'OnMethod', 'image/path.png', 'shortcut', 'description')

    * Message config files for message boxes and info

  * 2nd phase
    * Designer integrated multi-language support for custome frames/dialogs
      * Possibly with gettext/_() format in generated source.

  * 3rd phase
    * Whenever actions happen, combining most of phases 1+2 with multi-language 
      support in actions.


Missing wxPython features
-------------------------

* wxArtProvider
* wxAcceleratorTable
* More wxPython.lib controls
* improved wxApp support (properties and events)
* Two step Create and extra style flags


High level features
-------------------

* Improve code completion
* Correct Syntax Error highlighing
* Better default property handling, possibly cutting some cruft from
  generated source by omitting unchanged defaults.

Detail
------

Documentation
- Tutorial
 - Debugging section
 - Image handling
 - Sizers
- Link to method docs from selected property


Editor
- More actions should use the progress bar
- Use Idle extensions
  - The Tkinter editor control interface sucks.
  - As a test, converted the IDLE extension FormatParagraph. See Plug-ins.
    It was quite simple, only had to change the tkinter text control code
    to wxSTC code and write the Boa IDE hooks to publish it under 
    Py:Edit->Format paragraph

- Add toggleable action type
- Look into possibly extending wxApp's stdio redirection to speak to boa
- Goto CVS file from Open Module


Designer
- Optional default parameters
  - Sizers need this very much for pos and size
- Make generated source less verbose
  - Can ids be optional (except for menus, tools?)
- Multi-select, when moving not all tags snap togeter
- Correctly ordered parameters
- Multi-select/multi-edit, showing a filtering of only properties that can 
  be edited en mass
- Add Palette as Popup menu. e.g. New->Container/Layout->wxPanel
  - Bind Inser to Popup New menu
- Custom classes management

Companions
- Better initial sizes for a few controls

Inspector
- Enable/Disable toolbar buttons depending on state
  or only show applicable buttons (not enough space for all btns)
- Action to turn property into special attribute property


Help
- wx methods help: From Inspector while on property

Documentation View
- Options: 
  - Don't print empty sections (no __doc__ ) 
  - Don't print _private methods

Explore View
- Move method up/down actions
- Switch to explorer view in the class and focused on the
  current method

Tree Views
- Remember which nodes are open and reopen after refreshing

Zope
- CMF, Plone

Debugging
- Preferences to
  - Optionally break in with the debugger on top level GUI exceptions using
    sys.excepthook
  - Specify modules and packages which the debugger should not step into


Explorer
- Improve recent files
- Simple caching for slow connections
- Synch Explorer operations like moving files around with
  any open applications
- Connect opened module if possible to an open app module
- Key mappings!
- Delete directories.
- Improve/Extend the File Dialog enough to stop dependency on the Explorer.
  - E.g. Preference management and Zope support through the File Dialog/Inspector

CVS
- Conflict resolution editor integration
  - Accept, Reject
- Update/Commit/Diff from SourceView
- Visual interface to set options
- Update open modules if a cvs operation modified an
  open module
- Import needs to setup masks for recognised file types
- Run in background/non non modal
- Refesh action
- Colour indication for folders which contain modified files
                            or
- CVS Reports, like search results


App
- App may not have wxDialog as main frame because an app object
  does not quit with dialog as main frame.

GTK
- Incremental typing lookup on wxListCtrl, hopefully in a base class high up :)

Distutils
- More extension develpoment support
- Attempt to write an InnoSetup distultils target.



Documentation
-

Code changes
- Better support (awareness) for unicode
  - replace type('') testing with isinstance(x, StringTypes)

More filetypes-
- BAT files on windows ?



*
Roadmap
-------

Boa 1.0
- wxPython IDE with visual frame designer
- Working debugger
- Layout editors
- Integrated source control (cvs)
- Zope Support

Boa 2.0
- Database support
  - DB Aware controls
  - One possibility is hooking a db aware control
    framework to the ZODB
- C/C++ extension writing and possibly debugging support


*
Scriblings
----------

* Testing facilities, how should GUI classes be tested?
   - Window scraping sucks!
   - Look into PyUnit
   - Strategies:
     - Methods (as opposed to event methods) could be tested with doctest.py
       another Tim Peters module :)
       Maybe it can be extended to handle events as follows:
       - List of events that can be posted and assertion of certain
         control values after posting
       I am not very optimistic about this route as none of my own GUI
       objects seem testable in a few lines and usually depend on other
       frames being open/initialised. Nevertheless this needs to be
       pursued and at least those that are testable should be tested.

* Code tools/shortcuts
  * Expand creation params:
    class MyClass(YourClass):
        def __init__(self, param1, param2, ...):
    to:
    class MyClass(YourClass):
        def __init__(self, param1, param2, ...):
            YourClass.__init__(self, param1, param2, ...)
            self.param1 = param1
            self.param2 = param2
            ...

  * Window id registration:
        wxID_*
    to:
    [wxID_*, ...] = map(lambda i: wxNewId(), range(n))

  * Event creation:
        EVT_*(self, id, self.OnEvtFunc)
    to:
        def OnEvtFunc(self, event):
            |



UML
* Update attibutes in uml

Look at Idle's class browser source parser and Idle extensions

_Fundamental changes_

Handle more than one class per source file

Add inheritable components