[ptx] selection of external progams under OSX

[Ippei UKAI]

On 2006-08-10, at 19:54, Pablo d'Angelo wrote:

> I'm resending this message, since it somehow didn't show up on the  
> list.

The both messages got me alright. I sometimes get my own message a  
few hours after I receive replies, so might be a same problem.


> Your suggestion (If I understood correctly)
>
> [x]  Use default
> [ ]  Enblend program: _____________   [browse]
>
> First option: hugin searches for program named enblend, reports  
> failure
> if it doesn't find anything and asks the user to install enblend  
> somewhere
> in the system.
>
> Second option: hugin tries to open the program "/wherever/enblend",  
> and
> complains if it is missing.
>

> Current state (at least UI wise):
>
> Enblend program: _enblend______   [browse]
>
> If just "enblend" is written in the entry box (default value),  
> behaviour
> would be equivalent to "[x] Use system default". Otherwise it would  
> be the
> second option.
>
> If it isn't found either way hugin would complain about it and asks to
> install enblend.
>
> There is no need to understand the difference between absolute and  
> relative
> paths, because if enblend is bundled with hugin, it will  
> automatically be
> found without any user interaction. The same if an (not yet existing)
> autopano-sift bundle is placed somewhere.

Sorry, but yeah, users don't need to understand paths. My bad. Though  
my point still remains. The end users have no way to discover "having  
default value triggers automatically, and manual otherwise" behaviour  
from this GUI.

Also there is a problem when enblend is not in the user specified  
path. If we automatically used the one in the default locations, the  
user would be confused. If we asked the user to choose one, end users  
don't know where default enblend is (inside the bundle is invisible,  
by the way). We should at least add the "Use the one installed"  
option to "Enblend not found" dialog.


> If they want to revert to the bundled enblend, they would just  
> press "reset
> to defaults". (Maybe this is the real problem for OSX users,  
> pressing reset
> to defaults button instead of selecting the "[x] Use default" radio  
> button ?).

I think this isn't an ideal approach at all. The user has to wonder a  
bit how he can get the automatic behaviour back. Indeed they would  
try resetting things to default sacrificing other settings after a  
while, but is that the GUI design you take?

Anyway, I think your point is that end users rarely touch those  
properties, and the current approach works alright until something  
goes wrong for them. I agree with that. The fix is not urgent.


> Can some other users please comment on this?

I would really love to hear from the users about this too. Anyone?


Ippei


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