Hi, Maurits Rijk <lpeek.mrijk@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > Ok, this has been discussed numerous times and seems to be quite high on > the wishlist but it still doesn't really exist: a preview widget that > can be used in all (or probably most) plug-ins. > > So I've taken up this challenge and started coding, heavily based on > some work that has already been done in this area. However my approach > is slightly different: instead of coding a perfect preview widget from > the start I opted for the evolutionary approach: > > Step 1) first create a quick and dirty preview widget that really > consists of code factored out from several plugins. This code relies on > the deprecated GtkPreview widget. Main advantage of having this step is > that it doesn't involve a lot of rewriting of the existing plugin code. > This step has been succesful: I have changed the code from the max_rgb > and the plasma plugin so they now both use my new preview widget. it's fine to temporarily use GtkPreview if you don't expose this fact thru the API. > Step 2) update all plugins that already have a preview. Some of them > will be easy, others might involve more rewriting or adding > functionality to the preview widget. > > Step 3) once all plugins use the same preview widget it's time to > replace the deprecated GtkPreview by another widget (GtkImage or > GtkDrawingArea). In this step the API should be well established and be > able to handle all preview needs. > > Step 4) update plugins that don't have a preview yet. > > So what's the current status? Well, I've finished step 1 and it seems to > work :) Step 2 will take quite a bit more time, but will greatly clean > up and reduce the current plugin code for all those plugins that use a > preview. I expect this to take about 2 or 3 months. Step 3 will be > relatively easy. Few evenings of hacking should be enough to do this. > And finally, step 4, will be comparable with step 2: about 2 or 3 > months. actually, I expect Step 3 to take less than 20 minutes. Just go ahead and introduce a preview widget based on GtkPreview and we'll port it to GtkDrawingArea for you. > To sum up: before the end of the year all plugins for which this is > appropriate will have a preview, using a common preview widget. I just > hope Gimp 1.4 isn't already released before that time :) We definitely aim for a GIMP-1.4 release before the end of this year but I believe we can finish the plug-in preview task in this time schedule. What about sending a mail with the proposed API to the list so people are able to comment on it? Salut, Sven
