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List:       kde-pim
Subject:    Re: [Kde-pim] Printing Code in kaddressbook
From:       Anders Lund <anders () alweb ! dk>
Date:       2002-05-20 22:45:55
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On Monday 20 May 2002 17:13, Mike Pilone wrote:
> Ok,
>
> I have read through all the printing threads and will try to summarize
> here:
>
> Everything compile for me without any problems. Anders, I think it must be
> something on your end.

Hm, strange... i have to retry that.

> I think the idea of a printing wizard makes sense. Attempting to add all
> the options that we need to the standard KDE print dialog doesn't make
> sense. I think the wizard should be displayed before the print dialog,
> since most users assume that clicking 'Ok' directly sends the info to the
> printer and they do not expect a dialog to be displayed after telling the
> application to print. This may require a little change in the architecture
> since we will not have a printer object to draw on until the very end.
>
> The separation of Views and printing styles makes sense to me. I can
> imagine Views where printing them doesn't make any sense (the detailed view
> is a good example). Also, I do not think we should force the user to define
> a CardView before they are able to print a business card for someone. Like
> Mirko said, if it makes sense, we can share drawing code in the background.

I have to say I am not against a wizard, my main points are that "views should 
be printable" and "the current view should be the default choice for 
printing". If we can provide a more flexible use of the code, lets do so.

Sharing code for printing is not really cool for printing, du to the fact that 
printing must be sure to actually display all the data, and also consider 
page breaks. For most views, that is not compatible with painting on a 
window.

And the main problem is not writing the code, it is making sure we offer to 
use the views defined for printing, again, they do represent a choice of 
layout type, data and selection.

> As far as the selected or current contact goes, yes, there is a way to
> figure that out. The KAddressBookPrinter object will get a call to print
> with a list of selected addressees. If there is only one selected, it is
> current. If there are none selected, then there is no selected addressee.

Let me add that all the list views (table, card, icon) has the notation of a 
current item, and even a currentItem() method. Maybe that should be part of 
the api?

> I would like to change the look of the print wizard a lot. I would prefer
> if it were much more visual. I was thinking of something like the the
> document selector when koffice is started. A small view with images of what
> the printout would look like. The images are just general previews, they do
> not have to have correct data in them. Also, the wizard should use multiple
> pages to actually be a wizard. Selecting the view and customizing the view
> options should be on different pages.

I think the idear is that the extra pages should be offered by the printing 
style. But a page utilizing the filters would make sense. For the views, the 
config pages could be reusable, and optionally the field selection page.

> Overall it is great to see someone tackling this problem. Printing is a
> very requested feature in KAddressBook. I have not had a chance to look
> over the code yet, but I hope to do so later today and I will post
> comments.
>
Agreed!!

-anders
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