RE: [XaraXtreme-dev] Bitmap export options

["Neil Howe" <NeilH@xxxxxxxx>]

> I'm a little bit confused about what we are doing about
> bitmap export options for 0.7, and thereafter.
> 
> On Xtreme, when you export as a bitmap, you
> do this by choosing a bitmap format from
> the export "save as" dialog, one of two
> dialogs appear, the one with the preview (A), and the
> one without (B). These are two fundamentally different
> dialogs as far as I can see. The latter (B) is used
> by e.g. PICT, TIFF etc.

It's the same dialog as far as I'm aware. It's just that we can't
support preview yet for some formats (ok, most).

> 
> What I understand is happening on LX is that
> we are going to have 2 menu options "export as
> vector" and "export as bitmap", and assuming
> the latter is selected, then dialog (A)
> is going to appear. Does that mean all the
> options from (B) are now going to appear
> in (A) too? Does that mean that it will be
> possible to swap to/from fileformats (e.g.
> the ImageMagick ones) using the appropriate
> combo boxes inside dialog (A) (logically
> the answer must be yes).

Yes. But see below.

> 
> What this effectively means (I think) is we are
> using dialog (A) to determine the file format,
> simply because anyone who wants to set export-type
> specific options will first need to set the
> file format. Does that mean we then shouldn't be able
> to switch it using the subsequent "file
> export" dialog (this would seem fair enough,
> and would get rid of the lunatic file type
> box). 

Correct. So as you say then we won't need that huge popup list of file
types any more on the save dialog where you choose the filename.

> So (for instance) if you choose "JPEG" in
> dialog box A, the second dialog would only allow
> you a "JPEG" and "all files" filter, which would
> only affect what files you see in the window, not
> how the file is saved. Is the UI of this suitable?
> IE how do people know whether they are selecting
> PNG or JPEG or whatever when there are /two/
> drop-downs (A and B) (I've never worked out what
> these do).

Yes I think that will be ok. So the type list in B will include only
"all files" and the type that the user chose to export in dialog A.

> 
> If I'm right so far, what is happening in 0.7.
> Specifically as I understand it, in 0.7 we are
> /not/ reversing the dialog order now. In which
> case given dialog (B) does not currently exist
> in LX (as far as I can tell) and would have
> a very short life anyway, what's happening with
> export options for filters that don't support
> preview (ImageMagick for instance)?

We don't have time to change much before the 0.7 release. I'm told by
Luke that adding the "export as vector" and "export as bitmap" menu
entries won't be straightforward, so that means that we can't change the
order in which dialogs are shown in time for 0.7. So for 0.7 users will
still choose filename and filetype in the first dialog that comes up and
then they'll see the export settings dialog come up with it's previews
(as currently).

Given how far the new preview capability is from being to a release
standard, I'm not sure we'll have time for any of the following
improvements before 0.7:-

- Allow IM types to be previewed (currently the preview area just shows
a "preview is not supported for this image format" message for these
types).

- Allow the format to be changed in the export settings dialog

- Change the order of the export dialogs so users choose the format and
settings (dialog A) BEFORE they choose a filename (dialog B) instead of
after. As discussed above.

- Make dialog A sizer based so it can be resized and generally improve
it's layout.

If/when we do have time, these improvements should be actioned in the
order shown above.

Neil