[Compcomm] Settings manager (was: Forums)

[Erkin Bahceci]

Moving from the "forums" topic to here. Comments below.


On 6/24/07, Guillaume Seguin <guillaume at segu.in> wrote:
>
> 2007/6/24, Erkin Bahceci <erkinbah at gmail.com>:
> > On 6/24/07, Alyssa Hung <deciare at isisview.org> wrote:
> > > That's true, but I want to substring search for individual option
> names,
> > > bindings by the keys/buttons/edges assigned to them, and the window
> > > matching rules assigned to them. :D
> > >
> > > It would be so convenient to be able to enter something like
> > > "type=unknown" into a search box and see a list of every
> > > animation/winrule/place/opacity setting that has it in the criteria
> > string.
> > >
> > > Or enter "<Super>" into a search box to see a list of all key bindings
> > > that use that key as a modifier (beryl-settings already did this).
> > >
> > > Or let's say I remember there's an option called "Snapoff maximized
> > > windows", but don't remember which plugin it's in. It'd be helpful to
> > > see a list of all options from all plugins with the term "snapoff" in
> > > the option name or description.
> > >
> > > It'd be so convenient to be able to search for _anything_!
> > >
> >
> > I absolutely agree. While I very much appreciate the effort put into
> this
> > compiz configuration system, it's still lacking this important feature.
> This
> > would be the number one selling point / killer feature of it, one that
> > distinguishes it from the previous configuration systems. I say it's a
> > must-have (before there is an official release), because users shouldn't
> > need to memorize which plugin provides which option. Some of the current
> > plugin separations are not intuitive anyway (cube, rotate, and the
> virtual
> > screen size options are all in separate pages). Users should be able to
> > search among all options conveniently from a single place, just like in
> KDE
> > control center. The search results should be collected in the right part
> and
> > should be put into groups labeled with "general options" / plugin names
> (a
> > gui element like the one used for subgroup headers could be used for
> this,
> > with a larger font).
> >
> > Option search should also search within long descriptions. And it should
> > have an option to search within values as well (like in gconf) so that,
> for
> > example, keybinding options can be found easily. It could also search in
> > value descriptions (in int/int-list options). Use case: Joe User
> searching
> > for "magic lamp".
> >
> > If you want some extra sophistication, you could even use WordNet
> synsets to
> > search for synonyms as well, so that you provide results even when the
> user
> > doesn't know the exact word used in the option. There is even an already
> > available python frontend: PyWN, which comes with a wordnet dictionary.
> Such
> > a wordnet-search functionality would better be an optional package
> though
> > (PyWN is 9.6 MB). Anyhow.
> >
>
> There's also this very simple method for spelling suggestions :
> http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html (not 100% what you were thinking
> about, but useful anyway)



Yeah that could be useful. It still needs a word list though. It could use
the word list I described below:


> Just my 2 cents.
> >
> >  Cheers,
> > Erkin



Another idea:

Suggestion list in the search box as the user types (starting at 2 letters).
The suggestions would be given from a list of collected words consisting of
option names, option short/long descriptions, option values, and
int/int-list option value descriptions. The list can be collected either by
a compiz plugin or by the settings manager itself. If it is done in a
plugin, it could be written to a file for the settings manager to read, or
the plugin can provide the suggestion functionality to the settings manager
through dbus. And suggesting itself should be a snap if the list is sorted
after collecting.


Cheers,
Erkin
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