[BitPim-devel] alternative filesystem view

[Simon C]

I've been playing with the filesystem tab, making it look more like a file
manager you'd find on a PC today.

The attached code allows the user to select the existing filesystem style or
the new style via the view menu.

The new style is a splitter window with a tree view for directories and a
list view for files. You can drag and drop files into the phone's file
system (not the other way yet). The files in the list can be sorted
according to size, alphabetical order by clicking on the column headers.

The code changes are mostly additions rather than changes.

Comments? I'd like to commit this to CVS in a couple of days.



Simon

[Roger Binns]

Post by Simon C
The attached code allows the user to select the existing filesystem style or
the new style via the view menu.

I would rather there is only style of view. If your new one is worse than
the existing then don't bother, and if it is better then replace the
existing. There isn't any good user interface reason to have multiple
view styles, and it will just make maintenance more difficult in the
future.

BTW could you post a screenshot?

Roger

[Simon C]

Post by Roger Binns
BTW could you post a screenshot?

Attached.

Simon

[Stephen Wood]

I like this better. I think it is a little more obvious to click on the +
rather than the triangle to open a directory.

Stephen

Post by Simon C

Post by Roger Binns
BTW could you post a screenshot?

Attached.
Simon

[Joe Pham]

Post by Roger Binns
I would rather there is only style of view.

Agreed. The new GUI looks good, and once thoroughly tested should replace the old GUI. I ran into this exception while trying to 'overwrite' a file. I'm planning to have a build Monday or Tuesday night pending Roger's availability to fix a couple of the 9800 problems, so if this could be tested by then, then we'll include it into the new build. Since we have a stable working filesystem, I don't want to rush this new code.

An unexpected exception has occurred.
Please see the help for details on what to do.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py", line 1560, in OnCallback
event()
File "c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py", line 138, in __call__
return apply(self.cb, self.args, self.kwargs)
File "c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py", line 95, in __call__
apply(self.method, self.args+args, d)
File "c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py", line 2627, in OnFileOverwriteResults
self.OnDirListing(parentdir)
AttributeError: 'FileSystemFileView' object has no attribute 'OnDirListing'

Variables by last 8 frames, innermost last

Frame ? in ./bp.py at line 79
profile = <function profile at 0x008DE9B0>
__file__ = './bp.py'
__name__ = '__main__'
__doc__ = 'Main entry point to Bitpim\n\nIt invokes BitPim in gui or commandline mode as a

Frame run in c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py at line 482
args = (['./bp.py'],)
m = <gui.MainApp; proxy of C++ wxPyApp instance at _d01d8b00_p_wxPyApp>

Frame MainLoop in c:\python23\lib\site-packages\wx-2.6-msw-unicode\wx\_core.py at line 7493
self = <gui.MainApp; proxy of C++ wxPyApp instance at _d01d8b00_p_wxPyApp>

Frame MainLoop in c:\python23\lib\site-packages\wx-2.6-msw-unicode\wx\_core.py at line 6926
args = (<gui.MainApp; proxy of C++ wxPyApp instance at _d01d8b00_p_wxPyApp>,)
kwargs = Keys []
{}

Frame OnCallback in c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py at line 1560
self = <gui.MainWindow; proxy of C++ wxFrame instance at _48569300_p_wxFrame>
event = <gui.HelperReturnEvent; proxy of C++ wxPyEvent instance at _70e69c02_p_wxPyEvent

Frame __call__ in c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py at line 138
self = <gui.HelperReturnEvent; proxy of C++ wxPyEvent instance at _70e69c02_p_wxPyEvent

Frame __call__ in c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py at line 95
self = <gui.Callback instance at 0x03030710>
args = (None, None)
d = Keys []
{}
kwargs = Keys []
{}

Frame OnFileOverwriteResults in c:\Documents and Settings\dad\My Documents\cell_apps\bitpim\gui.py at line 2627
mw = <gui.MainWindow; proxy of C++ wxFrame instance at _48569300_p_wxFrame>
parentdir = 'test'
exception = None
_ = None
self = <gui.FileSystemFileView; proxy of C++ wxPyListCtrl instance at _e0adf401_p_wxPyL


-Joe Pham




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[Simon C]

Since

Post by Joe Pham
we have a stable working filesystem, I don't want to rush this new code.

Yes, I would feel more comfortable if we could try it out on a few more
phones before a build, I'll commit the changes after the build so we have
time for testing. I'll fix the bug you found.

Simon

[Simon C]

I've checked the changes into CVS, it is ready for testing.
I removed the support for the older view.
You can drag multiple files into the phone's filesystem, but dragging out is
not supported yet.
It you have access to non-windows platforms it would be helpful if you could
test to see if it works OK and post your results.

Thanks,

Simon

[Joe Pham]

A couple of quick comments on the new filesystem:

1. When I first switched to the filesystem tab, it attempted to read data from the phone and eventually timedout since my phone was not connected. I prefer the old filesystem's behavior.

2. dirs that have no subdirs should not have the + icons, which would disappear once expanded, ie dirs should know whether or not they have any subdir children.

-Joe Pham



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[Roger Binns]

Post by Joe Pham
2. dirs that have no subdirs should not have the + icons,
which would disappear once expanded, ie dirs should know
whether or not they have any subdir children.

That can only be done by predicting the future, or by reading
all subdirectories when all the user asked for is the parent
directory.

There are many UIs that take the old approach. It will
also behave correctly if a subdirectory does appear.

Roger

[Simon C]

Post by Joe Pham
1. When I first switched to the filesystem tab, it attempted to read data
from the phone and eventually timedout since my phone was not connected.
I prefer the old filesystem's behavior.

I'll fix this, what you are seeing is not what I intended.

Post by Joe Pham
2. dirs that have no subdirs should not have the + icons, which would
disappear once expanded, ie dirs should know whether or not they have any
subdir children.

I stayed with the existing design to read subdirectories on user demand and
remove the + once the directory has been read, this meant that the timing to
be similar to the old view.
Reading the entire filesystem when it was first expanded takes about 20
seconds on my old 4400. Reading 2 dirs deep is similar.
Do you think this delay is acceptable; I can change the code to behave like
this.

Simon

[Simon C]

Post by Joe Pham
2. dirs that have no subdirs should not have the + icons, which would
disappear once expanded, ie dirs should know whether or not they have any
subdir children.

I noticed you added this feature. The timing of the file viewer on older
phones has been affected making bitpim slower.
The vx6100 timing on the root expansion has gone from 1200ms to 3100ms.
On the vx4400 it has gone from 800ms to about 1700ms.
Expanding other directories is slower depending on their content. The extra
delay is incurred every time the directory is expanded. There is a more
traffic over the serial port when manipulating the file system.
A once off complete filesystem read would be a more efficient way to achieve
the same result, the initial delay would be higher but subsequent use would
not be slowed down.

When an expanded tree view is collapsed and re-expanded (or refreshed) it
visibly collapses all of it's subdirectories even if they were previously
expanded, the previous behavior of the old filesystem view was to leave
subdirectories in the same state they were previously.

Simon

[Joe Pham]

The timing of the file viewer on older phones has been affected
making bitpim slower.

More accurately, the timing of listing dir that contains subdirs increases. I just updated some code that should help a bit, but that's still true. It's a trade-off for a correct dir tree display, which is just a my personal GUI preference. I just want to see if it's can be done and what's the timing impact.

When an expanded tree view is collapsed and re-expanded (or
refreshed) it visibly collapses all of it's subdirectories even if
they were previously expanded

This is exactly what I want, I want to have an accurate representation of the Filesystem (dirs and files) for each and every request.

-Joe Pham



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[Roger Binns]

Post by Joe Pham
It's a trade-off for a correct dir tree display, which is
just a my personal GUI preference.

I am with Simon on this one. I don't think there is a benefit
to being hyper accurate. The plus doesn't mean that an item
has subdirectories, just that it could.

I just want to see if it's can be done and what's the timing impact.

Post by Joe Pham
This is exactly what I want, I want to have an accurate
representation of the Filesystem (dirs and files) for each
and every request.

It looks like your new code tries to remember the setting for
each directory. However this is only going to work if nothing
changes the directory such as the user syncing or playing with
the phone directly.

Roger

[Simon C]

Post by Joe Pham
More accurately, the timing of listing dir that contains subdirs
increases. I just updated some code that should help a bit, but that's
still true. It's a trade-off for a correct dir tree display, which is
just a my personal GUI preference. I just want to see if it's can be done
and what's the timing impact.

I've been experimenting with this as well to see if there is some sort of
compromise between responsiveness and GUI preferences and accuracy.
I have taken what you did and worked with it to help with the timing.
It reads the entire directory structure once, this causes the initial expand
to take longer (a little less than double) but subsequent directory
expansion takes zero time, showing the contents of a directory is also
faster although this still queries the phone each time to ensure the

[Joe Pham]

I don't think there is a benefit to being hyper accurate.

Just a pesonal GUI preference. I'd like to have it if it's not a big deal, and it doesn't seem to be at this point.

However this is only going to work if nothing changes the directory
such as the user syncing or playing with the phone directly.

Exactly why I'd like to query the phone for each and every action: the filesystem view is stateless.

-Joe Pham




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[Roger Binns]

Post by Joe Pham
the filesystem view is stateless.

[Simon C]

Post by Joe Pham
the filesystem view is stateless.