UI: More Defaults for Search Placeholders #113792

Harley Acheson · 2023-10-17T00:56:04+02:00

Harley Acheson commented

2023-10-17 00:56:04 +02:00

For UI_BTYPE_SEARCH_MENU, use property UI Name as last resort.

This allows guessing placeholders like the following (highlighted), "UV Map" and "Vertex Group":

For UI_BTYPE_SEARCH_MENU, use property UI Name as last resort. --- This allows guessing placeholders like the following (highlighted), "UV Map" and "Vertex Group": ![image](/attachments/b806fdaf-a2eb-48aa-a1ce-b062a74f6325)

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Harley Acheson added 1 commit 2023-10-17 00:56:18 +02:00

1563ebc32f UI: More Defaults for Search Placeholders

For UI_BTYPE_SEARCH_MENU, use property UI Name as last resort.

Harley Acheson added this to the User Interface project 2023-10-17 00:56:52 +02:00

Harley Acheson requested review from Pablo Vazquez 2023-10-17 00:57:00 +02:00

Pablo Vazquez commented

2023-10-17 12:48:32 +02:00

Nice, works well in those cases.

In some other cases it seems to expose (bad?) naming that could be more clear, like in the following image, the modifier properties should be renamed to "Color Attribute", or the placeholder text set manually in the layout:

Or for example here it says "UV Layer" but it should be "UV Map":

Perhaps that's not something for this patch, it just got exposed now, and we should just go and rename properties/set custom placeholders for these particular cases.

Nice, works well in those cases. In some other cases it seems to expose (bad?) naming that could be more clear, like in the following image, the modifier properties should be renamed to "Color Attribute", or the placeholder text set manually in the layout: ![particle instance](/attachments/1d345544-3ce2-4f50-a45c-1b43e3947260) Or for example here it says "UV Layer" but it should be "UV Map": ![UV Warp](/attachments/d29bd1b8-9dfd-4d2b-af91-41097c2ccf73) Perhaps that's not something for this patch, it just got exposed now, and we should just go and rename properties/set custom placeholders for these particular cases.

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Harley Acheson commented

2023-10-17 18:52:35 +02:00

@pablovazquez - Perhaps that's not something for this patch, it just got exposed now, and we should just go and rename properties/set custom placeholders for these particular cases.

Yes, I guess it all depends on whether something is better than nothing for this. That might not be a lock since having a blank placeholder looks okay and in some cases it only adds redundancy. But realistically we might have already forced ourselves onto a road toward having placeholders everywhere that they can be.

How do you feel about this @JulianEisel ?

> @pablovazquez - Perhaps that's not something for this patch, it just got exposed now, and we should just go and rename properties/set custom placeholders for these particular cases. Yes, I guess it all depends on whether something is better than nothing for this. That might not be a lock since having a blank placeholder looks okay and in some cases it only adds redundancy. But realistically we might have already forced ourselves onto a road toward having placeholders everywhere that they can be. How do you feel about this @JulianEisel ?

Pablo Vazquez commented

2023-10-17 19:18:28 +02:00

...forced ourselves onto a road toward having placeholders everywhere that they can be.

I don't think in all cases we'd be adding them just because we can.

In my example above, "Index Layer Name" and "Value Layer Name" should be set to "Color Attribute", or something that gives a hint on what type of data the dropdown lists.

In most cases it "just works", in other cases we'd just need to go and tweak them accordingly. I think most of the time something is better than trying to guess what the icon means.

> ...forced ourselves onto a road toward having placeholders everywhere that they can be. I don't think in all cases we'd be adding them just because we can. In my example above, "Index Layer Name" and "Value Layer Name" should be set to "Color Attribute", or something that gives a hint on what type of data the dropdown lists. ![image](/attachments/35f9f90b-0534-409e-acda-56f5907d20f4) In most cases it "just works", in other cases we'd just need to go and tweak them accordingly. I think most of the time _something_ is better than trying to guess what the icon means.

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Harley Acheson added 2 commits 2023-10-19 01:53:07 +02:00

7bbcdd739f Merge branch 'main' of projects.blender.org:blender/blender into SearchPlaceHolders

223e96d631 UVWarp "UV Map" Property

Harley Acheson commented

2023-10-19 02:13:07 +02:00

@pablovazquez

I updated this PR so that it does show "UV Map" for the "UV Warp" modifier.

But I honestly didn't know how to proceed with "ParticleInstance". I find that section to be quite mystifying. The "Index" and "Value" don't make sense to me, nor why something that looks like vertex colors is "Index Layer Name" and "Value Layer Name". I don't think I understand this enough to change it to anything that makes sense.

This panel is defined in modifiers\intern\MOD_particleinstance.cc in layers_panel_draw at about line 622. So this is where the "Index" and "Value" text come from:

  uiItemPointerR(
      col, ptr, "index_layer_name", &obj_data_ptr, "vertex_colors", IFACE_("Index"), ICON_NONE);
  uiItemPointerR(
      col, ptr, "value_layer_name", &obj_data_ptr, "vertex_colors", IFACE_("Value"), ICON_NONE);

The above references "index_layer_name" and "value_layer_name", which are defined in makesrna\intern\rna_modifier.cc in particleinstance_space at about line 3822. This is where the "Index Layer Name" and "Value Layer Name" text comes from:

  prop = RNA_def_property(srna, "index_layer_name", PROP_STRING, PROP_NONE);
  RNA_def_property_string_sdna(prop, nullptr, "index_layer_name");
  RNA_def_property_ui_text(prop, "Index Layer Name", "Custom data layer name for the index");
  RNA_def_property_update(prop, 0, "rna_Modifier_update");

  prop = RNA_def_property(srna, "value_layer_name", PROP_STRING, PROP_NONE);
  RNA_def_property_string_sdna(prop, nullptr, "value_layer_name");
  RNA_def_property_ui_text(
      prop, "Value Layer Name", "Custom data layer name for the randomized value");
  RNA_def_property_update(prop, 0, "rna_Modifier_update");

@pablovazquez I updated this PR so that it does show "UV Map" for the "UV Warp" modifier. But I honestly didn't know how to proceed with "ParticleInstance". I find that section to be quite mystifying. The "Index" and "Value" don't make sense to me, nor why something that looks like vertex colors is "Index Layer Name" and "Value Layer Name". I don't think I understand this enough to change it to anything that makes sense. This panel is defined in modifiers\intern\MOD_particleinstance.cc in `layers_panel_draw` at about line 622. So this is where the "Index" and "Value" text come from: ``` uiItemPointerR( col, ptr, "index_layer_name", &obj_data_ptr, "vertex_colors", IFACE_("Index"), ICON_NONE); uiItemPointerR( col, ptr, "value_layer_name", &obj_data_ptr, "vertex_colors", IFACE_("Value"), ICON_NONE); ``` The above references "index_layer_name" and "value_layer_name", which are defined in makesrna\intern\rna_modifier.cc in `particleinstance_space` at about line 3822. This is where the "Index Layer Name" and "Value Layer Name" text comes from: ``` prop = RNA_def_property(srna, "index_layer_name", PROP_STRING, PROP_NONE); RNA_def_property_string_sdna(prop, nullptr, "index_layer_name"); RNA_def_property_ui_text(prop, "Index Layer Name", "Custom data layer name for the index"); RNA_def_property_update(prop, 0, "rna_Modifier_update"); prop = RNA_def_property(srna, "value_layer_name", PROP_STRING, PROP_NONE); RNA_def_property_string_sdna(prop, nullptr, "value_layer_name"); RNA_def_property_ui_text( prop, "Value Layer Name", "Custom data layer name for the randomized value"); RNA_def_property_update(prop, 0, "rna_Modifier_update"); ```

Harley Acheson added 1 commit 2023-11-12 18:42:16 +01:00

764c5adf0d Merge branch 'main' of projects.blender.org:blender/blender into SearchPlaceHolders

Pablo Vazquez commented

2024-01-22 11:57:50 +01:00

It would be nice to revisit this and tweak whatever fields need tweaking on a case by case. I haven't found many other offenders since then other than the ones I mentioned.

Harley Acheson commented

2024-01-22 19:58:42 +01:00

@pablovazquez - It would be nice to revisit this and tweak whatever fields need tweaking on a case by case. I haven't found many other offenders since then other than the ones I mentioned.

This PR is basically just a two-liner.

For inputs of UI_BTYPE_SEARCH_MENU only it adds a "last chance guess" , using the property UI Name if it hasn't found a string by other means. That helps for a small number of places, like those shown in the first comment, for "UV Map" in the UVProject modifier, and the "Vertex Group" in the DataTransfer modifer.

And for the "UVWarp" modifier specifically it changes "UV Layer" to "UV Map" in response to this comment.

I think we should just commit this and anything else can be dealt with as separate issues.

> @pablovazquez - It would be nice to revisit this and tweak whatever fields need tweaking on a case by case. I haven't found many other offenders since then other than the ones I mentioned. This PR is basically just a **two-liner.** For inputs of UI_BTYPE_SEARCH_MENU only it adds a "last chance guess" , using the property UI Name if it hasn't found a string by other means. That helps for a small number of places, like those shown in the first comment, for "UV Map" in the UVProject modifier, and the "Vertex Group" in the DataTransfer modifer. And for the "UVWarp" modifier specifically it changes "UV Layer" to "UV Map" in response to [this comment](https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/pulls/113792#issuecomment-1046709). I think we should just commit this and anything else can be dealt with as separate issues.

Pablo Vazquez approved these changes 2024-01-23 15:15:29 +01:00

Pablo Vazquez left a comment

I think we should just commit this and anything else can be dealt with as separate issues.

+1

> I think we should just commit this and anything else can be dealt with as separate issues. +1

Harley Acheson added 1 commit 2024-01-23 17:13:52 +01:00

3235b64a54 Merge branch 'main' of projects.blender.org:blender/blender into SearchPlaceHolders

Harley Acheson merged commit 606723b3e2 into main

2024-01-23 17:16:00 +01:00

Harley Acheson referenced this issue from a commit

2024-01-23 17:16:02 +01:00

UI: More Defaults for Search Placeholders

Harley Acheson deleted branch SearchPlaceHolders

2024-01-23 17:16:03 +01:00

Jonas Dichelle referenced this issue from a commit

2024-02-08 17:29:04 +01:00

UI: More Defaults for Search Placeholders

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UI: More Defaults for Search Placeholders #113792