Slicer3:UIDesign:WorkingProblems:SlicerFlexibleLayout:UXP3

Back to Flexible Layouts Overview

Adding multiple tabs to a Slicer application window

• Challenge: Will be useful to specify and switch among multiple tabs in the main application window.
  • Each tab can display a layout, and that layout may include multiple views, multiple module guis, etc.
• Displaying multiple module guis at once requires each module UI to contain module select/navigate controls.
• Need controls for adding a tab, deleting current tab.
• Slicer starts up: first time user sees welcome module in a single tab.
• Slicer starts up: returning user sees their tabs from last session restored.

CHALLENGES: teasing apart LAYOUTS and MODULES (work in progress)

• Each TAB contains a layout.
• Each Layout may contain:
  • one, multiple, or NO module GUIs,
  • one, multiple, or NO viewers.
• Within a tab, a user can change the layout by
  • selecting from among default layouts
  • selecting from saved custom layouts
  • specifying a new custom layout
• Within any module UI, a user can select a NEW module.
  • if the current layout contains only ONE module GUI,
  • and the newly selected module is designed with a different specialized layout,
    • the layout in the tab will change.
  • Question: if the current layout contains MULTIPLE module GUIs,
  • and the newly selected module is designed with a different specialized layout that does NOT admit the other GUI panels in the currently layout, then WHAT?
  • Question: if the current layout contains MULTIPLE module GUIs,
  • and a new module is selected from the Application Toolbar, then what is a well-designed behavior?
• Question: What happens when user selects "+" to add a new tab?
  • new tab is added with same layout as previously raised tab.
  • Question: what module is selected -- home? none?

Default layout at startup

Ok: we've just fired up Slicer and we see the following presentation (which is presumably restored from the application registry).

• We see Slicer's Logo
• The data module (my home module) is presented
• A first tab indicating this module is shown (and indicator that shows I can create other tabs).
• The data module GUI now contains controls for changing the raised module, or navigating among previously used modules.
• If I use the module selector, or the module shortcuts in the toolbar, the tab name will change to reflect the module selected in this tab.
• YUK: the line between navigating among modules and "layouts" can become blurry.
  • For instance: a developer may design their module to use a custom layout: say there are two GUI panels, a 3Dviewer and a plot viewer in MyCustomModule.
  • In the layout below, I have previously selected the "Data Module" and a "Conventional Layout". Now I choose "MyCustomModule" and both the GUI panel(s) and the layout change.
  • Question: What happens when I select the "last module" button to go back to the Data Module? -- does the layout change as well?

Annotations of modifications to main application layout to accommodate tabs (and multiple module GUIs)

Adding a new tab

Adding a tab with a user-specified custom layout containing multiple module GUIs.

• User clicks the + icon to create a new tab.
• Tab is raised:
  • Question: what module if any is displayed in new tab? -- suggest none: just a module selector with "Select module:" in menubutton. (other ideas?)
  • Question: what layout is displayed in new tab? -- suggest same layout that is in previously raised tab. (thoughts?)
• User selects Layouts->Define Custom Layout from toolbar
• Layout designer interface pops up and
  • user defines a grid,
  • assigns views and UIs to panes,
  • names the new layout "Custom".
  • user exits the layout designer.
• new pane is now presented according to "Custom" layout and is named "Custom_1".
• user selects volumes module in one GUI panel, and data module in another UI panel in "Custom_1" tab.
• If user selects "Models Module" from the toolbar:
  • Question: Which GUI panel changes?

• If "Custom_1" tab contains NO module GUIs at all? -- say, just views and a plot widget:
  • Question: What happens when user selects "Models Module" from the toolbar?