On Thu, Apr 14, 2005 at 10:10:13PM +1000, Peter Moulder wrote:
On Wed, Apr 13, 2005 at 08:36:41PM -0700, Jon A. Cruz wrote:
g_log... g_warning... fprintf(stderr... magic dialog output...
For messages that aren't bugs and that the user needs to see (e.g. file not found, failed to parse, etc.), I suggest that we have a function that checks for gui-ness and either presents an alert dialog box or writes to stderr as appropriate. The code at the end of inkscape.cpp:inkscape_segv_handler looks appropriate.
For a long term solution, I'd suggest to place functions like this via the Inkscape::Application class, since that is the spot that has the knowledge of whether we're running GUI or not.
Specifically, define pure virtual routine(s) in src/application/app-prototype.h, and then instantiate them in editor.* for GUI use. For commandline usage, we'll eventually have a commandline.* or something, where a non-GUI handler can be instantiated. We may have additional classes for other run modes such as inkview and perhaps an animation player.
Then add a message routine to Inkscape::Application in src/application/application.* that simply calls the above method from _app_impl. Then this allows any part of the codebase to print error messages knowing only the inkscape app object.
On translation: Whether or not the above rule is adopted, messages indicating bugs should not be wrapped in _(): the message is intended to be sent to developers, and it's most helpful if the string that gets reported by users can be searched for with grep in the source code, and if the developer can understand the string.
On charsets: both g_log_default_handler (at least in glib 2.4.7 and 2.6.3, I haven't checked other versions) and the handler of src/dialogs/debugdialog.cpp assume that the message is in utf8. (Reference: Messages::message in src/dialogs/debugdialog.cpp, and g_log_default_handler in gmessages.c). Luckily this is the most convenient charset for most callers in inkscape given that we use utf8 for most of our strings.
Whereas anything written to stdout/stderr with printf/fprintf should use locale encoding, e.g. using g_utf8_to_locale. (For the moment I make no comment on whether/when it is appropriate to write to stdout/stderr directly, just what charset to use if one does.)
One reason to avoid writing to stdout (whether via printf or via g_log with low level number) is that it can interfere with command-line use of inkscape, e.g. converting a file and sending the result to stdout. This reason doesn't apply to use of stderr though.
Could you add the above to the Programming Manual area in wiki? This is some good info to keep track of.
Bryce