<Swing Dev> A proposal for a behavior change about mnemonic key

Sat Oct 8 15:38:44 UTC 2011

I believe that native look and feel should mandate the different  keybindings, the cross platform look and feel should behave in a specified way, that doesn't need to be necessarily the same as the underlying platform, although this should be user configurable in a property though (perhaps saved in the preferences), because it's indeed an area if great confusion for the users.

Mario

----- Reply message -----
Da: "Pavel Porvatov" <pavel.porvatov at oracle.com>
Data: sab, ott 8, 2011 04:35
Oggetto: <Swing Dev> A proposal for a behavior change about mnemonic key
A: <zhouyx at linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: "swing-dev at openjdk.java.net" <swing-dev at openjdk.java.net>

Hi Sean,
> Hi Pavel,
>
>    Your observation is right, but I can't agree with the conclusion. 
> Windows and
> GTK behave differently about how to close an opened menu. Under GTK, press
> "alt" can not close an opened menu, so, the "esc" is used to close it; 
> while
> windows performs more friendly, when mnemonic key is pressed again, 
> the first
> opened menu is closed automatically. This is totally about how to 
> close an
> opened menu, and it doesn't change the fact that menus with same mnemonic
> key are iterated.
>
>    On the other side, swing implementation doesn't follow GTK's 
> behavior about
> how to close the menu at all. Open the swingset2 and you can find its 
> behavior
> is the same with windows. Press "alt+f" and then press "alt+l" will 
> open the
> "look and feel" menu instead of GTK's "alt+f", "esc", and "alt+l".
>
>    So, I think GTK's behavior about "use esc to close an opened menu" 
> is not
> user friendly and we can ignore it, while GTK's "iterate over menus 
> with same
> mnemonic key" is better than current java implementation and we can add
> this feature. And if a user wants to use GTK's key sequence "alt+f", 
> "esc",
> "alt+l", it is also functional.
>
>    So I think this enhancement will help keep the behavior same with 
> both these
> platforms, how do you think?
Sounds reasonable and I don't object now to the decision. Does anybody 
have ideas (e.g. objections) about the new functionality?

I glanced at your patch and have the following comments:
1. Could you please file CR about the problem
2. A test is needed (I think it's possible to write an automatic one)
3. Could you please correct the new code to obey our code standards 
(aligning, spacing, mandatory braces in if/else conditions and others)

If possible send patch as a webrev, please.

Thanks, Pavel

>
> 2011/9/21 Pavel Porvatov <pavel.porvatov at oracle.com 
> <mailto:pavel.porvatov at oracle.com>>
>
>     Hi Sean,
>
>     I found out that Windows and GTK works in different ways (I used
>     your apps):
>
>     1. When Alt+i is pressed several times:
>     In Windows focus moves between items
>     In Ubuntu focus stays at the initially selected item
>
>     2. When sequence Alt+i and Escape pressed several times
>     In Windows the first menu item is selected
>     In Ubuntu after every sequence the next item is selected
>
>     In such case we should use different strategies for different
>     platforms...
>
>
>     Regards, Pavel
>
>>     Hi Pavel,
>>
>>         I just tested linux gtk platform.  With gtk2+, ubuntu linux
>>     with kernel 2.6.38, xfce, x86_32.
>>     I set four menus with mnemonic "i". Press "alt+i" will travel
>>     through four menus. The difference
>>     is that each menu must be closed with "esc" before "alt+i" opens
>>     the next one.
>>
>>         So press "alt+i" opens "File", and press "esc" to close it;
>>         then press "alt+i" opens "Edit", and press "esc" to close it;
>>         ... for next menu with mnemonic "i"
>>
>>     I attached the test application and its ui file. If it is
>>     blocked, please use
>>     this link:
>>     https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8kRxsymP7imOGU1NjhiM2ItMGQ5Ni00NWNhLWJmMDQtZjZiZmQzN2U4ZGUw&hl=en_US
>>     <https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8kRxsymP7imOGU1NjhiM2ItMGQ5Ni00NWNhLWJmMDQtZjZiZmQzN2U4ZGUw&hl=en_US>
>>
>>     Ubuntu x86_32 should work.
>>
>>
>>     So, I think both windows and linux gtk have supported traversal
>>     of same mnemonic keyed
>>     items already.
>>
>>
>>     2011/9/14 Pavel Porvatov <pavel.porvatov at oracle.com
>>     <mailto:pavel.porvatov at oracle.com>>
>>
>>         Hi Sean,
>>>         Hi Pavel,
>>>
>>>             Let's see if this time works. The attachement just
>>>         contains the exe file written by C#, the application is very
>>>         simple, I just drag a menu to the default WinForm in VS2003.
>>>             Please change the extension from exe1 to exe after unzip
>>>         as gmail doesn't allow exe file to be sent.
>>         Yes, I see. And what about other platforms/lafs? Your patch
>>         affects behavior of all lafs. So we must be sure, that such
>>         behavior is correct for every supported platform...
>>
>>         Regards, Pavel
>>
>>>
>>>         2011/9/13 Pavel Porvatov <pavel.porvatov at oracle.com
>>>         <mailto:pavel.porvatov at oracle.com>>
>>>
>>>             Hi Sean,
>>>
>>>             I think the attached sample was removed because I didn't
>>>             get any attachments...
>>>
>>>             Regards, Pavel
>>>
>>>>             Hi Pavel,
>>>>
>>>>                I found C# Form application treats Mnemonics in menu
>>>>             in this way. I attached the sample
>>>>             application. Press alt+i will iterate over three menu.
>>>>
>>>>             2011/9/13 Pavel Porvatov <pavel.porvatov at oracle.com
>>>>             <mailto:pavel.porvatov at oracle.com>>
>>>>
>>>>                 Hi Sean,
>>>>>                 Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>>               
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