[DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

johnraff · 2023-03-11 04:46:20

Topic split off from: https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 60#p126460

hhh wrote:

the problem is BLOB needs the theme changing process streamlined, it's way too many clicks at the moment. It should be five steps... open BLOB Manager, click "Change System theme" (button doesn't exist yet), click on a theme, "Apply", a window with all options selected opens so you can un-click Wallpaper, for instance, "OK". I'll look into hacking it, but this one might be up to a forum member. @damo has retired.

Right now, that would be:
BLOB > View Saved > (click on a theme) > Restore > (script handles any unsaved config files) > (see confirmation list of settings that can be restored) > Choose the Configs to Restore (options are unchecked, but there's a "select all" button) > OK

*) Is it partly the step names you'd like changing?
*) Maybe drop the initial welcome screen and go directly to the list of Blobs? The "about" button will go there anyway.
*) Also, I see that I forgot to add in the "Help" button that was already coded up on my own desktop.
*) Should we get rid of that confirmation "can be restored" list? It doesn't do that much.
*) The offer to backup the current themes before overwriting is necessary IMO, yes.
*) Make the options in "choose configs" all checked by default?

Spell out the organization you'd like and I'll have a think.

I've already done quite a lot of hacking on BLOB since Damo left it, and there are a couple of small changes on my TODO list now (like handling icon themes and gtk themes separately).
It might be easy to tweak it the way you want...

Last edited by johnraff (2023-04-20 05:02:09)

johnraff · 2023-03-12 01:59:22

hhh wrote:

I'll look into hacking it, but this one might be up to a forum member.

At 2364 lines Blob is one of our more complex scripts. Making a quick change might be a non-trivial task for someone new to the code. That said, if someone wanted to take over maintaining it, it would be very cool! I'd be up for providing whatever support was needed to get them up to speed.

But if there are some relatively small changes that can go in for the Boron release (eg in above post) it would probably be more practical if I did it.

deleted0 · 2023-03-12 04:23:42

I've been studying it; quite interesting. And in doing so, really using BL and liking it. Considering switching to BL on the main machine.

2³bit

edit: BL with MX Repos

Last edited by deleted0 (2023-03-12 04:41:20)

hhh · 2023-03-12 06:18:39

^ Fever Room was inspired by an actual fever dream that @damo experienced, and I managed to match a decent theme to the wallpaper he created. Good times!

822MiB out of 32020MiB used. Gee, could you spare it? Disk usage... *chuckles*

hhh · 2023-03-12 06:37:38

@johnraff, thinking, using, learning...

deleted0 · 2023-03-12 14:04:18

hhh wrote:

^ Fever Room was inspired by an actual fever dream that @damo experienced, and I managed to match a decent theme to the wallpaper he created. Good times!
822MiB out of 32020MiB used. Gee, could you spare it? Disk usage... *chuckles*

Well Chuckles, I like what you did on that theme. I also like the one on the screenshot thread.

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 34#p126434

8bit

edit: and the accent color on https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 86#p126486

Last edited by deleted0 (2023-03-12 14:42:40)

johnraff · 2023-03-13 02:02:46

Maybe BLOB should be split out of bunsen-utilities into its own package?
It's a big boy these days.

hhh · 2023-03-13 02:33:54

^ Yes to a split!

Current BLOB...

1) Open jgmenu, type blob, choose the bottom option "BLOB Themes Manager" (should be on top).

2) Absolutely bypass this very pretty, informative screen, except maybe on first-run, it's just in the way. Proceed to "View Saved"...

3) Good, but too busy. "View Image", lose that one. Now, we change a theme (and icons) but keep the wallpaper...

4) Click a theme prieview, click the "Restore" button. Good.

5) A big warning window. Lose this. They're themes, the system won't explode. The User doesn't care about any of that, they're just clicking on the presets. So, "No, restore now" (passive-agressive button FTW. Open the pod-bay doors, HAL.)

6) Another big explanation window. Don't need it. "OK" button...

7) Config checkbox window, finally. Have them all checked by default. One click to uncheck "Wallpaper", a "Save as Default" button to click for the checkbox window settings, please. Click another "OK" button...

8) Settings applied window, that's nice. "Quit" button.

So you can shave 3 of these steps, at least? And change the default settings window and add Alt button underlines to menu items (I forget what that's called, mnenonics)?

johnraff · 2023-03-13 09:51:15

Thanks for the analysis. I'm going to apply some of this right now.

hhh wrote:

1) Open jgmenu, type blob, choose the bottom option "BLOB Themes Manager" (should be on top).

Agreed. I don't know how jgmenu orders the search items - we need some advice from @malm here. (I don't use the menu search because I know where the stuff is...)

2) Absolutely bypass this very pretty, informative screen, except maybe on first-run, it's just in the way. Proceed to "View Saved"...

OK giving this a try. And even when it's displayed from "About" there's no need for the "Save Settings" button there, since it's on the main BLOB list window. What about the "Help" button though? On the "About" window or added to the "View" window? I'll put it on both for now so you can see what you think.

I still can't get a comfortable name for the collection of GTK, Openbox, Icon etc etc themes. Is that itself a "theme" too? Sometimes I call them "blobs" but not sure if that's understandable. Any better suggestion?

Is "View Saved" the most obvious label for the button to the main list window? View Blobs? View Themes?

3) Good, but too busy. "View Image", lose that one.

OK no strong feelings I guess. I've tried renaming it to "View Closeup" but if you think no-one cares about the details that much it can easily go.

I've also renamed "Save Settings" to "Save Current", "Restore" to "Apply this Blob", "Delete" to "Delete this Blob", and moved "Delete" over next to "Quit". But just playing around. Any better ideas?

4) Click a theme preview, click the "Restore" button. Good.

Renamed it to "Apply this Blob" but it's no biggie.

5) A big warning window. Lose this. They're themes, the system won't explode. The User doesn't care about any of that, they're just clicking on the presets.

Here I have to disagree. I got caught by this when playing with BLOB at the beginning. It nuked all my theming and I had no way of getting it back The User isn't just playing with presets, they're overwriting their own personal config files. Users who want a backup can hit "Save settings first" if they care, or "No, restore now" if they don't. It's true that individual backups of config files are being made behind the scenes, but restoring from those is much more annoying than clicking on "My Desktop" in BLOB.

(Try installing meld and hitting the "View difference(s)" button. Quite cool I think.)

6) Another big explanation window. Don't need it. "OK" button...

Agreed. Nuked that.

7) Config checkbox window, finally. Have them all checked by default.

OK easily done. Changed the "Select All" button to "Unselect All". Will we need "Select All" too, to reselect everything?

...a "Save as Default" button to click for the checkbox window settings, please.

Sorry, I don't understand this.

add Alt button underlines to menu items (I forget what that's called, mnenonics)?

I'll have a look at bl-exit to see how that's done with Alt underlines.
...add an underbar before the label it seems. I've tried it in the main blob list window - is that what you mean? If good, I can do it with all the other yad windows.

Could you copy/paste this into ~/bin/bl-obthemes and see if it's moving in the right direction?
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Bunse … l-obthemes

deleted0 · 2023-03-13 18:34:57

Humbly offered for your consideration.

2³bit

edit:

~ line 579

# pass --one-view-only to skip the intro window
# after first viewing
function Intro(){

    debug 'Welcome to BLOB!'

    getCurrent # generates NUMDIRS and CURRENTSESSION

    if [[ $1 = '--one-view-only' && -e $HOME/.config/bunsen/blob-intro-viewed ]];then
        displayBlobs
    else
        TXTINTRO='<big><b>B̲unsenLabs O̲penbox T̲hemes M̲anager</b></big>


<b>Save or Restore settings for:</b>

    Openbox theme
    GTK theme
    Conkys
    Tint2
    Desktop Background
    Alt Menu (dmenu)
    LightDM theme
    X configs (.bashrc, .Xresources)
    Terminal (if config file is known)
    Compositor (if config file exists)
    jgmenu (if config file exists)
    + Screenshot'

        createFlag 'blob-intro-viewed'

        #  if blob/ is empty, then don't display "View Saved" option in Intro dialog
        if (( NUMDIRS > 0 ));then
            yad "${yad_args[@]}" "--text=$TXTINTRO" \
            --title="$TITLE" --borders=30 \
            --button="Save Current Blob:0" --button="View Saved Blobs:2" $HLPBTN $CLOSE

        else
            yad "${yad_args[@]}" "--text=$TXTINTRO" \
            --title="$TITLE" --borders=30 \
            --button="Save Settings:0" $HLPBTN $CLOSE

        fi
        case $? in
            0)  saveNewBlob
                displayBlobs
                ;;
            1)  debug "CANCELLED..."
                exit 0
                ;;
            2)  displayBlobs
                ;;
            10) yad --button="OK":0 --center --window-icon=distributor-logo-bunsenlabs --text-info --title="The BLOB themes manager" --filename="/usr/share/bunsen/docs/helpfiles/helpfile-blob.txt" --width=900 --height=700 --fontname=Monospace
                Intro
                ;;
            *)  echo "RETURN ERROR" >&2
                exit 1
                ;;
        esac
    fi
}

~ line 2202

########################################################################
######## Main BLOB list display function ###############################
# sets globals THEMEPATH and BKP_SFX (via restoreSettings) for restore functions
function displayBlobs(){
    local DLGWIDTH DLGHEIGHT DLGARR RET CONFIG CURRENTSESSDIR themename TEXT difflist userfile
    getActiveMonitorDimensions
    while true ;do
        UpdateDisplayDialog # generates DLGARR aand CURRENTSESSDIR
        CONFIG=$(yad "${yad_args[@]}" --list --title="$TITLE" \
            --text="Double-click selection, or \"Enter\", or \"Use Selected Blob\" button to apply settings.\n" \
            --separator=" " \
            --button="Save Current Blob:4" --button="_View _Selected Blob:3" \
            --button="_Use Selected Blob:0" --button="_Delete Selected Blob:2" --button="About:5" --button="gtk-quit:1" \
            --always-print-result \
            --width=$DLGWIDTH --height=$DLGHEIGHT --center --image-preview \
            --expand-column=3 \
            --column="Last Set:IMG" \
            --column="Config Name":TEXT \
            --column="Screenshot":IMG \
            "${DLGARR[@]}" \
            2>/dev/null )

Last edited by deleted0 (2023-03-14 00:06:45)

johnraff · 2023-03-14 00:00:22

^Many thanks Al!

Those button rearrangements and relabeling mostly look good to me.

I'm not quite sure about referring to the current desktop theming as a "Blob" though - to me that means the set of configs that BLOB stores away. OTOH it does make the label names cleaner. Hmm...

Now, the underlined Capital letters on the Intro window... personally, I could manage alright without those.

@hhh?

johnraff · 2023-03-14 00:02:31

BTW it's a corner case, but when there are no stored Blobs then the Intro window has to be shown, not the (empty) Blob list. I need to tweak the logic in Intro() slightly.

deleted0 · 2023-03-14 00:10:00

johnraff wrote:

Now, the underlined Capital letters on the Intro window... personally, I could manage alright without those.
@hhh?

I redid that, I didn't underline the correct letters. It suggests where BLOB comes from.

See if you like the updated one.

@hhh, your valued input?

8bit

edit: it should be "BLOb" of you really cut to the bone.

Last edited by deleted0 (2023-03-14 01:57:47)

deleted0 · 2023-03-14 01:42:49

First off is "Save Current Blob". First thing first time users should do? Common thing user does, save their work.

Second - "View Current Blob". Self explanatory. Safety buffer between two action buttons.

Next - "Use Current Blob". Another action button.

I lost count. Oh, yeah; "Delete Selected Blob". King action button.

About - Safety buffer button.

Close - God button.

The actual name are, of course changeable, but I think the order is correct.

2³bit

Last edited by deleted0 (2023-03-14 01:44:56)

johnraff · 2023-03-14 01:48:23

eight.bit.al wrote:

I think the order is correct.

+1

@hhh, your valued input?

+1

johnraff · 2023-03-14 01:53:12

Although BL itself is meant to be easily extendable to using other window managers, doing the same for BLOB would be a non-trivial task, possibly for Carbon...

The choice of "GUI" in the title, rather than "Openbox", reflected that long-term hope.

Last edited by johnraff (2023-03-14 01:54:44)

deleted0 · 2023-03-14 02:06:09

johnraff wrote:

The choice of "GUI" in the title, rather than "Openbox", reflected that long-term hope.

Thanks for the bit of history, makes sense.
Take what you want of it, I'm only too happy to give back.
If there's anything else I can do.
If you're gunna bitch, be ready to pick up the shovel too.
I do miss the tool bar...

8bit

Last edited by deleted0 (2023-03-14 02:40:55)

johnraff · 2023-03-14 02:54:55

"tool bar"?

deleted0 · 2023-03-14 03:15:19

This one's from Dobbie03's forum. I use them a lot.
I don't want to work hard for my computer, I want my computer to work hard for me.

8bit

hhh · 2023-03-14 06:17:19

I'm gone for, what, a day? You guys are OS Animals, drum kit and spiked collared chain included. I love it.

Give me a day to soak it all in, thanks!

#1 2023-03-11 04:46:20

[DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#2 2023-03-12 01:59:22

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#3 2023-03-12 04:23:42

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#4 2023-03-12 06:18:39

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#5 2023-03-12 06:37:38

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#6 2023-03-12 14:04:18

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#7 2023-03-13 02:02:46

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#8 2023-03-13 02:33:54

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#9 2023-03-13 09:51:15

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#10 2023-03-13 18:34:57

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#11 2023-03-14 00:00:22

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#12 2023-03-14 00:02:31

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#13 2023-03-14 00:10:00

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#14 2023-03-14 01:42:49

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#15 2023-03-14 01:48:23

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#16 2023-03-14 01:53:12

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#17 2023-03-14 02:06:09

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#18 2023-03-14 02:54:55

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#19 2023-03-14 03:15:19

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

#20 2023-03-14 06:17:19

Re: [DONE] Improving BLOB for Boron

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