Meeting 2011-02-23

• attendees:
  • bdu
  • cds
  • chsch
  • ckru
  • haf
  • hdw
  • jjc
  • msp
  • mri
  • rvh
  • uru
• moderator: haf
• proceedings author: bdu
• start: 10:00am
• end: 12.20pm

Agenda

• jjc: Rail Layout
• msp: Exceptions
• bdu: ideas for editor/kiml
• cds: Checkstyle
• jjc: cmot-Ticket
• haf: Ptolemy Layout
• haf: Meeting
• uru: Demo
• haf: Release

Rail Layout (jjc)

• jjc: ports do not work
• msp: need to use relative positions
• Layout in Graphiti does not work (and when it worked, bend points looked odd)
• after updating, buttons had disappeared
• msp will work on that

Exceptions

msp: We should talk about the style of how exceptions are used

• Accepted style in Java:
  • Unchecked exceptions are a bad thing
  • Checked exceptions need to be stated in throws declarations and catch-clauses
• In KIELER:
  • we have general KielerException, which has no additional information except it comes from KIELER
  • on the outside, we catch Throwable
  • we should deprecate KielerException
  • instead: either throw unchecked exception or specific exception
  • haf: we can also use Exceptions that are subclasses, maybe we can make KielerException an abstract class. Then we could create subclasses like ModelException.
  • cds: should I throw other exceptions like IllegalArgumentException?
  • msp: instead of general KielerException, we should throw more specific exceptions
  • haf: we should enhance the wiki page on exceptions
• msp will work on this topic

Annoying Checkstyle Errors

• cds: some checkstyle errors are caused by HTML checks for Javadoc
• we should switch off HTML checks
• uru: the check for line feed at end of file is annoying
• cds will work on that

Ideas for graph editors

Mouse position display/Layout debug infos

• when working in an editor, one would like to see the current mouse position (coordinates in the editor)
• coordinates should be shown, maybe in status bar
• haf: there is no global status bar, each editor has its own
• uru: there should be something like the layout debug view
• "show coordinates all the time" vs. "show coordinates on mouse click"
• click mouse and show position somewhere on the screen (maybe on a new display?)
• #1497: everybody think of layout debug infos you would find useful
• jjc: need things like auxiliary lines?

Documentation of Layout Options

• documentation of layout algorithms is incomplete
• so far, layout algorithms are described in the layout algorithm selection window
• layout options are described in the Layout View
• descriptions are taken from extension point
• bdu proposes to add the layout option descriptions in the algorithm selection
• msp:
  • some layout algorithms have many options, that might be too much information for the window
  • user would not be interested in the options, user is only interested in the algorithms
• we could have help pages with detailed documentation of the layout algorithms
• cds: #1498 layout example pictures should be aligned to bottom

cmot ticket

• there is an error in KVid on cmot's system: #1475
• jjc could not reproduce the error
• looks like a compilation problem
• cmot should meet msp and jjc to repair the system

Demo (uru)

• uru demonstrates optimizations with focus and context in SyncChart? editor
• #1495: example management should not be in "Other"
• #1496 for KIML: extract aspect ratio from current canvas

Demonstration of Ptolemy Layout (haf)

• haf demonstrates Ptolemy layout
• bend points for links are stored in relation properties
• internal multi ports are still an issue
• performance: MoML changes are bottleneck

Meeting

• Rtsys Hiwis should attend meeting
• How can meeting be made more interesting and useful?
  • when setting agenda, we should talk about what is of interest for whom
  • try to sort topics by degree of interest
  • special/detailed discussions should rather be at the end
  • interrupt lengthy discussions?

Release

• Test phase starts now
• Everyone should check their tickets