Hi GnuCash developers, over the last few feeks, I have developed a fundamental patchset that should get GnuCash up and running in GTK+ 3.
The source code is available at GitHub: https://github.com/hesiod/gnucash/tree/gtk3 Some independent commits are on the next branch. All GTK+ 3-related stuff is on the gtk3 branch. I'm sorry for the sometimes messy commits, but the number of commits is quite massive already and I really didn't have the time splitting them up. If you have any questions regarding a particular commit, feel free to ask me. DISCLAIMER: This is alpha-quality software and not at all ready for users! Please do not run GnuCash built from my development tree unless you want to contribute to the development process. This development version may delete all your data and eat your CPU! While I got GnuCash pretty much working under GTK+ 3, a lot of further (fundamental and architectural) changes are required before even thinking about a release. Simply spoken, we now have GnuCash working in GTK+ 3, but using GTK+/Gnome 2 patterns. While it is possible to go down this path, the user experience will be substandard, especially compared to the current releases. Because GnuCash 2.0 was (afaik) coupled to the GTK+ 2 migration, I suggest that the GTK+ 3 version should be GnuCash 3.0. A quick word on dependencies: I set the minimum GTK+ version to be 3.18 because I didn't try to compile it with any earlier versions, but backporting probably isn't too hard. Major changes already in my tree: * All "rich" GtkActions/GtkRadioActions/GtkToggleActions were replaced by abstract GActions/GMenus. This doesn't sound like a lot, but is a major change. Please read the relevant API documentation and do not hestitate to ask me if you have any questions about the new GAction- based infrastructure. Sorry for not going into more detail, but describing the technical peculiarities here would take considerably too long. * I removed the splash screen and replaced it by GApplication's busy notification in some places. * I updated the HTML code to use the Webkit2 API, but it needs some more love. * Using GtkApplication renders everything related to gtk-osx-integration unnecessary. * This is unrelated to the GTK+ 3 migration, but I added a Markdown version of the README and added a DOAP project description. * I changed the action naming pattern from CamelCaseAction to dot.separated.action-name, e.g. file.close or account.d Major stuff not yet migrated: * In order to migrate the small business module, its entry ledger has to be rewritten, just like the "normal" register. * AqBanking uses the gwenhywfar UI library, which in turn uses GTK+ 2. I have not yet looked into this. * I removed the old file history/recent files code. There are better ways to do this in GTK+ 3. * I haven't converted every UI definition file to the new format for now. Things that I recommend be dropped/removed for GnuCash 3.0: * Maintaining both the CMake and autotools-based build system does not seem like a good idea, so drop autotools. * Rewriting the old register is not really viable or useful, so drop it. Currently, either the old or the new register is compiled to ease transition. (Right now, the new register can be enabled in addition to the old register.) * The dynamic module system (based on GModule) is a nice idea, but the benefits are dubious at the moment. While the dynamic loading of all the standard modules incurs a heavy startup delay, there is no reason why a user would not want to load all the built-in modules. Therefore, all GnuCash modules should be converted into statically linked objects. (It is still possible to compile shared libraries for Guile at the same time, CMake should have no problem doing that.) Major Changes that I highly recommend for a GnuCash 3.0 release: * Writing GObject-based code (i.e. GTK+ code) in C is a very cumbersome and boilerplate-ish process. Vala makes it possible to write GObject code in a very concise way, all while compiling directly to C source (and C headers), making it possible to seamlessy integrate Vala code into C code. Other C-to-Vala ports have seen significant decreases in code size. Porting the UI code to Vala should definitiely ease maintainability, correctness and readability without sacrificing performance. * I ported the core application code to use GtkApplication. It would be nice to change the main window - opened file relationship from the current N:1 to a 1:1, i.e. each main window is separate and has exactly one opened file. This would simplify the main window code. It also seems more intuitive than the current behaviour, since the user does not expect that all windows change the opened file if he opens a file in one window. * UI design: see below * I have not yet looked at translations and accelerators. * The new register requires some more love. Nice-to-haves regarding GTK: * Some GSimpleActions would be better off as GPropertyActions. * Validate all GtkBuilder files using gtk-builder-tool. * File Chooser Dialog: Implement proper file format filter. * xdg-app support * jqplot as a Git submodule * Have hints for GtkEntries Nice-to-haves, other that the UI: * Replace the GncInt128 with Boost.Multiprecision * I added initial configuration files for clang-format and clang-tidy. The latter could be integrated as a Git commit hook. Bugfixing paths: * I have added basic support for compiling GnuCash with the address sanitizer (ASan) and the undefined behaviour sanitizer (UBSan), although in practice, the former only works using LD_PRELOAD at runtime (which is discouraged) due to a Guile error. * Many of the warnings you see compiling my tree really are valid errors and should be fixed. UI Design Notes: The current UI has the menubar as the central element. Depending on which "plugin page" you're currently looking at, certain menus are shown or hidden, e.g. the "Transaction" menu is only visible when viewing a register page. In theory, this behaviour is also available in my development tree thanks to the EggMenuManager (taken from Gnome Builder), but I removed the relevant calls for the moment. Please read on for the reasons. (Search for calls to egg_menu_manager_remove) Both the heavy usage of menus and the context-sensitive visibility of menus are discouraged by the Gnome 3 HIG. A more modern UI design would greatly benefit the GnuCash user experience. (Before continuing, please have a quick look at the Gnome 3 HIG right now if you haven't yet.) I haven't spent a great deal of time thinking about a potential new UI design yet, but in general, it boils down to having the page-specific actions as buttons inside a toolbar, and general actions in a header bar (GtkHeaderBar). As an example, let's take the register: * New Account: A plus button on the toolbar * Register Style: Clicking on "sandwich"-like button opens a popover offering the different styles as a slider (as in Nautilus: the button left of the sandwich button offers the different Nautilus style options) * View - Search by: As "search" button in the header bar In general, you can get a lot of design inspiration by looking at Gnome Apps, in particular some of the recently refreshed ones, e.g. Files/Nautilus, Videos/Totem, Maps, Documents or Document Viewer/evince. Asking the Gnome Design Team for suggestions is also a possible avenue. Thanks for your time and attention - let's make GnuCash an even better free software finance manager! Cheers, Tobias _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
