Sven Schreiber wrote: > The first design issue is: should it be a global default or > document-specific? I guess the latter would require changing the lyx > file format, so I would stick to global -- less convenient for the user, > but more realistic in terms of implementability, and good enough IMHO.
I don't think a per-document setting makes sense. If I need several similar tables in a document it is usually faster to copy an existing table. > So as you said, that implies a new lyxrc part; let's call it > \tabular_style_border. I would suggest that a style consists of a name > and of a definition (pair of strings). > > The syntax for the definition: What about denominating the borders by > 'h' and 'v' for horizontal and vertical, and indexing in python style, > i.e. 0 is the first possible border (before the first row or column), -1 > is the last one (after the last row or column), and a colon (:) is for > defining ranges. To stick with the python convention, the range would > not include the upper bound. If no upper or lower bound is given, every > border after or before is included. If some border is indexed several > times, that means several drawn lines. Note that LyX does currently not support more than two lines. > Examples: > 'h1,h1,v1,h-1' would mean a tabular with a double horizontal line under > the headings (first row), a vertical line between the first and second > columns, and a horizontal line at the bottom. > 'h:2, h-2:, h1' would have the first and last rows enclosed in > horizontal lines, where the one under the headings (first row) is doubled. > 'v:, h:, h1' would be the current default (if I'm not mistaken). > 'h0, h-1, v0, v-1' would enable all outer borders. > etc. > > So much for setting the default in the lyxrc file. Several pre-defined > styles could be distributed with lyx, for example: > > 1. the current default > 2. no borders > 3. all borders (only single lines) > 4. all horizontal lines, no vertical lines > 5. all horizontal lines, plus doubled between rows 1 and 2 > 6. lines after the first row and column respectively, and a line at the > bottom > > The pre-defined styles would have to be stored somewhere of course -- > don't know if there's an obvious place for that, or if a new config file > is needed. > > The gui way would add a 'tabular' item in the global settings dialog in > the look&feel (German: Aussehen) group. There a user could choose from > the list of pre-defined line styles, and there would be a little, say > 5x5, schematic tabular next to the drop-down list to visualize the > choices. Something like: > ======================================================== > initial line style for new tabulars: [drop-down-list] > (you can always adjust lines later) > > preview: > _|____ > | > | > | > _|____ > ======================================================== > > Later that dialog could be enhanced by an input field so that a user can > add (or load) new styles; but I think it's not needed initially, the > "tweaking community" should be satisfied with defining their new styles > in a config file for the time being. Users can share their styles on the > wiki, for example. This dialog pane for tabulars could later maybe also > hold some other table defaults like font styles etc. But that is another > story. > > Ok so much for that. Boy, all I wanted is a better default... > Now you guys better get to work ;-) I intended to comment in more detail, but am unfortunately very busy ATM. Thanks for thinking, please create a bugzilla request for this and add a link to this thread. Then we can come back later. Georg
