Does it offer quadrature output configuration? If not, it already creates confusion. I'm not saying it wouldn't cause additional confusion if the option was there.
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 6:59 PM, Jeff Epler <[email protected]> wrote: > I did not intend my changelog message as a personal attack, and I am > sorry that I didn't choose my words better. > > A key question about an option in stepconf is whether it will create > confusion for a novice user. When a panel item duplicates a function > already offered by AXIS, I think confusion will be a natural result. > When it's an incompatible way to perform the same task, the situation > becomes even worse. > > Take the panel's G92 origin buttons as an example. Offsets are > bewildering to new users, but this topic has to be tackled before any > useful milling can be done. In AXIS we made the decision to promote the > use of G5x offsets through the "Touch Off" button, specifically because > (at the time) G92 offsets had an extra gotcha that they are turned off > by reading ahead to M2. On the other hand, your panel uses G92, a > decision that I imagine must have been forced because halui is not > sufficiently flexible to perform the math that AXIS uses in preparing a > G10 L2 ... MDI command for a Touch Off. > > It would be natural for a novice user who has your panel enabled to > freely mix "touch off" and "g92 origin" as he explores the user > interface. But I don't think the behavior will seem sensible to that > novice -- I consider myself an expert, and I still wouldn't take a bet > that I could tell you the outcome of using both functions together in > all corner cases. > > There's another shortcoming of panel buttons to set offsets: it doesn't > cause AXIS to regenerate the preview to show the effect of the new > offset. The user has to discover to press "reload", and then remember > to do it every time. > > Finally, AXIS has code to make sure that "Touch Off" is only available > when it is sensible to push. (For instance, during a program run it is > disabled). Due to limitations of pyvcp, a panel can't do the same > thing, and the "Zero X" button will always appear to be available. > > A user sophisticated enough to understand all the issues I've just been > discussing will also be sophisticated enough to find the panel .xml file > and create the connections in his custom hal file; for her, it's not > necessary to offer it as a clickable option in stepconf. > > I hope that this somewhat long-winded explanation helps you better > understand where I am coming from on this issue. > > Jeff > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Create and Deploy Rich Internet Apps outside the browser with Adobe(R)AIR(TM) > software. With Adobe AIR, Ajax developers can use existing skills and code to > build responsive, highly engaging applications that combine the power of local > resources and data with the reach of the web. Download the Adobe AIR SDK and > Ajax docs to start building applications today-http://p.sf.net/sfu/adobe-com > _______________________________________________ > Emc-developers mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Create and Deploy Rich Internet Apps outside the browser with Adobe(R)AIR(TM) software. With Adobe AIR, Ajax developers can use existing skills and code to build responsive, highly engaging applications that combine the power of local resources and data with the reach of the web. Download the Adobe AIR SDK and Ajax docs to start building applications today-http://p.sf.net/sfu/adobe-com _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
