[PyQt] Collapse/expand frame

[Alexei Puzikov]

>> Actually, you do, as soon as you'll pass over some amount of controls.
>>
>> I have the editor here that reimplements the screenshot (it's Maya, btw)
>> and in worst situations contains approx. 4500 controls. And I'm still
>> unable to remove
>> flickering on switch - basically, the layout refresh.
>>
>> If anybody can prototype something that works with big amount of controls
>> - his help would be enormous. Really.
>
> Hmm, Alexei, please don't feel offended, but presenting 4500 controls to
> user basically sounds like a pathologic situation, where _concepts_ lost
> control ;-)...

Well, it's probably Friday evening fluctuated my math a little bit -
so, in worst case,
it's 1500 controls. Which is actually pretty easy to achieve: 2
spacers, label, editor and slider
for each parameter.

> How is a user supposed to master that? Something similar to
> car navigation for the screen? (Take the second branch right, move mouse
> 200mm north, you reached your target, it's on the left side..)

Well, that's what makes my job interesting :) Yes, it's a tough UI
stuff. Filtering, proper
grouping, good usable search, tagging, good documentation and most of
all - good default values :)

> Even, if that widget, or control, if you like, is implemented in C++, as
> long as it is resizing itself, flickering cannot be suppressed, since it
> forces Qt to redraw the whole frame. I would start looking, how to get the
> whole thing into managable pieces. Next you may try to use a home grown
> layout manager, that is optimized for these cases (e.g. moves screen areas,
> but that's going to be tough, don't it?)

I'm not sure. What actually bugs me is that layout engine is
repainting the widgets
that's haven't changed their geometry. Given how many layouts I have,
this flickers....

You think this might be overwritten?...

A.