infinite mouse feature for Celestia Qt4

[Vincent]

There seem to be more and more forum members compiling the Qt4 version of Celestia.
Moreover, the level of feedback from the devs list is currently very low. So, I think,
like Andrew, that it might be a good idea to provide some patches for testing here.

So here we go with a first one which adds an infinite mouse movement to Celestia-qt4,
i.e., which allows the user to rotate, zoom, or change the camera distance continuously,
without being stopped when the pointer reaches the window borders.
http://gvince.perso.sfr.fr/celestia/dev ... _patch.zip

This change works nicely on my XP 32bits system:
- I get a continuous rotation/camera distance/zoom movement with right/left click [+ shift] mouse drag.
- The cross cursor is hidden during this infinite mouse movement, and then displayed back as soon as the
mouse buttons are released.

Now it'd be great to get some feedback from WinXP/Vista/7 64bits, Mac, and Linux users...

[ajtribick]

This worked great when I compiled on my Xubuntu system (amd64). Infinite mouse is what I missed most about the Windows version.

Incidentally if people are interested in signing up for the dev list, here's the link. Definitely it would be nice to see some more people active there.

[t00fri]

Hi Vincent,

I tested your infinite mouse on OpenSuSE 11.2 Linux, using Qt 4.7.2 and Qt-creator 2.0.94.
GREAT feature, working very well & intuitively. A MUST for Celestia.

Fridger

[Boux]

Bonsoir Vincent,
Celestia-qt builds and runs OK after applying your patch (Vista 64).
Great functionality indeed...
I am just wondering about the huge gap that is increasing between latest SVN code/content and the -very- old public 1.6 release ... and I am not talking about the Qt version only...
I have been reading occasionally the dev mailing list for the last 3-4 months.
Obviously, this project badly lacks leadership and focus and perhaps purpose.
My 2 cents but this will not prevent me to have a nice sleep tonight anyway.
I wish you too have a good one

[ajtribick]

Boux... definitely agree here.

I'm definitely sympathetic to Fridger's view that we should skip 1.6.1 entirely and jump straight to 1.7.0. Certainly various features that are not going to be in 1.6.1 have been exhibited here for quite some time.

[t00fri]

Boux... definitely agree here.

I'm definitely sympathetic to Fridger's view that we should skip 1.6.1 entirely and jump straight to 1.7.0. Certainly various features that are not going to be in 1.6.1 have been exhibited here for quite some time.

Good to hear, Andrew....

so I am not alone with the feeling that a mere bugfix release 1.6.1 more than 1.8 years after 1.6.0 will cast a strange light on the pace of Celestia development.

My prognosis about what Celestia users might infer is well illustrated by the above post of Boux:

I have been reading occasionally the dev mailing list for the last 3-4 months.
Obviously, this project badly lacks leadership and focus and perhaps purpose.

I find it a particular pity that we did not make use of the past three months to push the trunk branch with its universal Qt GUI towards release state, since the trunk code really contains many interesting new features (unlike 1.6.1).

Already beginning of December 2010, I wrote my suggestion to skip 1.6.1 to ChrisL without receiving positive feedback from him.

Fridger

[Fenerit]

Hi! Maybe I'm a bit out of topic, but my (quick) test with the latest Celestia-Qt says:

- The bug concerning the windows' freezing no longer exist, neither about the resizing of the main window nor about the dialog windows;
- The main window, the SS browser and the control bars pass through my 2 monitors with easy, and remains there even after the Celestia-Qt is restarted;
- The zoom works even when the pointer is on the secondary monitor;
TODO:
- Orbits, constellation lines, constellation's boundaries and the grids in general seems not antialiased;
- HudDisplay in verbose mode is not maintained as setting after the restart;
- Altsurfaces aren't maintained after restart;

[John Van Vliet]

--- edit ---

[duds26]

Works nice.

Request:
could you change ( or add) the controls to left mouse button or right mouse button + middle mouse button!
Or is this already used for something else?

This would allow also for intuitive speed control with distance of the mouse from when the middle mouse button was pressed to current location (for as long as it's pressed of course)