Converting OPI to New Style Tips and Gotchas

Wiki > The GUI > Coding > Converting to New Style Tips and Gotchas

Converting to the new style: tips and gotchas

These are things to keep in mind when converting an existing OPI from the old style to the new one:

• Don't just rely on visual checking of the OPI. Look over the full list of template properties for each widget type. Pay particular attention to fonts and colours. There is a script in /ibex_gui/base/uk.ac.stfc.isis.ibex.opis/ that automatically checks these properties (along with some others) and produces a report for a given OPI. You can use this in addition to visual checking to ensure your OPI is valid under the new style.
• When copying the properties of a widget to another, it is VERY easy to miss out on things such as Actions, Rules, Scripts, Limits, etc. Missing properties will alter the behaviour of the widget! The safest option is to take an existing widget and just change all its colours/fonts/size properties to match those in the template opi.
• You can select multiple widgets of the same type and change their properties in one go! (Use with care: don't change behavioural properties!)
• Different widget type (don't miss properties when converting!): many old style OPIs use the Native Text widget for labels and titles. In the template we only use Labels: Native Text doesn't seem to offer any advantage apart from a prettier border (which we rarely use) and prettier tooltip, and it has the disadvantage that text is selectable with a flashing cursor, which seems to indicate the text is editable when it's not.
• Different widget type (don't miss properties when converting!): the template uses Native Buttons instead of normal Action Buttons, so they automatically change colour when selecting/hovering over them. They also look more consistent with combo boxes.
• Please check the OPI against colour blindness design guidelines; in particular, review line styles in graphs.