Too Many Horizontal Lines In Context Menus For Scripts

I feel there are too many horizontal lines in the context menus, when it comes to scripts.

I would prefer the scripts be grouped together.

Feel free to disagree (or agree?)

i can see what you mean,i actually like the way it is,it is easy and fast to use what you need,instead of drop-downs,with that in mind i dont really know another way this could be done.

He means all Scripts would be grouped together with no dividing lines, like all Track functions are grouped together. Think current way kinda makes sense as Scripts could be very different in function but wouldn’t mind if they were grouped together too much either…

+1 (grouped together)

I agree. those lines use up too much space.

Well, I don’t think we are going to solve the real problem with this. Less dividers give you more space for one or two new entries, but that’s it. Tools should not only be in menu entries, at least not only, but should be part of Renoises main UI. Now don’t ask me how exactly this could work.

The current rule for the dividers is:

  • tools which create more than one menu entry, can group their entries explicitly (no dividers are added automatically, but the tool can add dividers)
  • else each new tools entries are divided from other tool entries automatically. This is not done to separate tools, but to group one tool’s entries ;)

We can’t automatically group entries from more than one tool, cause we simply don’t know what they do and this way also not if and how they belong together. Explicitly specifying dividers in tools also doesn’t work, cause tools don’t know which other tools are installed.

The only way of automatic grouping I can think of, would be looking at the tools category or some other not yet added “tags”. But in your example the category is “Pattern Editor” for every single one, so this also doesn’t work.

Well, on a long term I think we simply need to get tools out of the menus. it sucks a bit that tools clutter up menus are are dialogs only.

Heck. Too many “tools” in this reply.

That is a free choice any current tool-builder has:Root menu or submenu called tools.
You can create one yourself, no problem.

Right, but the choice could be on the other side. What I mean is, the user that installs the script could choose if the menu entries go into the main Renoise ones (this is how it is probably intended by the tool author), or if he does not like all those tools cluttering up the menus he could decide to not put them in there. In the latter case there would then be a default way of placing them in the tools menu.
What do you think? In this way, people who don’t mind having them all over the place (which can be very useful, if the options are at the right places) can have them, but don’t have to. This choice would then also be on a tool basis, so some could go in main menus and others in the tools menu.

fladd

You may break tools which create and manage menu entries by themself very easy, i’d be careful with such things. Renoise would need to monitor any add/remove/has menu functions and sort of correct the menu paths for the tool in the background.

Exactly, that is basically the idea.

fladd

+1 too. It would be good if user could decide where to place each tool i.e. in the tools window for all tools like instal/uninstal window (tool browser window), and no horizontal lines added automatically.

Just curious, does anyone know what it looks like with a whole bunch of tools?
Like, what exactly happens with say 20, maybe 40?

Lets give this a try in the next beta. If its getting too clobbered, revert the thing again:

  • will keep the main menu “tools” as it is. we have enough space there
  • all other script menu entries in other Renoise context menus will not be separated