[Gambas-user] Combo drop down height question

Bruce bbruen at ...2308...
Sat Aug 11 09:53:05 CEST 2012


On Sat, 2012-08-11 at 08:51 +0200, Benoît Minisini wrote:

> 
> When you have a *lot* of options, you should not use a ComboBox.
> 
This is very interesting. 

We have 579 Thoroughbred Auction Houses registered for our system, each
has a 4 letter identifier (just like 3 letter airport codes only bigger
and better!).  I have tried various solutions to the user selecting a
particular house and none seem to have the same useability as the combo
box (and that observation is supported by user comments on the other
mechanisms we have tried).  These "house" combo boxes appear in about 20
to 30 forms in the mainstream system.

Our users report that it is reasonably easy to learn the codes and use
the combo boxes by typing the first letter of the code they want when
the combo dropdown is displayed.  Even when they don't remember the code
for some of the less frequently active houses, it is reasonably easy to
scroll around after typing that first letter.

The one thing that they continually ask for is that we "slow down" the
typing response so they can pick a second letter to narrow the search.
As an example in the "s" area we have (something like)
SBYN (Strathalbyn)
SCCT (Sunshine Coast Thoroughbreds)
SCPF (Sunshine Coast Private)
SDGT (Sandown General Trading)
SDG2 (Sandown General Trading - 2YO)
SDG3 (Sandown General Trading - 3YO)
SDG4 (Sandown General Trading - 4YO)
SDGO (Sandown General Trading - Other)
SENT (South East NSW Thoroughbreds)

In other words, the code part allows those users who know the codes
*and* can type quick enough, an easy way to get to within a bulls roar
of the one they want in the combobox.  Those who don't know or who cant
remember the code for a less used house keep asking for a way to go
through the dropdown at "two finger typing speed".  I have never found a
way to achieve that, so I'll ask the question:

Is there a way (in gb.qt4) to slow down the rate at which the combo box
reacts to keystrokes?

regards
Bruce









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