Thoughts on a CadQuery GUI

[jmwright]

Based on PM conversations with Dave we're a ways from getting serious about a GUI, but I wanted to capture these thoughts somewhere. I can move them to the wiki or something else if that's preferred.

• Full featured editor capabilities (syntax highlighting, auto-indent, auto-complete, etc). Sublime Text could be a good model for this feature set.
• Good syntax error highlighting. Closely tied to the item above, but could be integrated into the editor, or just be a separate status pane.
• Tight integration between the code window and 3D view. If you click on a feature, edge, etc, the corresponding code would be highlighted and vice versa. It would also be nice to get a context sensitive menu in the 3D view to tell the GUI to generate certain code for you for things like fillets.
• Common keys such as F5 to render? This would keep it similar to OpenSCAD and several IDEs that use that key to compile/build the code.
• "New Project" menu item for generating the directory structure and stub in files for a project. I outlined a possible project directory structure on the OpenSCAD forums. http://forum.openscad.org/OpenSCAD-Usage-Standards-td7774.html
• Integrated support for a parameters file that all parts and assemblies within a project can reference. Closely tied to the item above.
• Workplane visualization.
• Integration with ParametricParts.com.
• Integration with version control systems such as git, Mercurial and SVN.
• Support for themes. Just having both a light and a dark theme would help.
• Collaborative real-time editing. This could be done using something like Screenhero instead of making it a feature.
• Light weight and real-time preview of the changes the code is making to the 3D model(s).

[jmwright]

Here are some items on my own personal wishlist.

• 3D mouse support: http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacenavigator.html
• Ability to easily handle exploded assemblies (could be done in code too)
• Interference detection and highlighting between assembly parts
• Hole mis-alignment detection and highlighting between assembly parts
• Easily generated drawings that update automatically when the assemblies are changed
• BOM auto-generation

[jmwright]

I've moved these items to a wiki page.

https://github.com/dcowden/cadquery/wiki/Future-Ideas