Configure the Data Browser to open in Phoebus 'main' window

[rjwills28]

At Diamond we are using windows as opposed to tabs in Phoebus, i.e. each screen has its own stage instead of showing as a tab in the Phoebus main window. When you right click to open a PV in the Data browser, it opens the Data browser in a tab in the current active window, i.e. the one that you right-clicked on. This doesn't work very well when you have small 'pop-up' style windows, see example below, as you then have to resize it to see anything sensible.

Would it make more sense to have the Data browser instead open in the Phoebus 'main' window? I have tested an implementation that would do this, see branch compare .

I was wondering if there is any reason why opening in the 'main' window shouldn't be the default location for the Data browser, even if you have other Phoebus windows open?

[tynanford]

I was wondering if there is any reason why opening in the 'main' window shouldn't be the default location for the Data browser, even if you have other Phoebus windows open?

I think it could be confusing if the 'main' window is hidden behind other windows or different applications and every time you open a data browser you have to find where the main window is

[georgweiss]

Need to agree with @tynanford, behavior could be perceived as a bit unpredictable.
Maybe we could consider (yet) another preference setting to define wanted behavior (main window vs new tab)?

[rjwills28]

Thanks for the feedback - you raise a good point.

Adding a preference would be fairly easy to do for this. Just something to define whether the application should open in the main window or the current active one (with the latter being default).

We also have a discussion about providing support for 'standalone' windows where we have thought about where you might want the applications to open, please see the latter part of comment #3543 (comment). Here it seems to make sense that when launching from a standalone window, the applications always open in the main Phoebus window.