Multiple label options for Skycultures

[gzotti]

Description

This is a step forward in the Skycultures expansion. Given various new naming components of which only a few tags may exist per skyculture, this should allow configuring user preferences, per skyculture, of how labels are to be configured from nativeName, pronunciation, translated name etc.

Fundamental is the introduction of StelObject::CulturalDisplayStyle, which allows cultural/linguistic awareness in all StelObjects. StelObject receives two new methods, getScreenLabel() and getInfoLabel(), which format the respective labels from the various components.

Done

• Label enum in StelObject, properties in StelSkyCultureMgr, GUI Switch, property storage
• Constellations
• Asterisms
• Star names: Do we need yet another different setting?
• Planet names: Do we need yet another different setting?
• DSO names: Do we need yet another different setting?

Fixes # (issue)

Screenshots (if appropriate):

Type of change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)
• This change requires a documentation update
• Housekeeping

How Has This Been Tested?

Test Configuration:

• Operating system: Win10/11
• Graphics Card: irrelevant

Checklist:

• My code follows the code style of this project.
• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation (header file)
• I have updated the respective chapter in the Stellarium User Guide
• My changes generate no new warnings
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
• New and existing unit tests pass locally with my changes
• Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules

[github-actions]

Hello @gzotti!

Thank you for proposing of the feature.

[github-actions]

Great PR! Please pay attention to the following items before merging:

Files matching src/**/*.cpp:

• Are possibly unused includes removed?

Files matching guide/**:

• Did you remember to update screenshots to match new updates?
• Did you remember to grammar check in changed part of documentation?

Files matching skycultures/**:

• Did you remember to update skycultures/CMakeLists.txt file respectively to changes in sky cultures?
• Did you remember to define classification parameter in sky cultures (see index.json file)?
• Did you remember to define license parameter in sky cultures (see description.md file)?
• Did you remember to define region parameter in sky culture (see index.json file)?

This is an automatically generated QA checklist based on modified files.

[github-actions]

This pull request has conflicts, please resolve those before we can evaluate the pull request.

[github-actions]

Conflicts have been resolved. A maintainer will review the pull request shortly.

[gzotti]

When @10110111 was working on the big format switch, he asked about the value of separate translators for program GUI and skycultures. IIRC we tried to circumvent limitations of the old data files. Please @alex-w, can you share some insights? We now have native names, transliteration/pronounciation etc., which should all make the native names understandable to the user in his own language. Do we still need two language settings?

The current state has the new data items available for constellations, asterisms, planets and DSO. Not polished yet, as the old solutions are still partially in use and could likely be simplified a bit. Class members which can have more than one cultural name own a list of CulturalNames (to never mix elements) from which the first is used as screen label, and all are visible in the Infostring label. Stars should come early next week, and I may have to extend the output options to include the "modern" name in a few more combinations, but I think the general direction is OK.

In StarMgr, what does loadCultureSpecificNameForNamedObject()? The non-stars are handled by SolarSystem and NebulaMgr, so what is that for?

[10110111]

In StarMgr, what does loadCultureSpecificNameForNamedObject()? The non-stars are handled by SolarSystem and NebulaMgr, so what is that for?

It's for supplying names for stars specified by name, it uses the database from skycultures/common_star_names.fab.

[gzotti]

Ah, OK. But I see it's never used, actually, and is a "just in case"? The only names following NAME so far are Planet names, at least for the SCs in master. DSO like M45 are labeled directly. Can we not just force SC authors to use HIP/Gaia designations directly (not a very high demand, right?) to simplify the code (i.e., remove that function)?

[10110111]

But I see it's never used, actually, and is a "just in case"?

This is in use in some SCs in the SC repo, e.g. Anutan.

Can we not just force SC authors to use HIP/Gaia designations directly (not a very high demand, right?) to simplify the code (i.e., remove that function)?

I'm afraid not. I'd be glad to do this (and in my view we should do it), but it seems Fabien wants to extend this functionality even further, to allow not just names, but also things like "lines": [["* gam Cru", "* del Cru"]],, which will require some additional processing.

[gzotti]

But I see it's never used, actually, and is a "just in case"?

This is in use in some SCs in the SC repo, e.g. Anutan.

Ah, like that. Hmm, OK. Still, I regard this as unneeded burden for software maintenance. But if it's used now, I'll comply.

Can we not just force SC authors to use HIP/Gaia designations directly (not a very high demand, right?) to simplify the code (i.e., remove that function)?

I'm afraid not. I'd be glad to do this (and in my view we should do it), but it seems Fabien wants to extend this functionality even further, to allow not just names, but also things like "lines": [["* gam Cru", "* del Cru"]],, which will require some additional processing.

I honestly don't see the necessity for that. All stars are meanwhile addressable by HIP or Gaia numbers.

[gzotti]

To get a bit of clarity around the not or wrongly documented entries:

StarsMgr::commonNamesMap: This is the list from skycultures/common_star_names.fab, but can be modified when loading a skyculture. However, SC names now have several more components, I think this should not be mixed.

Is the StarsMgr::additionalNamesMap and additionalNamesMapI18n exclusively reserved for the Cultural names? If yes, I will replace by a QMap<starId, QList>

[10110111]

Actually, I was a bit wrong about this. The names from skycultures/common_star_names.fab only get into commonNamesMap when skyCulture.fallbackToInternationalNames is set. When this happens, these names are added first. After this the logic with commonNamesMap, commonNamesMapI18n etc. is the same as before the switch to the new format.

The names used for finding stars specified in index.json by name are assigned to commonNamesIndexToSearchWhileLoading local variable in StarMgr::updateSkyCulture and this is the only index used for searching.

[gzotti]

More questions on code quality in StarMgr, @alex-w : The lists doubleHipStars, variableHipStars, algolTypeStars, classicalCepheidsTypeStars, hipStarsHighPM are lists of 1-element QMaps. Is that really intended? Why not just QMaps? Or lists of QPairs? They are used in Astrocalc, but in a very simple way. You can iterate over QMaps as well.

[alex-w]

These lists using in AstroCalc and Search tools. I didn’t use QMap to not mixed iteration QList/QMap elements (though it was added before refactoring AstroCalc).

[alex-w]

Please @alex-w, can you share some insights? We now have native names, transliteration/pronounciation etc., which should all make the native names understandable to the user in his own language. Do we still need two language settings?

Probably we can remove second dropdown list for languages (skycultures) after introduction the support of extra options for labels. At least I don’t see critical necessary for second list.

[sushoff]

But I see it's never used, actually, and is a "just in case"?

This is in use in some SCs in the SC repo, e.g. Anutan.

Ah, like that. Hmm, OK. Still, I regard this as unneeded burden for software maintenance. But if it's used now, I'll comply.

Can we not just force SC authors to use HIP/Gaia designations directly (not a very high demand, right?) to simplify the code (i.e., remove that function)?

I'm afraid not. I'd be glad to do this (and in my view we should do it), but it seems Fabien wants to extend this functionality even further, to allow not just names, but also things like "lines": [["* gam Cru", "* del Cru"]],, which will require some additional processing.

I honestly don't see the necessity for that. All stars are meanwhile addressable by HIP or Gaia numbers.

you may or may not have seen:
There is a new sup-project by a team of computer science students who are actually great software developer, who develop a "sky culture maker plugin". Yesterday, we finished the second of five 14days-sprints. I trust they are really good: the function of drawing (poly)lines and snapping them to stars exists already. With that, SC-contributors can visually define their constellations and the entry (HIP or Gaia or any catalog number) will be added automatically to the JSON file - then, I think, names like *gam Cru are not necessary.

Also, the function of anchoring at coordinates (instead of stars) allows for definition of dark constellation ... we "only" need the option to store that in JSON and display it. I can imagine that the average person who knows a SC does not like to sit down and type the telephon numbers from any modern star catalog into a (manually written) JSON file

The semester (dev cycle) for them finishes by the end of June or beginning of July, so we won't make it for the June release but for September.

[gzotti]

Yes, good that an interactive editor is coming. Currently dark constellations can be outlined semi-interactively with configuring a devel key in config.ini, setting markers, and copying the dumped coordinates from the logfile. Good enough for occasional use by those able to edit json, but a dedicated editor is of course better. I agree that I feel "* gam Cru" etc are not needed, but if this is Fabien's demand, so be it. You don't have to use it.

[10110111]

@gzotti So I've pushed the new .clang-format, you can try using it in "Indenting only" mode. If it works well, we can document it in the Coding Style document (leaving the old file for old Qt Creators too, because Ubuntu 22.04LTS ships QtC 6.0.2).

[github-actions]

Hello @gzotti!

Please check the fresh version (development snapshot) of Stellarium:
https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-data/releases/tag/weekly-snapshot

[github-actions]

Hello @gzotti!

Please check the latest stable version of Stellarium:
https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/releases/latest