Bug 436056

Summary:	Separate System Monitor widgets in sensor-related and process/application-related
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Mihai Sorin Dobrescu <msdobrescu>
Component:	System Monitor widgets	Assignee:	Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	ahiemstra, msdobrescu, nate, notmart
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	5.21.4
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	Gentoo Packages
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	Individual Core Usage widget as Application Table Individual Core Usage widget set as Grid

Description Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2021-04-22 19:37:42 UTC

The System Monitor widgets are inconsistent regarding the display style.
There are two functionalities listed together as display style:
1. The targeted information display style
2. Targeted information itself as display style, called Applications Table or Process Table

Display style refers to how data is presented graphically, as drawn and from some methodology point of view. CPU load, memory load, network activity etc. are presented as figures, graphs, charts.

Applications Table or Process Table are rather in CPU load, memory load, network activity category rather than the way those are presented, even though Applications Table or Process Table may be CPU or memory load information detailed.

As CPU cores are presented, so Applications Table or Process Table can be.

As other example to illustrate this argument is that it does not make sense to set network display stile to  Applications Table or Process Table, as those two display several information related to applications or processes CPU and memory load, network activity and so on, at once. It's like having car speed and consumption in the same category with the paint colour and roof transparency.

As effect, those Applications Table or Process Table should land in the various sensors data types at most, or even moved out in their own widget class.

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2023-05-17 00:20:30 UTC

I'm not sure I understand the request; can you clarify what's being asked for here?

Comment 2 Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2023-05-17 06:39:51 UTC

I will recheck and come back!

Comment 3 Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2023-05-18 05:21:14 UTC

Created attachment 159059 [details]
Individual Core Usage widget as Application Table

Hi, I can't easily reproduce all the cases because sensors list it's always broken and does not list all the sensors. To illustrate what I mean, at a basic level, I have added an Individual Core Usage widget and have set its display style as Application Table.
Application table is useful, but not for this use case. I mean, what does CPU's cores usage have to do with this Application Table style? It does not list which app uses which core and how much of that core (or cores). It's nice, but make no sense to me.

Comment 4 Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2023-05-18 05:28:28 UTC

Created attachment 159060 [details]
Individual Core Usage widget set as Grid

An Individual Core Usage widget set as Grid makes sense, there are cores and their load.

Comment 5 Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2023-05-18 05:31:23 UTC

If a user defines some custom sensor setup for a sensors widget, it is OK to have all the display styles available, as the user can use anything that's needed.

Comment 6 Nate Graham 2023-05-18 14:23:28 UTC

But what is the problem you're reporting? I still don't understand it, sorry.

Or is this requesting a new feature or a UI change?

Comment 7 Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2023-05-18 14:28:03 UTC

Well, it depends on how you look at it.
Did you see the meaning of being able to display one of processes or applications tables while using a widget to display the cores load?
The cores info is not present in apps/procs table, yet, a core info widget displays it - actually switches from one to another and does not make sense.
Like displaying on a speedometer the passengers list. What's the point in that?
It's confusing while it gives an impression that may see which app or process uses which specific cores.

Comment 8 Arjen Hiemstra 2023-05-19 17:23:09 UTC

The application and processes display style ignore sensors because they use data from a completely different data source. They're primarily available because Plasma System Monitor needed some way of displaying these without needing a completely different code path for them. We never implemented any filtering in the display style selector as it was thought that some people might still find it useful, even if it ignores some things.

There is currently no generic table display style. I also don't think it's really feasible with Qt 5.15, the existing tables work primarily because they can assume a lot about the data they display and thus don't need to be too generic. For Qt 6 there are a bunch of improvements to tables that may make it more feasible.

Comment 9 Mihai Sorin Dobrescu 2023-05-19 17:47:17 UTC

(In reply to Arjen Hiemstra from comment #8)
Arjen, you have confirmed my point. Thanks for the answer and the clarification!