aethersdr / aethersdr/AetherSDR

Settle where an undiscoverable peripheral gets configured, and when its applet button is visible

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external devices GUI maintainer-review question
Dominant language
C++
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Follow-up from the review of #4905 (review, item 2). This is a maintainer preference call, which is why it is an issue rather than a change requested on either PR.

The divergence

Two peripherals landed in the same week with opposite answers to the same question:

#4905 (Green Heron Everyware) #4919 (VK3AMP)
Applet button In kDefaultOrder, always visible Conditional
Configuration lives In the applet tile itself Peripherals-tab entry in RadioSetupDialog

Why neither is wrong on its own

The GHE justification checks out. AG/SS visibility really is driven by live discovery (AntennaGeniusModel::deviceDiscoveredsetAgVisible/setShackSwitchVisible, MainWindow.cpp:2066-2070), so with no Everyware discovery path there is genuinely nothing to condition on — and an operator cannot type an address into a tile they cannot open. KSDR is the existing precedent for an always-visible, undiscoverable accessory, and it is a fair one.

The cost is that every AetherSDR user gets a "GHE" tile in the applet bar for an accessory almost none of them own.

A middle path neither PR takes

Condition the button on a stored host rather than on discovery — hidden until configured, shown thereafter — with first-time configuration living wherever the project decides accessory setup belongs (the RadioSetupDialog Peripherals tab being the obvious candidate, per #4919).

The ask

Not a change to either PR. A decision on the convention, so that peripheral number five does not have to guess. Divergence is cheap to settle at two and expensive at five.

cc @ten9876

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the review of #4905 and compare the existing GHE and VK3AMP arrangements, including MainWindow.cpp:2066-2070 and the RadioSetupDialog Peripherals tab. Decide and document the project convention for undiscoverable peripherals, including whether applet buttons depend on a stored host or remain always visible and where first-time configuration belongs. Done means the convention is explicit for future peripheral work.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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