yaze/docs/internal/plans/ui-infrastructure-proposals.md

UI Infrastructure Technical Improvement Proposals

These proposals address the infrastructure changes needed to support the YAZE Design Language.

Proposal A: Unified Panel System

Problem: PanelManager currently has hardcoded logic for specific panels, making it hard for users to create custom layouts or for plugins to register new views.

Solution: Refactor PanelManager to use a Registry pattern.

// Concept
struct PanelDef {
    std::string id;
    std::string display_name;
    std::function<void()> draw_fn;
    PanelCategory category; // Editor, Debug, Agent
    ImGuiDir default_dock; // Left, Bottom, Center
};

PanelRegistry::Register("dungeon_properties", { ... });

Benefit: Allows the LayoutManager to generically save/restore any panel's open state and position without hardcoded checks.

Proposal B: Theme Abstraction Layer Refactor

Problem: src/app/gui/core/style.cc contains ColorsYaze() with hardcoded definitions (e.g., alttpDarkGreen).

Solution:

1. Deprecate ColorsYaze.
2. Expand EnhancedTheme to include a "Game Palette" section (e.g., GameCol_LinkGreen, GameCol_GanonBlue).
3. Update ThemeManager to populate these from configuration files (JSON/TOML), allowing users to "skin" the editor to look like different Zelda games (e.g., Minish Cap style).

Proposal C: Layout Persistence Engine

Problem: Layouts are currently stuck in imgui.ini (binary/opaque to user) or hardcoded presets.

Solution:

1. Create a LayoutService that wraps ImGui::SaveIniSettingsToMemory.
2. Allow users to "Save Current Layout As..." which writes the INI data to a named file in user/layouts/.
3. Add a "Reset Layout" command that forces a reload of the default preset for the current context.

Proposal D: Input Widget Standardization

Problem: Scroll wheel support on Hex inputs is inconsistent.

Solution: Modify src/app/gui/core/input.cc:

bool InputHexByte(const char* label, uint8_t* v) {
    // ... existing input logic ...
    if (ImGui::IsItemHovered()) {
        float wheel = ImGui::GetIO().MouseWheel;
        if (wheel != 0) {
            if (wheel > 0) *v += 1; else *v -= 1;
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

Proposal E: State Management Audit

Problem: ActivityBar and StatusBar often hold their own state or read global statics.

Solution:

• Context Injection: UI components should receive a EditorContext* or ProjectState* in their Draw() method rather than accessing singletons.
• Reactive UI: Implement a simple EventBus for UI updates (e.g., Event::ProjectLoaded, Event::SelectionChanged) so the Status Bar updates only when necessary, rather than polling every frame.