microsoft/Terminal

Defer initial terminal sizing until terminal initialization

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#3,182 opened on Oct 13, 2019

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Area-RenderingArea-UserInterfaceHelp WantedIssue-TaskProduct-Terminal

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Description

Right now the initial window size is calculated just as the window is created but before the terminal is. This has two disadvantages:

  1. It doesn't have all the size information. Right now its only the width of a scrollbar that it has to guess but there could be more (potentially variable size) elements in the future. There might also be some additional spacing in layers above, like pane or terminal page.
  2. It creates temporary DxRenderer just to locate required fond and calculate its size and then discards it.

If we instead calculated the initial size when terminal initializes this problems would be gone (it would be able to query sizes of the controls and use the real renderer of a terminal). We might potentially resolve them otherwise but this seems to be the simplest and most robust approach.

The problem is that it could result in two sizing operations (one when window opens and another one when the size is calculated) which could be noticeable to user or CPU, unless this can be somehow avoided. Thus I'm here to ask what do you think about this approach.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Evaluate the pros and cons of deferring initial terminal sizing until terminal initialization. Consider the potential for two sizing operations and how to avoid visual or CPU impact. Look at the terminal initialization code and the DxRenderer to understand current sizing logic.
Tech stack
None
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Research
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C++Windows Terminal architecture
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40