Re: User interaction API: outputMessage

Hi,

Isak Savo ha scritto:
> 2008/2/5, Francesco Montorsi <[email protected]>:
> 
>> BTW I see that in general all the user interaction part is quite
>> limited... what if I'd need to show to present a question to the user?
>> Or a multiple-choice?
> 
> It's a design decision. We wanted to make the installation without
> user interaction, and for almost all cases, the questions the
> installer wishes to ask the user are irrelevant and can be skipped.
> 
> If your package installs a desktop item, autopackage will inform the
> user about this at the end.
this is true. But it does not give the user other infos I'd like to give 
him; e.g. stuff like "Getting started" or a button "run it now".
That's not _vital_, true. Still it would be _so_ simple to implement I 
wonder why it wasn't done.

AFAIK ap was also developed to help spreading ISV's software for linux 
platform... the ability to do a basic user interaction is important for 
an ISV I think.

> Think about what you want to ask the user, and then consider if that
> question can either be
> a) asked by the actual program later
> or
> b) answered automatically by the program/installer
the things I'm thinking to are obviously not indispensable but would 
make the life easier to "dummy people" used to the win32 installers, 
where you have at the end the possibility to run the just-installed app 
without searching it in the menu or the possibility to view some 
document without running the app (or again without searching it in the 
menu).

I.e. a "run it now" button and some lines of package-specific infos 
would make the life easier to many users I think. THey would also help 
them to make immediate use of the downloaded app, the most important 
thing probably.

And last, I don't think that limiting the packager's possibilities on 
purpose is a Good Thing.

Francesco





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