Re: User interaction API: outputMessage

2008/2/7, Francesco Montorsi <[email protected]>:
> 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.

Just because something *could* be added, doesn't mean it should.
There's value in keeping the UI limited.

I do however agree that "Run program now" could be a useful addition
to the status screen at the end, and should in that case be displayed
automatically on the summary screen IFF the package provides a
.desktop file.

I've opened a ticket for this: http://trac.autopackage.org/ticket/68

> 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.

Might be. But without hard data backing it, it's just speculation ;-)

> > 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).

Allowing arbitrary actions to be launched from the installer will
probably never be implemented. But I do agree about starting the app
from the installation summary screen might be useful.

> 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.

Depends on who you ask, and what the limitation is We have to balance
the needs of our user categories which are both a) developers
packaging apps and b) end-users installing apps. Something that is
good for (a) may be bad for (b) and so on.

Limiting what (a) can do could in fact be good for (b). Concrete
example - we limit the type of messages that can be printed during
installation, in order to give a consistent UI which presumably
benefits end users installing the app.We limit interaction
possibilities (no way to ask questions during installation) which
allows packages to be installed in a batch for administrators aswell
as allowing the installation to run in the background without
interrupting the user.

-Isak

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