Re: Tasklist UI issues

Hi Tor,

here is what I think:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tor Norbye" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 10:04 AM
Subject: Tasklist UI issues


> I just posted this document:
> http://tasklist.netbeans.org/proposals/suggestions/ui-issues.html
>
> I would appreciate your feedback on it.
>
>...
> *Issue 1*: What happens to the confirmation dialog in this case? For
> now, I've simply added a "Fix All" button to the confirmation dialog


Fix All button is enough


>
>
> *Issue 2*: As you can see from the confirmation dialog screenshot, there
----
>
> *Issue 3*: Should I add a "Fix All" action on category nodes so that you
> can easily operate on a set of suggestions without needing to make a
> selection (which often involves scrolling when there are lots of them?).


yes


>
> *Issue 4*: For java compiler errors, I list both the errors themselves
> (strictly speaking, these aren't "suggestions", but it's quite helpful
> to see them while you're editing source so you don't have to mouse over
> the error glyph in the source code) as well as suggestions for how the
> errors can be fixed (when I can think of a solution). For example, if
> you have a "undefined symbol: class List" error in Foo.java, I add two
> suggestions:
>
>     * Import java.util.List into Foo.java
>     * Import java.awt.List into Foo.java
>
> So, you end up with three items in the view; the last two are solutions
> to the first. How do I show relationships like these?
>


I don't like nesting solutions under a task node. Why not to use
Object SuggestionPerformer::getConfirmation(Suggestion suggestion) to show a
panel
with different suggestions?


>
> *Issue 5*: Let's say you've got a compiler error on the current line
> (you see a red squiggly line in the editor on the current line) but the
> error seen first in the Suggestions window is not relevant; because
> there is another error in this file further up.
>

It would be better to draw a cursor like this:

-
|
-


>
> *Issue 6*: For PMD rules in particular, I tend to get LOTS of rule
> violations. For example, I may have 30 unused imports in a class
> (because it started out as a copy & paste from a different file), or I
> may have violated a particular rule because I don't agree with it (e.g.
> the "OnlyOneReturn" rule in my case.)
>


subtypes for suggestions would be nice


>
> *Issue 7*: Let's say I allow subtypes as proposed above. How does this
> show up elsewhere, for filtering and disabling types?
>


---


>
> *Issue 8*: Right now, most suggestion providers provide suggestions when
>
>    1. a document is opened
>    2. the current document changes (user selects another tab)
>    3. the current document is edited (after a brief (2 second) delay)
>
> Is that the right thing to do? Or should rescans be triggered by
> something else? For example, an alternative scheme could be
>
>    1. a document is opened
>    2. a document is saved
>
> In other words, should the suggestions window reflect the current,
> edited state of the document, or the on-disk, saved state of the
> document?


Suggestions should reflect the current state of the document.



>
> *Issue 9*: I'm showing "category nodes" for the types of suggestions.
> What should happen if the number of suggestions of a particular type
> goes down to 0 - should I remove the category node from the display as
> well? For example, this easily happens if you're looking at a file with
> compilation errors and then switch to a different file. Should the whole
> javac compiler error node disappear or simply have no children?
>


-----

>
> *Issue 10*: I have some "automatic fix" operations in the PMD
> integration and javac parsing integration modules. For example, if a
> field is reported as unused, double clicking on the exception will
> remove the field.
>
> But what if the user had a comment above the field associated with that
> field - should I remove the comment too? And what if there are multiple
> comments?
>
> Unfortunately, I cannot do the right thing here, since I cannot
> interpret the comments and discover if you have a scenario like this:
>
>   /** description of the unused field */
>   // Don't forget to get rid of this
>   private int unused;
>


For me the above JavaDoc comment doesn't belong to "unused"


>
> *Issue 12*: The Suggestions Window, as is obvious from the name, was
> intended to list suggestions, not tasks in general. There's a separate
> "User Tasks" window where users can enter tasks for themselves. In fact,
> you can create separate tasklists, one for each project for example (in
> the New From Template dialog), and opening each tasklist creates a
> separate tab for it.
>
> Other IDEs have a single tasklist where all this (compiler errors, user
> tasks) appear in a single window. Should we make it possible to add user
> actions in this view as well?

No

> How high a priority is that? And if so,
> should we change the name of the window to "Tasks" instead of
> "Suggestions" ? (The fact that I'm listing both compiler errors, and
> tasks scanned from source code (// TODO and so on) already makes this
> relevant I think.

Yes

>
> *Issue 13*: Related to the above. I've made it really easy to filter the
> Suggestions View such that you only see one type of suggestion; for
> example, if you choose "Java Compiler Errors" you only see those errors,
> and the "category node" for these is hidden. (Also, the icon and tab
> display name are changed from "Suggestions" to "Java Compiler Errors".)
>

---------


>
> *Recommendation*: I'd like to push this out to version 1.1.
>
> *Issue 14*: Currently, when a new category node is shown, it's not
> expanded. You have to open it yourself. This has the advantage that when
> you first open a new file, you quickly see what suggestions are
> available:
>
>     * Java compilation Errors (4)
>     * Rule Violations (7)
>     * Source Comments (1)
>     * Copyright Warnings (1)
>
> On the other hand, it's annoying that I have to manually open the Java
> compilation errors node to get to see the errors - these are critical so
> I need to see them soon.
>




--------



>
> *Issue 15*: I've added a "directory scanner" which lets you request
> suggestions for a directory (recursively). This creates a new tab with
> the suggestion results. Let's say you decide to apply fixes to a number
> of files in this suggestions window. When should the files be saved?
>
> *Recommendation*: Files that were already open in the IDE should not be
> saved. Any files that are "opened" only to apply a fix should be saved
> immediately after applying the fix.
>