Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 80244
Testtool: Enhance Display HID dialog to become a three pane window
Last modified: 2017-05-20 10:55:56 UTC
Currently the Display HID output window has two panes - one for the controls and one for the slots. As the content of the controls window can be quite cluttered if some controls are undeclared my suggestion is to introduce a third pane so declared and undeclared controls can be displayed separately Pane 1: Declared Controls Pane 2: Undeclared controls Pane 3: Slots
set enhancement
Created attachment 47239 [details] A freehand draft spec for the Display HID dialog to enhance userfriendlyness
Discussed another option with GH and added a fourth view option.
So now we have a listbox with four options and two buttons at the top of the dialog. The options for the listbox are: 1) Classic view (default) 2) Undeclared only 3) Declared only 4) Slots only Usually i would suggest to make 2) the default if undeclared controls exist and 3) if all controls are declared, but this would change a known behavior and is considered a little risky. The classic view displays both controls and slots at the same time whereas the other options only display one item. The advantages are: 1) Undeclared controls can easier be copied by "Select All" as they are no longer mixed with already declared ones 2) If somebody wants to just use an already declared dialog the invalid options can be filtered out. 3) the slots are only rarely used, so they are moved out of sight leaving more room for dialogs with a huge number of controls.
Another advantage: The buttons can - with the new design - be enlarged that there actually is room enough for strings like "Select all" (which is currently cut off and reads nothing more than "lect a" on some displays ;-)
Just as another idea: One could remove the "Copy" button and change the "Select all" button to "Copy all". With the listbox set to "Undeclared only" one would be forced to copy all items in one go, encouraging to declare an entire dialog instead of just the one item that is currently need (which probably few people do but those who do usually cause some confusion). But this suggestion might go a little too far.
I would suggest to have the buttons at the bottom of the dialog as thats (or the right side) is the usual position for buttons. renaming the select all to copy all is ok but Id like to keep the copy button as there are also people who want to copy only one (declared) item to use it in a script. I also would like to keep the slots there always. Its possible to change their size if they are in the way.
I agree on the point with the "Copy" button. Keeping the slots visible at all times is ok, though i'm not very fond of the idea. I've never used the slots info in the five years in automation, so i simply guess others haven't either. To the location of the buttons i do not agree. Reason: The listbox changes the appearance of the dialog. If a control changes the appearance of a dialog this is always grouped in a way that the changing content is below the control. Otherwise it would be hard to understand the relation. Additionally if someone moves the dialog it might easily hide the buttons outside the viewable area. Putting them close to the titlebar minimizes the risk for this to happen. So i strongly vote for the upper border. Putting them at the side is no good option at all, see my comment about the cut off strings.
moved to 3.x
Reset assigne to the default "issues@openoffice.apache.org".