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Bug 321964

Summary:	[ui] "Group by category" should be automatically disabled if there are no categories in a site
Product:	[Eclipse Project] Equinox	Reporter:	Dani Megert <daniel_megert>
Component:	p2	Assignee:	P2 Inbox <equinox.p2-inbox>
Status:	CLOSED DUPLICATE	QA Contact:
Severity:	major
Priority:	P3	CC:	irbull, matthew, pascal, susan
Version:	3.6	Keywords:	helpwanted, usability
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
Whiteboard:

Description Dani Megert

2010-08-06 05:27:13 EDT

I20100805-1700.

I wanted to install JDT on top of the Platform binary runtime. After pointing the Install dialog to the right repository I did not see any software listed. The dialog still said:
[ ] (i) There are no categorized items.
without any information that there indeed are some items to install.

I then tried to check that box, but still no luck and I almost gave up.

But hey: there is a checkbox to disable grouping and that did the trick.

This is a major usability issue for people that try to install new software.

If the are items to install but no categories then the grouping should be automatically disabled (including the checkbox) and all the items shown.

Comment 1 Dani Megert

2011-06-15 03:34:46 EDT

Funny. I just ran into this again. We are currently preparing a feature patch that allows to install Java 7 on top of 3.7. Now, because that feature patch is not in a category the following happens:

1. users starts with 3.7 and new workspace
2. Help > Install New Software....
3. enter the p2 repository that contains the feature patch
==> feature patch is not listed. No user would ever think/know that he has to deselect 'Group items by category' to see everything.

Just scoping the bug to the p2 update component I would even see this as a blocker as it makes the updated/install feature unusable for new users.

Simply add a group 'Uncategorized'.

Comment 2 Dani Megert

2011-06-15 03:38:44 EDT

Ah, just found bug 262009 and it looks like the 'Uncategorized' node is supposed to appear in some cases. AFAIK the repository I used has no categories at all and hence I would expect that the features show up.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 262009 ***

Comment 3 Matthew Piggott

2011-06-15 09:57:49 EDT

The Uncategorized node was removed prior to 3.5 release iirc, the linked bug mentions the decision to remove it. (The decision was to allow site owners to hide features if they choose.)

When no items in a repository are categorized there is an info message in the box which says: "There are on categorized items".

Comment 4 Dani Megert

2011-06-15 11:05:27 EDT

(In reply to comment #3)
> The Uncategorized node was removed prior to 3.5 release iirc, the linked bug
> mentions the decision to remove it. (The decision was to allow site owners to
> hide features if they choose.)
I have read the previous discussion. You can't expect that users know all this, especially when the tooling creates uncategorized repos by default.

> When no items in a repository are categorized there is an info message in the
> box which says: "There are on categorized items".

"no categorized items" doesn't imply that there are indeed uncategorized ones i.e. it is not obvious that more items will appear when ugrouping things, especially because it is a UI paradigm that grouping doesn't change the number of items that are shown.

I now took a closer look at the repo I wanted to use: some of the features are actually assigned to one category which appears in the UI but hides all the other features that are not categorized.

Allowing site owners to hide stuff is a good idea, but doing it with a strategy that is not obvious is not so good.

If the this hidden feature of hiding stuff can't be changed, then at least the UI should display a message when at least 1 item is filtered away in grouping mode (whether any groups are there or not).