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Bug 333137

Summary: [UI] Discovery view should be able to open the properties view
Product: [RT] ECF Reporter: Wim Jongman <wim.jongman>
Component: ecf.uiAssignee: Wim Jongman <wim.jongman>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED QA Contact:
Severity: normal    
Priority: P3 CC: bugs.eclipse.org
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: PC   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Attachments:
Description Flags
mylyn/context/zip none

Description Wim Jongman CLA 2010-12-23 05:16:16 EST
The service discovery view works together with the properties view. However, this is not noted anywhere. The elements should have a context menu action "Show properties view" or the view menu should contain this action.
Comment 1 Markus Kuppe CLA 2010-12-23 05:35:19 EST
We should not clutter the context menu too much. 
What might work though, is to add a "Show in" context menu (like e.g. the package explorer) that allows to add sub items.
Comment 2 Wim Jongman CLA 2010-12-23 06:04:29 EST
Apart from three disabled menu items (Go Home, Go Back and Go Into), the context menu does not show anything when a IServiceInfo object is selected in the Service Discovery view so cluttering is hardly an issue.

EMF uses the "Show Properties View" pattern on the top level because, like the Discovery View, it depends heavily on that view.

Is it likely that there will be more views where the IServiceInfo object can be viewed in, at least in the short term? If not then the clutter will be just the same and require additional mouseclicks. I like the "Show In" pattern but it is confusing if you see it for the first time. 

Therefore, I suggest to add the "Show Properties View" on the context menu and move it to the "Show In" if more views can react on the object.
Comment 3 Markus Kuppe CLA 2010-12-23 06:18:56 EST
(In reply to comment #2)
> Apart from three disabled menu items (Go Home, Go Back and Go Into), the
> context menu does not show anything when a IServiceInfo object is selected in
> the Service Discovery view so cluttering is hardly an issue.

We don't know what our consumers add to the context menu. E.g. if a more specific EMF model is registered for a service type, there might be numerous context menu items available.

> EMF uses the "Show Properties View" pattern on the top level because, like the
> Discovery View, it depends heavily on that view.

The discovery view does not depend on the properties view.

> Is it likely that there will be more views where the IServiceInfo object can be
> viewed in, at least in the short term? If not then the clutter will be just the
> same and require additional mouseclicks. I like the "Show In" pattern but it is
> confusing if you see it for the first time.
> 
> Therefore, I suggest to add the "Show Properties View" on the context menu and
> move it to the "Show In" if more views can react on the object.

"Show In" is a known concept in Eclipse-land. Changing to "Show In" later is IMO even more confusing for users.
Comment 4 Wim Jongman CLA 2010-12-23 07:20:55 EST
> We don't know what our consumers add to the context menu. E.g. if a more specific EMF 
> model is registered for a service type, there might be numerous context menu items available.

Even if this is the case, IMO the "Show Properties View" is still considered a first class citizen on the context menu. If the users wants to add many items to the context menu, let him sort out cluttering.

>The discovery view does not depend on the properties view.

That is a discussion on how you define "depends". 

Yes: the Service Discovery view depends on the Properties view to show detail information. Or is there another way?
No: the Service Discovery view can live without the Properties view so it does not depend on it.

> "Show In" is a known concept in Eclipse-land. Changing to "Show In" later is IMO even more confusing for users.
That's a good point. Still I don't like the idea to make a sub menu only to avoid cluttering on an otherwise empty menu.
Comment 5 Wim Jongman CLA 2010-12-27 11:00:35 EST
Implemented "Show In". 
Pushed to master.
Comment 6 Wim Jongman CLA 2010-12-27 11:00:37 EST
Created attachment 185844 [details]
mylyn/context/zip
Comment 7 Wim Jongman CLA 2010-12-27 11:01:01 EST
Fixed.