Description Matthias Basler 2011-01-07 13:00:26 EST

Build Identifier: I20101216-1305

The e4 workbenchmodel editor has a hierarchical structure. For most subitems, such as handlers or commands, there is no problem. However there are deeply nested structures, such as f.e.

- Application 
  - Windows 
    - Trimmed Window 
      - Main menu
        - Children
          - Menu [File]
            - Children
              - Handled Menu Item
              - Menu [Export]
                - Children
                  - Handled Menu Item
                    ...

You'll note that there are several levels (such as "Children") that exist for merely technical reasons, because a widget in the detail area allows to add, remove and re-order child elements.

From a usability point of view this makes the model appear much more complex than it actually is. Also it adds a lot of unnecessary clicks for opening and closing the tree structure until getting to the relevant subitems.

I propose to completely re-think the UI handling of managing child items.
Once the tree is equipped with context menu actions (see bug 323309) and drag and drop it will be possible to manage an item's children and their order using only the tree widget. The list with the add/remove/up/down buttons would become redundant and could be removed in the most cases.

The benefits are:
1. Reduction of nesting in model editor means less clicking.
2. Removing the "Children" entries gives more room to the really relevant model content
3. The handling would be consistent with the usage of the current extension point editor (See page "Extensions" in plugin editor), which does not need such "children" lists. (The "Extensions" page is imho very well designed.)
4. Managing children in the very tree that displays the structure is more intuitive and quicker than using a separate widget for the same tasks.



Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
(Create the demo application, add a few more menus and sub menus and you'll know what I mean.)