Project: Eclipse_Platform_UI
Bug 54748 progress, background operations, and novice users
Reported: 2004-03-13 17:17:42 | Status: verified fixed

Build I20030304 There has been much discussion elsewhere about insufficiently visible progress indications for builds. I'd like to raise a more general issue about the kind of feedback that will help novice users of Eclipse. If it helps, think of my mom as the user (you can imagine that she's not too comfortable with computers<g>). The problem is that when the user performs any command that will complete sometime later in the background, whether it be build, synchronize, or whatever, she needs to know this immediately. I mean "in your face" immediately. A smoldering cigarette in the lower right corner of the screen does signal this to the novice user, even when accompanied by a slightly larger hover. Something as unmistakable as a 2.1 modal progress dialog is what we're talking about. The reason why its so important for the novice is that they expect the commands they give to happen in the background (a more sophisticated notion). Novice users are more familiar with simple turn-taking UIs. The other nice thing about the old progress dialogs is that they automatically went away when the operation was done, and that told the user that it was again their turn. Here's one way I could see addressing this problem: - Workbench preference "Progress dialogs for background operations" vs. "No Progress dialogs for background operations". Default value: Yes. - Background operations initiated by the user's direct command (as opposed to periodically scheduled operations like bg refreshes or indirectly triggers operations like table tree widget population) are covered by a progress dialog of the familiar size unless suppressed by that users preference. - The progress dialog is non-modal, and will close automatically when the operation is finished. The dialog reports progress on the user's direct command, and has a Cancel button. The fine print at the bottom of dialog could inform the user that they are free to wait or to do other things as they choose (i.e., it hints that it's non-modal). - If the clicks on the workbench window, the progress dialog disappears behind it, and the user can go ahead and explore. - When the operation completes, the progress dialog closes automatically whether or not it is visible. - If the operation fails, the user needs an in-you-face notification. - If the user issues another long-running command that runs in the background, an additional progress dialog should open for that operation, and disappear when it's done. If you combine this with the other progress mechanisms added in 3.0, I think we end up with something that will satisfy the needs of novices and gearheads alike.

Files changed in fix:
bundles/org.eclipse.ui.ide/src/org/eclipse/ui/internal/ide/dialogs/IDEWorkbenchPreferencePage.java bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/Eclipse UI/org/eclipse/ui/internal/IPreferenceConstants.java bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/Eclipse UI/org/eclipse/ui/internal/WorkbenchPlugin.java bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/Eclipse UI/org/eclipse/ui/internal/dialogs/WorkbenchPreferencePage.java bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/Eclipse UI/org/eclipse/ui/internal/progress/ProgressManager.java bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/Eclipse UI/org/eclipse/ui/internal/progress/ProgressMonitorFocusJobDialog.java