[Reportbug-maint] Bug#521162: Bug#521162: Several glitches with the reportbug GTK2 UI

[Luca Bruno]

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 12:15:52PM +0100, Josselin Mouette wrote:
> 1. No .desktop file
> It would be nice to ship a reportbug.desktop file for the freedesktop-compatible menus.
> I am attaching one; it needs to be processed with intltool for translation, and the icon
> should probably be changed (I’ve put the bug-buddy one since it’s the only one I could
> think of).

I've thought about that, but think you have to install in order to use it
(and maybe python-vte if some patches go in) before you're
able to use it. What if the user goes to open it and it doesn't start?

> 2. Focus issues
> In each page of the assistant, the default action is not set. I’m not completely familiar
> with the GtkAssistant API, but from what I understand you need to call set_page_complete()
> so that the status is updated and pressing <Enter> will go to the next page.

Noticed that. set_page_complete is called though.


> 3. Choosing default interface
> The configuration assistant lets you choose the default interface between text and gtk2.
> I think this is pretty awkward. If you run it in the terminal, you probably expect the text
> interface, and if you run it from the menu, you expect the GTK+ interface.

Sounds easily fixable the reportbug side. If the -u option is being
specified the UI configuration can be skipped.

> 4. Almost empty pages
> It would be nice to put, when it is possible, several objects on one GtkAssistant page. For
> example, the name and email could be asked together.

This is a reportbug internal issue as it imposes a determinate input flow.

> 5. Default name and email
> The default name and email proposed by the interface appear in brackets, but you can’t
> click "Next" and use these defaults. Instead of doing that, I suggest to put them as the
> default content of the text input field.
> 
> A related issue is that the SMTP user configuration item cannot be empty.
> 

Sounds easily fixable the reportbug side.

> 6. Impossible to go back
> Once you have chosen a bug report to provide additional information, going back doesn’t
> work. All pages of the assistant appear insensitive.
> 

That's again the reportbug internal issue described above.
I've chosen to make them insensitive right for this reason. Talking with
Sandro reportbug will see a bunch of refactorings in next releases.

> 7. Using the SMTP
> There is no need to configure the SMTP when in GUI mode, while it has already been
> configured in the user’s mailer. Even worse, if you are using a complicated setup (like
> SMTP with authentication over SSL, or Evolution on MS Exchange), it is possible that it 
> won’t be supported at all.
> Let me suggest an alternative approach that re-uses the email client configuration
> instead. You just need to call something like this:
> 
>   import urllib, subprocess
>   subject = urllib.quote (subject)
>   body = urllib.quote (prefilled_report)
>   version = urllib.quote (reportbug_version)
>   uri = 'mailto:%s?subject=%s&body=%s&X-Reportbug-Version=%s'%(email_address,subject,body,version)
>   subprocess.Popen (["xdg-email", uri])
> 

Definitely, but just skip the SMTP configuration.

> This will work with most desktop email clients, and it can easily be made to work even if
> the client is mutt in a terminal.

For what concerns mutt, there's a separate option for that (--mutt) and
integrates well in vte instead of spawning a process out of the GUI using
xdg-email. Of course the user can choose between the two.

-- 
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http://lethalman.blogspot.com - Thoughts about computer technologies
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