Description Simon Archer 2008-08-31 15:45:23 EDT

Created attachment 111364 [details]
Annotated screen shot.

I have been using the PDE Tools > Externalize Strings... dialog a lot lately, and here are some enhancements to consider. Good candidates for bugday, I think.

1. Add a filter field.  This is necessary to make it easier to find bundles in the list. File under scalability and usability.

2. Don't resize the "Select All" and "Deselect All" buttons. Not only is this inconsistent with other UI elements in Eclipse, it's not a recommended practice.

3. In the Localization section, add filename validation. Today it's possible to enter anything and to cause a stacktrace. Try entering "con" as the filename, or some random characters. Add a "Browse..." button to select an existing file and to create folders. File under usability.

4. Add "Select All" and "Deselect All" behavior for the checkboxes in the "Strings to Externalize" section. This is important when you have lots of strings to externalize, or lots of strings you don't want to externalize. File under scalability and usability.

5. (Not shown in the screen shot.) Consider making the dialog non-modal.  While this can introduce some complications, it certainly makes it easier for the user to not be trapped behind a dialog. This is a dialog that you might have open for 30 minutes as you wrangle the Substitution keys, since the default are rarely what you want, or at least are rarely what I want.