[cdt-dev] Error reporting in launch dialogs

[Vladimir Prus <vladimir@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I am struggling to implement nice error reporting inside launch configurations dialogs. It might
be that I need to ask on platform mailing list, but since I'm doing this for CDT launch 
configuration I probably start here.

So suppose I have a launch configuration type, and one of the tabs configures something complex, 
like connection to hardware device, or connection to remote system. Something can easily get
wrong, and the error message can easily be very long.

I have these options:

1. Use setErrorMessage for launch configuration dialog so that the error is shown on
the top of entire dialog.
Pros: it's the standard way.
Cons: if there is more than two lines, the behaviour gets really confusion. I know I
can scroll the message that is shown, but in practice, users don't figure that. I also
know I can hover over that message to see a tooltip with entire message, but users
don't seem to figure this either.

2. Show the error message inside the tab. Pros: I can do anything I want. I can even add "details"
link to show more data. Cons: it's less visible location. Still need to use setErrorMessage with
brief summary

3. Just use modal error box. Pros: very easy. Cons: modal error box on top of another dialog
is just ugly. Not really connected to whatever tab has the problem.

Does anybody have any suggestions?


--
Vladimir Prus
CodeSourcery / Mentor Graphics
+7 (812) 677-68-40