[platform-ant-dev] Bug 27540 Run Ant vs. Ant View

["Darin Wright" <Darin_Wright@xxxxxxx>]

We are looking for public opinion in regards to bug 27450:

http://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=27540

The problem is this: We provide more than one way to run an Ant script (which is a feature), but the user is left unsure of which way they should run their script, and how the different ways of running scripts relate.

A user may run an ant script in each of the following ways:
(1) Using the "Run Ant" action from the navigator pop-up menu
(2) Using the "Run Ant..." action from the navigator pop-up menu
(3) Opening the external tools dialog, create an Ant Script launch configuration, run it
(4) Using the Ant View

Here's what actually happens behind the scenes for each scenario:
(1) "Run Ant". If a launch configuration does not exist for the selected ant script, a default launch configuration is created for the script, saved, and run. The default script runs the default target in a background thread. If a launch configuration already exists for the selected script, it is run (with whatever settings are present). If more than one launch configuration exists for the script, the user is asked to choose the launch configuration to run.
(2) "Run Ant...". This is the same as number (1), except the launch dialog is opened on the script before it is run. This allows the user to alter the configuration before running it.
(3) Opening the External Tools dialog. Here, the user chooses an existing script or creates a new script to run.
(4) Using the Ant View. When the user selects one or more targets to run from the Ant View, a temporary launch configuration is created to run the selected targets (and then discarded). However, the temporary launch configuration is in no way related to any existing launch configurations for the selected script. Thus,for example, if I have an existing launch configuration for an ant script that has settings to run in the foreground with special arguments (lets say, -verbose), and to refresh the workspace when done, when I run a target from that script from the Ant view, it will run in the background with no arguments, and no refresh.

I believe scenario (4) is misleading to the user. If they have configured a script to run with certain settings, then running from the Ant View should honor those settings.

Opinions?

Darin