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RE: [platform-ui-dev] RE: [jdt-ui-dev] Hyperlinked code feature in M3
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[My definition of "intuitive": if I can open Eclipse and find a feature in a
few attempts, that's intuitive. If I have to look through every menu to find
it, it's not intuitive to me. Of course, for everyone, YMMV...
You know what this begs? It begs a "find action" command. You choose "Find
action" and type in some keywords and a little popup appears to tell you
what actions might fit, and where to find them. That would kick some serious
booty.]
ANYWAY...
The first place I looked for javadocs was in the context menu of the project
and packages (that's where VAJ had it, and it's a good general starting
point to look for actions, IMHO). Not there. Oh well, not everything can fit
on the context menus ;)
Then I looked at the project, file and source menus. No luck. (Didn't even
consider File->Export -- see below)
I started to think "maybe it isn't really there? But it has to be -- it's in
the prefs..."
And then I got sidetracked. As one of the other things I needed to do, I
went to create a jar and "hey! there's javadoc! Under export? Huh?".
I think the project menu could be a good choice, as well as the context
menu.
I think I looked on the context menu because it was there in VAJ (under the
"Document" submenu).
I think one of my "intuitive" patterns is to look for commonality with where
VAJ had things. Many functions have felt pretty consistent with how VAJ did
them. Of course VAJ didn't have a "perfect" UI (no debate please -- it was
really good, I liked it, but it had room for improvement...), so there's
always a chance to find a better place.
For javadoc, though, it really seems hidden. I consider "export" to be "copy
resource(s) to a location outside Eclipse". Because the javadocs aren't
already in Eclipse, I would have never thought to "export" them.
RE Jar export:
I think that "export" makes perfect sense for Jar files. Of course part of
me remembered how VAJ did it, but "export" was the first place I looked in
VAJ for JAR creation. Using my definition of "export" above, it's simply
copying resouces to an external location: a jar file.
RE Tools Menu:
In VAJ, the Tools menu (and context menus) were really the only place you
could put custom tools. Eclipse is quite different in that pretty much
everything is a custom tool. Therefore, I'd agree that a "Tools" menu really
wouldn't make sense and would become a refuge for all sorts of random stuff.
However, a "Generate" menu might make sense (there are other features you
could put in there, like Generate get/set, generate javadoc comments, add
try/catch). Perhaps a submenu under Source? Or perhaps its own. I'd kinda
like to see a Generate menu start appearing though, as it really could be
useful in many places (well, at very least my GUI builder ;)
Can't say I envy y'all the task of deciding menu assignments, though ;)
(Other than javadocs, I've been pretty happy with where things are. A few
might take a couple attempts to find, but they're generally pretty intuitive
to me.)
-- Scott
PS: Erich -- I'm teaching a Design Patterns class at Johns Hopkins this
Spring ;) Fun! Maybe I should confuse students with "Visitor" on day one,
heh heh heh ;)
==============================================================
Scott Stanchfield scott@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://javadude.com
Lead author of "Effective VisualAge for Java, Version 3"
http://javadude.com/evaj
VisualAge for Java Tips and Tricks http://javadude.com/vaj
Visit for Java Enlightenment! http://www.jguru.com
==============================================================
> -----Original Message-----
> From: platform-ui-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:platform-ui-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Erich Gamma
> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 4:35 PM
> To: jdt-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: jdt-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx; platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [platform-ui-dev] RE: [jdt-ui-dev] Hyperlinked code feature
> in M3
>
>
>
> Scott raised the issue that it was difficult for him to find the generate
> Java Doc support. Here are the options we considered when
> finding a home for this action:
>
> 1) export wizard
> We are using the "export" extension point for generating JARs.
> Generating javadoc is a similar process: you run a tool that processes the
> contents
> in the workspace that generates results outside (sometimes inside) of the
> workspace.
> Therefore generate javadoc can fit into export.
>
> Scott - why didn't you have any problems to locate the JAR exporting
> inside the export wizard (was it because VA/Java users are used to it)?
>
> 2) Tools menu
> Add a top level "Tools" menu and add the generation actions like
> generate JAR, generate Java Doc to this menu. The issue
> with a Tools menu is that it can easily become a kitchen sink and be
> misused. If there is a Tools menu, then it should
> be standardized by the workbench. For the above reasons we
> didn't even start this discussion with the workbench.
>
> 3) Source menu
> Put the generate javadoc action into the Source menu.
> This stretches the purpose of the Source menu. We
> created it for source manipulation actions.
>
> Given the above options we have decided for 1).
>
> Sebastion proposed below to turn the Export action into
> a similar action as New with a submenu. This enables
> to find exporters by scanning the menus. It is not clear to me
> how well this would scale since many exporters are
> not perspective specific.
>
> --erich
>
>
>
>
>
> "Nick Edgar"
>
> <Nick_Edgar@oti.c To:
> platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx, jdt-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> om> cc:
>
> Sent by: Subject: Re:
> [platform-ui-dev] RE: [jdt-ui-dev] Hyperlinked code feature in
> jdt-ui-dev-admin@ M3
>
> eclipse.org
>
>
>
>
>
> 11/21/2002 09:08
>
> PM
>
> Please respond to
>
> jdt-ui-dev
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I think the complaint was that "Export" wasn't intuitive for javadoc
> generation to begin with.
> This is really a JDT issue.
>
> Nick
>
>
>
>
>
> Sebastian Davids <sdavids@xxxxxx>
> Sent by: platform-ui-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
> 11/21/02 01:30 PM
> Please respond to platform-ui-dev
>
>
> To: platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> cc:
> Subject: Re: [platform-ui-dev] RE: [jdt-ui-dev] Hyperlinked
> code feature in M3
>
>
> >>Now if we could just put javadoc generation someplace intuitive --
> took me
> >>forever to find it under "export" -- then the UI would be nearly
> perfect ;)
>
> I second this.
>
> I'd opt for a similar style (second level menu) we have w/ "New".
>
> Export >
> File System
> JAR-File
> Javadoc
> Other...
>
> On folders/projects/packages w/out "*.java"-files the menu option
> Export/Javadoc would have to be disabled -- generating Javadoc for
> classes w/ no javadoc comments in source code is OK.
>
> Sebastian Davids
>
> P.S.: I'd try to implement this if you want me to.
>
>
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