[platform-vcm-dev] Request for feedback on IProjectSetSerializer

["Michael Valenta" <Michael_Valenta@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Repository providers, 

I am looking for feedback from repository providers on the IProjectSetSerializer API provided by the Eclipse Team component. There is a current discussion taking place on how this API could be improved (see bug 38048: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=38048). I am interested in any feedback you may have on your experience implementing the interface. However, I am specifically interested in how the UI context is provided in this API. 

Currently, the interface is passed a Shell (disguised as an Object to get around plugin reference restrictions) and the implementation of IProjectSetSerializer is left to decide how to prompt the user, present errors, etc.. A more ideal solution may be to provide a context object that provides a set of callbacks that the project set serializer could use to communicate to the user if a UI is available. If a UI is not available, the callbacks could be implemented to return results appropriate for a headless environment. 

My question is, what type of prompting/user feedback do repository providers require? For CVS, project overwrite prompting is performed so a method something like "boolean overwriteProject(IProject project)" would be all that is required. Are there other types of prompting taking place in your implementations of IProjectSetSerializer? 

Cheers, 
Michael Valenta