[spaces-dev] Add Space dialog simplification

[Thomas Hallgren <thomas@xxxxxxx>]

I have a proposal on how to make the "Add Space" dialog easier to 
understand and use. I'll use Xdrive as an example provider and later 
elaborate what could be done for other providers (like Source forge).

My proposal assumes that the content of the "Add Space" dialog is 
controlled by the provider. I.e. the provider stipulates what entries 
that are needed. I also assume that anonymous access to a space is 
provided by importing the space using the consumption URL, see 
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=218455.

*The Add Space dialog*
When you sign up for an Xdrive account on the web, you get several 
default folders created for you such as "My Documents", "My Photos", 
etc. What if our client reserved the name "My Eclipse Space"? That would 
save us some complexity and it would make the flow of adding a space 
simpler:

1. You right click on a space provider in the space view and choose: 
"Add Space":

The "Add Space" dialog pops up. You can now enter two fields. 
Incidentally, these are the same fields that you use when logging in to 
your Xdrive on the web, i.e.

Login: (screen name or email address)
Password:

2. Klick OK. You're done! (well aside from attaching source, see below).

Can it be that simple? Yes it can! The wizard would automatically detect 
the existence (or lack thereof) of the "My Eclipse Space" folder. You 
don't get any message that the "My Documents" and "My Photos" folders 
are created right? So if it's missing, why would you get that kind of 
information here? Let's just create it. The user doesn't need that 
information unless he really wants to know and the behavior will be well 
documented.

*Attaching source*
I think it would be beneficial if you could associate more then one 
source repository to an Xdrive. So instead of having special fields for 
this in the "Add Space" dialog, I propose that we should have a special 
pop-up menu item "Manage Space affinity" that would be visible in the 
pop-up menu of the SVN/CVS repository viewer.

When "Manage Space Affinity" is clicked, a list of all spaces with a 
check-box in front of each space would be presented. The user can check 
the spaces where he wants to create a mapping. The information would be 
stored in the space meta-data.

In the future, when Xdrive will provide SVN support out-of-the-box, we 
will need an additional check-box in the "Add Space" wizard so that 
creation of a SVN repo location is prevented in case the user does not 
want that (he would need to opt out).


*Source forge*

Not much difference really. The "Add space" dialog now contains three 
fields instead of two:

Project name:
Login:
Password:

Hopefully, the project meta-data will provide sufficient information to 
map source. If it doesn't, the user will need to map the source using 
the standard SVN/CVS repository browser and then attach the source to 
the space using the proposed pop-up menu.

What do you think?

- thomas