[Sugar-devel] [DESIGN] Proposal: Multi-Selection and Batch Operations on Journal entries

Ajay Garg ajay at activitycentral.com
Wed Aug 8 12:27:51 EDT 2012


On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Gary Martin <garycmartin at googlemail.com>wrote:

> Hi Ajay,
>
> On 8 Aug 2012, at 10:42, Ajay Garg <ajay at activitycentral.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi Gary.
> >
> > Please find the link, for the latest sugar-rpm, that contains the
> fixes/changes, as per the 3 action-items marked for me, in 7th August's
> design-meeting ::
> >
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/ajay/root/multi-select-with-checkbox-fix-plus-3-more-7th-august-action-items/sugar-0.94.1-31.dx3.noarch.rpm
> >
> > For brevity, here are the action items, and the corresponding patches ::
> >
> > #action improve batch tick redraw-intervals (ajay)
> >
> http://git.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/mainline/commit/cdcf2717fe4bdd42cdbb632c51b0b371e2e3352f
> >
> > #action change status strings to normal case and remove braces and / for
> friendly language (ajay)
> >
> http://git.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/mainline/commit/767074994a0ea7f8356a1feafb7f2becae1b49f3
> >
> > #action make Stop aleart before batch operations really stop the batch
> operation (ajay)
> >
> http://git.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/mainline/commit/f4ab20a311e5090aca2e1d757c6433eb19c5522a
> >
> >
> > Please test as usual, on the dx3ng147 image :)
> >
> > Also, please let know for further feedback, on the mailing-list itself.
> The next Tuesday is still 6 days away :D :D
>
> Thanks, download and installed on-top of the dx3ng147 image. I will try
> and give it a proper test and report back here in the next few days.
>


Okies :)

Thanks and Regards,
Ajay



>
> Regards,
> --Gary
>
> > Thanks and Regards,
> > Ajay
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 3:13 PM, Ajay Garg <ajay at activitycentral.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi Gary.
> >
> > Finally... the checkbox-issue has been solved :)
> >
> > Please find the "fixed" rpm, containing the checkbox-fix at
> >
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/ajay/root/multi-select-with-checkbox-fix/sugar-0.94.1-31.dx3.noarch.rpm
> >
> > For brevity, here is the patch link ::
> >
> http://git.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/mainline/commit/381e706de7e7309d27a44ed064794a44d50aad4a
> >
> > The sugar-toolkit rpm remains the same as before.
> >
> >
> >
> > So, in addition to the "a) - i)" points of the previous mail, I add the
> next point ::
> >
> > j)
> > Now there is prompt feedback of checking/unchecking the checkboxes and
> favorite-icons.
> >
> > However, note that for favorite-icons, there is a logical hinderance to
> > true prompt feedback, as described in
> http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/3147.
> >
> > Checkboxes' feedbacks work perfectly !!
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks and Regards,
> > Ajay
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 12:02 PM, Ajay Garg <ajay at activitycentral.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi Gary.
> >
> > Please find attached the links to the "fixed" rpms.
> > Please "--upgrade --force --nodeps" on the dx3ng143 image, on which you
> have been testing.
> >
> >
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/ajay/root/multi-select/sugar-0.94.1-31.dx3.noarch.rpm
> >
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/ajay/root/multi-select/sugar-toolkit-0.94.0-20120805.dx3.fc14.i386.rpm
> >
> >
> > For brevity, the patches are at ::
> >
> http://git.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/mainline/commit/38a261887ed44756147bae44277642252cae628f
> >
> http://git.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/mainline/commit/0c71cf00dfb8fe507627109748b5539e0eeba87f
> >
> >
> >
> > Following are the changes/fixes ::
> > All courtesy you :)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > a)
> > 'Select none' renamed as 'Deselect all'.
> >
> >
> >
> > b)
> > Now, a text-widget has been added to the top of EditToolBar.
> > This serves the following two purposes ::
> >
> >
> >     * The widget is supposed to display only one line, at ANY time.
> >
> >     * Usually, while in "multi-select" mode, it will display "<x> of 97
> selected", where "x" is the number of entries currently selected,
> >       and 97 is assumed to be the total number of entries.
> >
> >
> >       Here, as we select/deselect by single-click, or "select
> all"/"deselect all" button,  the update happens consequently.
> >
> >       So, as is obvious, this modification helps show the number of
> selected entries, even when entries are selected/deselected one at a time
> >       (previously, the status was shown, only when "select all" or
> "deselect all" was done).
> >
> >     * During batch-copy, or batch-erase, this widget shows the running
> status of the entry currently being processed.
> >
> >
> >
> > c)
> > Due to b), the progress-statuses are now NOT shown as alerts; rather as
> texts in the text-widget.
> >
> >
> >
> > d)
> > However, any errors (such as "Entries without a file cannot be copied")
> are continued to be shown as alerts.
> >
> >
> >
> > e)
> > Other than the progress-texts, and error-alerts, the only other
> notification shown are the confirmation-alerts before beginning
> > with the "Batch-Copy" and "Batch-Erase".
> >
> >
> >
> > f)
> > During Batch-Operations (almost exclusively Batch-Copy), if an error
> occurs, users are presented with two options ::
> >
> >     * "Stop" - This stops the batch-operation there and then.
> >
> >     * "Continue" - Proceed forward with the next journal entry.
> >
> >
> >
> > g)
> > As seen in f), the "Ok" of the error-alert has been replaced (only
> textually) by "Continue".
> >
> >
> >
> > h)
> > There were exceptions of the form "KeyError: 'keep'" occuring in logs.
> > This was due to some cases, wherein "keep" property was not present in a
> particular journal entry.
> >
> > So now, as a fix, we first check if "keep" is a valid metadata-key. If
> yes, we read its value to gauge favorite-status.
> > Else, we assume that the journal-entry is an unfavorite by default.
> >
> >
> >
> > i)
> > VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ::
> >
> > Renaming a journal-entry (by clicking and modifying the contents of the
> title-cell, has been disabled functionally.
> > This is because, the following happens when a rename is done in the
> "Documents" view ::
> >
> >     * Initially, the UID is same as the path of the entry in "Documents".
> >
> >     * User changes the name. The change is written on the DS, and the
> UID changed.
> >
> >     * Now, since refresh is inhibited in multi-select view, we need to
> fetch the new value of the title from the DS.
> >       This requires the UID, through which the UID could be fetched.
> Since the name of the "Documents" journal-entry has
> >       changed, so has its UID. But in the memory, the old UID still
> resides. Fetching the "new" title from the "old" UID does not
> >       work.
> >
> >       Now, I tried disabling the renaming while rendering the listview,
> but that could not be done, as rendering th listview requires
> >       knowing whether we are in multi-select mode, while multi-select
> mode is set, after the listview is rendered. So, we are in a catch-22
> >       situation.
> >
> > So, the way it works now in multi-select mode ::
> >
> >     * User is apparently able to edit the title, but that is all what
> happens.
> >       There is no efective change - neither in backend, nor in frontend.
> >
> > In the normal view, the renaming works as usual.
> >
> >
> > ======================================================
> >
> >
> > PENDING CHANGES ::
> >
> > a)
> > As explained in point i) above, the renaming will not work, while in
> multi-select mode (however, the bug you reported wherein trying to rename in
> > "Documents" folder renders the UI unusable, has been duly fixed (of
> course, by not allowing the renaming to happen).
> >
> > If this is indeed required, this will be a major change in the way we
> deal with UIDs for non-journal mount-points. But given that renaming is
> affected only in multi-select mode (renaming does not work at all in
> multi-select; while it works as usual in normal-mode), I am a bit sceptical
> to regarding this.
> >
> >
> >
> > b)
> > A solution to the following bug ::
> >
> >
> > UNRESOLVED BUG. Tick-box slow/erratic behaviour in dx3ng143 with latest
> rpm fixes image on XO1, still needs mouse movement to redraw. This is also
> an issue when using the "Select all" toobar button, as the list view
> tick-boxes do not update until after the "Select all. You have selected N
> entries. (Ok)" dialogue is clicked.
> >
> > still eludes me :(
> >
> > This is an important issue, since (although there is no unusable UX, or
> any such major workflow blocker), the select/deselect "visual" "feedback"
> is an important thing, that should be conveyed as soon as possible. Though
> Gary's feedback on adding a text-widget on the top EditToolBar, does help
> show the number of entries selected, and thus gives a "textual" "feedback"
> :)
> >
> > I would request all sugar-devel members to please post a solution to the
> issue, for which the discussion is going on, in the thread ::
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2012-July/038626.html
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks and Regards,
> > Ajay
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 9:59 PM, Gary Martin <garycmartin at googlemail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi Ajay,
> >
> >
> > On 4 Aug 2012, at 10:21, Ajay Garg <ajay at activitycentral.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 8:53 PM, Ajay Garg <ajay at activitycentral.com>
> wrote:
> >> Thanks a ton Gary.
> >> This is REALLY useful :)
> >
> > Fab :)
> >
> >> Please find the comments inline.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 6:29 PM, Gary Martin <garycmartin at googlemail.com>
> wrote:
> >> Hi Ajay/Anish,
> >>
> >> On 18 Jul 2012, at 11:57, Anish Mangal <anish at activitycentral.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> > I would like to propose the long-discussed-finally-implemented ;-)
> >> > journal entry batch operation and multi selection feature for
> >> > inclusion in sugar-0.98. All the necessary and relevant details should
> >> > be present in the associated feature page:
> >> >
> >> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Multi_selection_screenshots
> >> >
> >> > AFAIK, This feature was initially brought up in discussions in EDUJam
> >> > in 2011 and an initial implementation was made by Martin Abente. The
> >> > current implementation, done by Ajay, has been derived from that
> >> > keeping the UI experience largely the same while significantly
> >> > speeding up operations like select/deselect.
> >> >
> >> > Should you have any design related questions about this, feel free to
> >> > reply to this thread.
> >>
> >> At last Tuesday's design meeting we didn't make it back around to this
> agenda item, so here's my feedback/notes after testing the DX3 image with
> the new rpms:
> >>
> >> - FIXED. Once in multi-select mode, the favourite stars no longer
> visibly updates, though changes update later once multi-select mode is
> exited.
> >>
> >> Great !!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - FIXED. Auto deselection after batch operation.
> >>
> >> Great !!
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - UNRESOLVED BUG. Tick-box slow/erratic behaviour in dx3ng143 with
> latest rpm fixes image on XO1, still needs mouse movement to redraw. This
> is also an issue when using the "Select all" toobar button, as the list
> view tick-boxes do not update until after the "Select all. You have
> selected N entries. (Ok)" dialogue is clicked.
> >>
> >> Yep.. this is becoming a real pain.
> >> I have tried the solutions listed at
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2012-July/038626.html, but
> none seem to work :-\
> >> Anyways, I am still trying ..
> >>
> >> [Ajay ACTION 1] : Fix this.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - NEW BUG. Renaming an entry while in multi-select mode does not
> display the name change, only updates the name displayed after multi-select
> mode is exited.
> >>
> >> Thanks. Reproduced the bug at my side.
> >>
> >> [Ajay ACTION 2] : Will fix.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - NEW BUG. If you rename while in multi-select and then try to copy,
> the entry can't be copied and raises an error "Entries without a filename
> cannot be copied."
> >>
> >> Hmm.. I think this is a false-negative.
> >> I tried the following ::
> >>
> >>               * Entered "multi-select" mode.
> >>
> >>               * Selected an entry (by ticking the check-box).
> >>
> >>               * Re-named the entry (however, the rename was not
> immediately visible, due to the above bug).
> >>
> >>               * Copied the entry to "Documents".
> >>
> >>               * Exited "multi-select" mode.
> >>
> >>               * Clicked "Documents" icon.
> >>
> >>               * The entry (WITH THE MODIFIED NAME) was present.
> >>
> >> I guess the error message "Entries without a file cannot be copied"
> occurred on an entry, that would have anyways given this message, even if
> you hadn't renamed the entry.
> >>
> >> [Gary ACTION 1] : Please let me know if you still face the error :)
> >
> > OK, sorry I must have missed an extra step (I can't reproduce this just
> now). Will email you if I can find a reliable way to reproduce it.
> >
> > However, I seem to have found a more nasty bug, while trying to test...
> Switch to the Journal Documents view; select an item; rename the selected
> item; the selected item will be deselected – though you'll still be in
> multi-select mode (but with nothing selected); click the toolbar button
> Select none; Journal will now be in a bad/unusable state, spinning busy
> cursor, can't escape multi select mode, shell log shows tracebacks IOError:
> Couldn't open metadata directory. I needed to restart Sugar to get back to
> normal. I'll post some shell logs in a separate email to you.
> >
> >> - UNRESOLVED DESIGN QUESTION. Should filters continue to work once in
> multi-select mode e.g: Filter for star favourite items in Journal; multi
> select all stared items; un-favourite some entries while in multi-select
> mode. Should they be removed from the multi-select view, or stay? Currently
> they stay, but this causes a visual 'jump' when exiting multi-select mode
> as the initial filter is re-applied to the view. Same issue if filtering
> the Journal by title, and you rename some entries while in multi-select
> mode.
> >>
> >> Well, I would say not to effect the change during multi-select mode,
> because of the following reasons ::
> >>
> >>               * Currently, the code is tightly bound to having the
> "current" listmodel entries in the cache.
> >>                 A re-fresh, would cause the cached entries to be
> re-distributed, requiring a very major code change.
> >>
> >>               * The original motive of "allowing" the user to set/unset
> favorite status, and rename entry, is to help the user do the processing on
> the entry,
> >>                 as she selects the entry. So, I guess it would be ok to
> effect the filters of these "secondary" features, AFTER the original action
> (copy,
> >>                 erase) is completed, and "multi-select" mode exited.
> >>
> >> [Gary ACTION 2] : Anyhow, please let me know if you think otherwise :)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - FEEDBACK. In multi-select mode the toolbar button string 'Select
> none' would be better renamed as 'Deselect all'.
> >>
> >> Ok.
> >>
> >> [Ajay ACTION 3] : Will fix.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - TESTING. A loaded Journal with ~100 items, and a USB stick with 900+
> items was tested. Selecting individual items one by one is reasonable
> (ignoring the above unresolved redraw/event bug). Batch selecting,
> deselecting, erasing operations are pretty quick (batch feedback progress
> is helpful especially for the 900+ item case). Batch copying is the slowest
> operation (as to be expected), feedback progress here is essential for even
> a few items.
> >>
> >> [Gary ACTION 3] : Ok, so we show the progress for all = "Select",
> "Deselect", "Copy", "Erase", right?
> >
> > Yes, but in the primary title bar as a text widget.
> >
> >> - FEEDBACK. In the primary multi-select toolbar, add a separator and
> text widget to show how many items are selected, and how many are in the
> current multi-select view e.g. "Selected 3 of 123" so the current
> multi-select state is always visible to the user. This same widget can be
> used for progress feedback during batch operations e.g. "Copying 9 of 22:
> <title>", "Erasing 3 of 15: <title>", "Deselecting 5 of 17". This removes
> the need for all progress alerts during batch operations, see below.
> >>
> >> Gary, please clarify a bit more.
> >> For eg, if a user wishes to do batch-copy on 15 entries (out of 97
> entries), so would the snapshots be like ::
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>      Selected 15 of 97
> >> <Second row of text widget>  Copying 1 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>      Selected 15 of 97
> >> <Second row of text widget>  Copying 2 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>      Selected 15 of 97
> >> <Second row of text widget>  Copying 3 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>      Selected 15 of 97
> >> <Second row of text widget>  Copying 4 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >> ..
> >> ..
> >> ..
> >> ..
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>      Selected 15 of 97
> >> <Second row of text widget>  Copying 14 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>      Selected 15 of 97
> >> <Second row of text widget>  Copying 15 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> OR WOULD IT BE SIMPLY
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>  Copying 1 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>  Copying 2 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>  Copying 3 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> <First row of text widget>  Copying 4 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >> ..
> >> ..
> >> ..
> >> ..
> >>
> >>
> >>  <First row of text widget>  Copying 14 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >>  <First row of text widget>  Copying 15 of 15 <title>
> >>
> >>
> >> [Gary ACTION 4] : Please clarify.
> >>
> >>
> >> I think I understood what is required.
> >>
> >> * The widget is supposed to display only one line, at ANY time.
> >>
> >> * Usually, while in "multi-select" mode, it will display "<x> of 97
> selected", where "x" is the number of entries currently selected.
> >>   Here, as we select/deselect by single-click, or "select all" /
> "deselect all" button,  the update happens consequently.
> >>
> >>   So, as is obvious, this modification helps show the number of
> selected entries, even when entries are selected/deselected one at a time
> >>   (previously, the status was shown, only when "select all" or
> "deselect all" was done).
> >>
> >> * During batch-copy, or batch-erase, this widget shows the running
> status of the entry currently being processed.
> >>
> >> * This seems to be a sleeker design, as it does do away with showing
> the running status as an alert.
> >>   After all, alerts are meant to convey a potentially major action ..
> >>
> >>
> >> So,  modified action for Gary :D  ::
> >>           [Gary ACTION 4] : Please confirm, as to if my understanding
> is correct.
> >
> > Yes, that's it! :)
> >
> > Regards,
> > --Gary
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Sorry for the inconvenience.
> >>
> >> Thanks and Regards,
> >> Ajay
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - FEEDBACK. {confirmation_before, progress, confirmation_after}
> >>     ... select_none {N, N, N}
> >>     ... select_all {N, N, N}
> >>     ... erase {Y, N, N}
> >>     ... copying {Y, N, N}
> >>
> >> Ok. Got it :)
> >>
> >> [Ajay ACTION 4] : Will make the changes.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> - FEEDBACK. We should allow a user to abort a batch operation when an
> error occurs. Use cases, encountering many errors during a batch operation
> when a volume runs out of space, or becomes unavailable. One solution on
> other platforms is a check box for in the error dialogues "[√] Apply to
> all" (to ignore future errors of this type during this batch process),
> and/or an additional button "Stop". I'd suggest our batch operation errors
> dialogues add a "Stop" button to allow aborting the batch process, and that
> the current "Ok" button is renamed "Continue" to be more clear.
> >>
> >> Ok.
> >> So,
> >>                     * [Ajay ACTION 5] : We add a "Stop" button, which
> occurs on any error alert message.
> >>                        If the user clicks the "Stop" button, the
> batch-operations ends there ans then.
> >>
> >>                     * [Ajay ACTION 6] : "Ok" button will be renamed to
> "Continue" button.
> >>
> >>
> >> - UNRESOLVED DESIGN QUESTION. Do we want to allow a user to abort a
> batch operation while it is in progress? Use case, copying/erasing many
> items over a slow network, or usb device, and deciding if it is not worth
> the wait. I think, for now, we can avoid this extra UI work as the batch
> features do provide the option to cancel before they begin. We should
> revisit this if it turns out to be a frustration for users. The UI design
> would likely be to add the cancel icon (X) to the primary toolbar while a
> batch operation is in progress.
> >>
> >> +1.
> >> Anish too had suggested the same, but then we forfeited the idea, as
> this would make this (unnecessarily?) complex.
> >>
> >> Anyways, in-field experiences are the real teachers :D :D
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> --Gary
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Sugar-devel mailing list
> >> Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> >>
> >>
> >> Gary, waiting for your responses :)
> >>
> >> Thanks again.
> >>
> >> Thanks and Regards,
> >> Ajay
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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