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Bug 123464 - Improve UI for resolving broken references
Summary: Improve UI for resolving broken references
Status: STARTED
Alias: None
Product: java
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Project (show other bugs)
Version: 6.x
Hardware: All All
: P1 blocker with 3 votes (vote)
Assignee: Tomas Zezula
URL:
Keywords: PLAN, UI
: 72105 73738 141489 213279 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2007-12-05 13:03 UTC by jrojcek
Modified: 2012-07-09 15:31 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Exception Reporter:


Attachments

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Description jrojcek 2007-12-05 13:03:27 UTC
Problem description:

Resolving references since NetBeans 4.1 is painful. A separate dialog is used for that purpose, but all resources are actually "used" in project properties. 
Resolving broken reference means either pointing to the correct resource or removing the resource. Currently the user can point to the correct resource in 
the resolve dialog, but she needs to go to project properties to remove the reference.
Another problem is that it is possible to overlook the red color indication of project node or to overlook the Resolve menu item which means the user 
doesn't know why her/his project (and actually the IDE) behaves strange or doesn't work. Or the user doesn't know where and how to fix the problem. This 
is a serious usability problem if the server reference or JDK is missing. This can have big impact on user's perception of the IDE.

Solution:

In the Project Properties dialog (all project types), library manager, platform manager and server manager, we have to indicate that a resource is missing 
directly in the same place where the resource is used.
For example in the "Source Packages" table, if the source root is missing it should be displayed in red color and some kind of "Edit" button should allow the 
user to locate the source root. If the user wants to delete the source root, she would just delete it.
The solution in general has to: 
   * better communicate that a project contains broken reference, depending on severity of the problem. For serious problems (missing server?) the user 
has to immediately see that there is a problem. 
   * better communicate where and how a problem can be fixed

Resolving broken references has to be consistent in Projects, Libraries, Platfoms and Servers.

---

Note that even though I'm filing this issue as part of the 6.1 planning, the real intention is to address this issue either in 6.1 or in one of the upcoming 
releases.
Comment 1 Milan Kubec 2008-10-16 14:38:40 UTC
*** Issue 72105 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Comment 2 Milan Kubec 2008-10-16 14:42:08 UTC
*** Issue 73738 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Comment 3 Milan Kubec 2008-10-16 14:43:21 UTC
*** Issue 141489 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Comment 4 Jesse Glick 2011-02-25 03:25:03 UTC
Some things already filed for 7.0.
Comment 5 Petr Jiricka 2012-05-25 15:18:35 UTC
Just hit another aspect of this. When I want to resolve a missing variable reference, the dialog tells me that variable SUCH_AND_SUCH can not be found, but when I press the Resolve button, I then have to type the variable name in the Add New Variable dialog, even though the IDE knows the name.
Comment 6 Tomas Zezula 2012-06-04 09:46:09 UTC
*** Bug 213279 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 7 Tomas Zezula 2012-07-09 15:31:25 UTC
The UI spec as proposed is not more valid.
Current proposal is to create an API allowing individual modules to provide their own resolve implementation.