Various issues

[lifeweaver]

After days of testing, these issues are found:

- i18n: All GUI tools including wizards and import tool, seem to assume Arial is default system font. This is not true, especially on CJK Windows installations. Text fields are often truncated because default system font has wider width than Arial.

- It should be easier to Start/Stop/Restart server. Like Apache. How about a tray icon for server activity and a Restart server shortcut?

- There appears to be some remote server connection problems. I tested client-only installation, and it could connect to one remote server while not to another. Same firewall config (opened TCP port), same server setting (such as SSL), different OS, different locale. As there's no client log (I believe so), I couldn't trace further. FYI, error message is

A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond <xxx.xxx.xxx.xxxx: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxxx> Plastic client can't continue and will be closed.

- GUI app (plastic.exe) has number of usability issues.

1. Log window (lower left corner) is not easily visible and not really helpful. Checking log should be easier and the log should have more detail.

2. "Tools" menu for user/group management, server list management, viewing server/client log, perf analysis would be helpful.

3. When multiple windows are open, left tab does not work correctly unless each window is maximized. Even when maximized some problem remains. I think those menus should be vertical tabs themselves.

4. Menus do not feel very organized. I think there should be some categories, for example "Repository" and "Workspace".

- Options window ("Preferences" in plastic.exe) could be better designed. Unlike VS Options or Eclipse Preferences window, there aren't organized tree view (at least vertical tabs would be better I think), and it's somewhat small.

- Selecting particular changeset in Branch Explorer can be a pain, esp. in extremely high resolution. How about magnifying near mouse pointer?

- 3D tree view should have zoom in/out, font and font size selection for readability. Also, rotation would be nice.

It's a pity that Plastic has quite a few rough edges. For now, I have to choose another DVCS. (Urgently need one working right now) I'm looking forward to see some improvements, as I like Plastic very much.

Please keep up the good work! :-)

[psantosl]

Hi lifeweaver,

After days of testing' date=' these issues are found:

- i18n: All GUI tools including wizards and import tool, seem to assume Arial is default system font. This is not true, especially on CJK Windows installations. Text fields are often truncated because default system font has wider width than Arial.

[/quote']

I'm checking this with the team. I'm not sure we assume it. I'll give you a more detailed answer.

- It should be easier to Start/Stop/Restart server. Like Apache. How about a tray icon for server activity and a Restart server shortcut?

Uhm... ok' date=' understood. Well, right now is doable from the services applet on the system. Maybe it is good as a tray icon when you use it as a DVCS (central servers are normally on a corporate location and not handled this way). I see your point anyway. Makes me think why we didn't realize so far

- There appears to be some remote server connection problems. I tested client-only installation, and it could connect to one remote server while not to another. Same firewall config (opened TCP port), same server setting (such as SSL), different OS, different locale. As there's no client log (I believe so), I couldn't trace further. FYI, error message is

A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond <xxx.xxx.xxx.xxxx: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxxx> Plastic client can't continue and will be closed.

I'm not aware of this. I think you contacted support (or other forum threads) regarding some issues with SSL. We're using it this way even through the internet (VPNs too) and we only had issues when there are real connectivity issues. We're open to take a deeper look, of course.

- GUI app (plastic.exe) has number of usability issues.

1. Log window (lower left corner) is not easily visible and not really helpful. Checking log should be easier and the log should have more detail.

Absolutely. Yes' date=' in fact it is an old feature from the old days, not very useful anymore, maybe we can get rid of it too.

2. "Tools" menu for user/group management, server list management, viewing server/client log, perf analysis would be helpful.

Yes, understood. Well, one question here: you mention you'll be using other DVCS, Git or Hg, I guess, so... well, you'll also miss these tools there, won't you??

3. When multiple windows are open' date=' left tab does not work correctly unless each window is maximized. Even when maximized some problem remains. I think those menus should be [i']vertical tabs[/i] themselves.

We started developing this GUI with cross-platform compatibility in mind and we played with several options:

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC11S4F9FtQ. The underlying system is still able to do all this, but we didn't want to push things so far and we ended up with the current multi-window based system.

Our current view (we're working as crazy on 4.0) is to replace it by "standard" tabs since they feel more familiar for users...

4. Menus do not feel very organized. I think there should be some categories' date=' for example "Repository" and "Workspace".

- Options window ("Preferences" in plastic.exe) could be better designed. Unlike VS Options or Eclipse Preferences window, there aren't organized tree view (at least vertical tabs would be better I think), and it's somewhat small.

[/quote']

Ok, got it. Will introduce it in the backlog.

- Selecting particular changeset in Branch Explorer can be a pain' date=' esp. in extremely high resolution. How about magnifying near mouse pointer?

[/quote']

I've good news here: csets in 4.0 will be like 4 times bigger Stay tuned for screenshots in the coming weeks.

- 3D tree view should have zoom in/out' date=' font and font size selection for readability. Also, rotation would be nice.

[/quote']

Hey: we do have zoom and rotation: play with the "wheel" and click to rotate. CTRL-mouse to move.

Thanks for the detailed report, I know it takes time, and stay tuned because the best thing with Plastic is not only how good it is today... is how fast it evolves!!! . I'd like to show you all the things we've already in 4.0 internally... but you'll have to wait...

pablo