Hi *,
Concerning wizards the UI Guidelines recommend:
"Guideline 5.5: Information validation within a wizard should be done in
tab order. If the first required field is empty, an informative prompt
should be shown in the text area, directing the user to fill in the
field. If the first required field is in error, an error message should
be shown in the text area. If the first required field is valid, check
the next field, and so on. The text area should not be used to display
more than one prompt or error at a time. If dialog information is absent
or invalid, the Next or Finish buttons should be disabled until the
situation is resolved. When resolution occurs, and all of the
information has been provided, the Next or Finish buttons may be enabled."
Most Eclipse Wizards do not fulfill this requirement (Eclipse 3.0, M8).
In Wizards with multiple input fields, I get an error message after
entering my first input because the remaining input fields are still
empty, e.g. Java Class Wizard. After entering 'name' I get an error
message the folder must not be empty.
This seems to be due to the Wizard Framework which provides three kinds
of states: ok, warning, error. After each user input the state is
checked. The former two enable Next/Finish. The latter one disables it
and displays an error icon with additional text.
If we want our Wizards to behave according to the guidelines, we must
introduce a fourth state: that shows no error icon, but at the same time
disables Next/Finish. Or do we use the Wizard Framewok incorrectly? Are
there any plans to adapt the Wizard Framework to the guideline
requirements and adapt the Eclipse Wizards?
Best regards, Gaby
