Re: [eclipse-dev] Please help me stop the context menu abuse

["Max Rydahl Andersen" <max.andersen@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> Max wrote:
>> It is about them adding "project enablement" menu items to
>> the context menu. This should be banned by law! :)
>> I know it is late in the game, but I honestly believe it is
>> important we try and stop the "random adding" to the context menu.
>
> This is indeed ugly and is rooted in a few reasons:
> - PDE promotes that actively: the pde new project wizard builder sample
> creates an "add nature" popup (Plug-in with an incremental Project
> Builder.), therefore promoting that kind of pop-up. My first builder had it.
> Every builder I created since had them :-P: you get hooked to it.

Yes, and noone should ever trust templates anyway ;)

> - This is good UI: right-clicking on a project to alter its support for
> things is a natural user action, a popup is only very few clicks ,
> contextual, and in contrast going to a top level menu is a bigger physical
> effort: it requires a bigger eye and hand movement. Users will go for the
> thing that makes sense for them. Pop-ups do make sense.

I would be fine by this atleast then was just put under *one* submenu, e.g. "Enable".

>> I know it is late in the game, but I honestly believe it is
>> important we try and stop the "random adding" to the context menu.
>
> For Ganymede, I think this is too late in the game to address at a platform
> level, but that should be seriously considered for E4.

I do not want to wait another year...i'm only asking for menu's to be moved.
Zero api change. 

>> So I actually did not have a better suggestion until today
>> where I realized that Eclipse has this nice "Project" menu
>> which fits perfectly for these kind of operations and we
>> actually already have "Convert to a dynamic web project..." in there.
>> I suggest that we push for getting such "project enablement"
>> items moved to that menu instead and maybe even create a
>> "Enable >" sub menu under it.
>
> In the short term, IMHO each project should be mindful of context menu
> real-estate, eventually relocating their un-ruly contributions in the
> project menu as you suggested. Yet that is just moving the problem
> elsewhere... and is not the best UI: user will still loom for it in the
> context menu first.

I know i'm shifting the problem but there is actually two here:

1) General problem on how to enable/disable project features

2) The totally annoying tendency for plugins to add to the context menu unfiltered.
   
The reason I did not actually look into this earlier was that the last 2 years of 
eclipsecon this topic was mentioned as something that would be looked into for the 
next release ...but apparently that never happend...so i'm reacting now.

> Maybe  a quick group marker from platform ui could help there  ;-) or the
> affected projects can agree together and without the platform on a common ID
> even if it is not contributed by the platfom.

Yes! That would be good! 

>> In JBoss Tools we have done these things by instead putting
>> them under Properties but I realize that just moves the issue
>> to the proliferation of project properties.
>
> In a product context, you can also apply your "hand of god" and massage
> contributions as required.

JBoss Tools does not have control over eclipse so I cannot apply these magic touches ;)

In JBDS maybe, but I hate hacks when we can at least fix the bugs in eclipse platform
and show the way for the rest...

/max