[jopr-dev] request for comments - timeline view

[Joseph Marques]

as of last night, the events tab will now only show up when the resource 
(or compatible group) you're viewing supports the events.  the result of 
this, in short, is that we need to find a new home for the timeline view. 

if you go to the events tab for some JBAS instance in inventory, you'll 
see the timeline subtab.  the problem lies in the fact that the timeline 
view displays data from several different subsystems: availability 
history, logged event, executed operations, triggered alerts.  as a 
result, if we kept timeline under the event tab, you could only get to 
it if your resource supported events...but then you lose the ability to 
view the other types of data this composite view can display. 

so, the question is...where should this view go?  some options so far:

1) as it's own tab for a resource (alongside monitor, events, 
configuration, operation, alerts, content)
2) as a subsystem view (alongside config updates, problem resources, etc 
at /rhq/subsystem/layout/main.xhtml path)

for option #1, the fit is rather natural, but there is some concern that 
"timeline" doesn't correctly implement what a resource tab is attempting 
to model (a resource-wise view of each subsystem).  while i agree with 
that assessment (because timeline is a composite view) i nonetheless 
think this is a good target.

for option #2, the fit is less than ideal, but it still might have 
value.  the problems i see here is that we would still need a way of 
selecting a resource before the timeline view could be displayed.  
subsystem views are supposed to be cross-cutting views (and, in that 
respect, it's similar to timeline) but subsystem views are single 
subsystems across all resources in the system (whereas timeline is 
multiple subsystems across a single resource).

clearly, the timeline view lies somewhere in the middle.  so, what do 
other people think?  should it be a new tab on a resource, or should it 
be a subsystem view that allows you to select different resources?

-joseph