[jbosstools-issues] [JBoss JIRA] Commented: (JBDS-1016) Usability issue with Seam Web Project Wizard

[Alexey Kazakov (JIRA)]

    [ https://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBDS-1016?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12501250#action_12501250 ] 

Alexey Kazakov commented on JBDS-1016:
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Let me explain why we have all the described issues.
We didn't create our own independent Seam wizard. We just created Seam facet Seam configuration presets and added them to WTP facet echo system.
Dynamic Web Project Wizard (WTP's one) is not an ideal but it allowed us to create quite sophisticated wizard for acceptable time.
We tried to make this wizard more Seam-oriented by extending (and hacking) Dynamic Web Project Wizard.
You described a few different issues here and some of them we can try to fix. Other ones we can't fix without creating a new Seam Wizard which won't use Dynamic Web Project at all. But I think it will bring us many new issues.

>> 1. The Configuration changes automatically to one incompatible with a Seam Web Project if the Target runtime is changed.

As I already said it's a standard behavior of Dynamic Web Project. But we can try to hook into it and don't let the wizard change configuration preset to new one which doesn't have Seam facet.

>> 2 . Although a user may try to clear the resultant error message by changing the runtime back to the original one, the error message will remain, as the dialog will change the configuration to another incompatible one. If the user did not notice the original default configuration (which they may well not if they are moving from top to the bottom of the wizard, which will be the usual case), they have no way of knowing how to clear the error message.

If we fix first issue then this won't be actual one anymore.

>> 3. If the user clicks on the tempting "Modify" button and manually enables Seam they can run into a problem several screens later (error message saying Seam version is incompatible and only 2.2 in the version drop-down box) with no obvious way to resolve it.

There is a way to resolve it. The user can create new Seam runtime right in Seam Facet page which will satisfy chosen Seam version or move back if he change his mind and wants to use another Seam version.

> Usability issue with Seam Web Project Wizard
> --------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: JBDS-1016
>                 URL: https://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBDS-1016
>             Project: JBoss Developer Studio
>          Issue Type: Bug
>    Affects Versions: 3.0.0.M4
>         Environment: Mac OS X 10.4.11 32 bit PPC
>            Reporter: Joshua Wulf
>         Attachments: Picture 1.png, Picture 2.png, Picture 4.png, Picture 5.png, Picture 6.png, Picture 7.png, Picture 8.png, Picture 9.png
>
>
> The Seam Web Project Wizard changes the Configuration when the Target runtime is changed. Although it starts out with "Dynamic Web Application for Seam 2.0" selected by default, if the Target runtime is changed the Configuration selection is changed to match the Target Runtime. This results in an error "Seam facet must be enabled."
> Changing the Target Runtime back to the original one does not remove the error. There are two ways to remove the error message. One is to manually change the Configuration back to "Dynamic Web Application for Seam 2.x". Since it is not possible to move forward from this page without enabling the Seam facet, the configuration should not automatically change to one that does not have Seam facet enabled.
> The situation is more complicated, and worse, however, because the other way to remove the error message is to manually modify the Configuration using the "Modify" button. If the user does this, and enables JavaServer Faces and Seam, the error message will disappear and they will be able to move forward. 
> However, when it comes time to select the Seam runtime the user will run into a problem. In the Modify Configuration screen where the user enabled the Seam facet, the unique option there was fixed at version 2.2. If the Seam runtime the user wishes to use is not 2.2 then they will get an error that the Seam runtime is an incompatible version. They will be unable to select any other version in the version drop-down box.
> So there are three problems: 
> 1. The Configuration changes automatically to one incompatible with a Seam Web Project if the Target runtime is changed. 
> 2 . Although a user may try to clear the resultant error message by changing the runtime back to the original one, the error message will remain, as the dialog will change the configuration to another incompatible one. If the user did not notice the original default configuration (which they may well not if they are moving from top to the bottom of the wizard, which will be the usual case), they have no way of knowing how to clear the error message.
> 3. If the user clicks on the tempting "Modify" button and manually enables Seam they can run into a problem several screens later (error message saying Seam version is incompatible and only 2.2 in the version drop-down box) with no obvious way to resolve it.
> The workaround is to document this quirk, but that defeats the purpose of an intuitive in-IDE wizard that guides you through setting up the project.
> I would recommend making the configuration stay on the default, even when the Target runtime is changed. If the user sees an incompatible version of Seam there when they scan down, they are likely to click it to see if a compatible version of Seam is there. If they see "Default configuration for X runtime" with a description saying "A good starting point... Additional facets can later be installed to add new functionality to the project" and an error message saying "Seam facet must be enabled", then their likely response will be to modify the configuration to "add new functionality" to the "good starting point" that the wizard has selected for them.

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