ant/src/antidote/docs/gui-ideas.txt

(NOTE: the following text is a vision for an Ant GUI by Stefan Vaillant
<mailto:Stephan.Vaillant@nokia.com> called Anttool. It is included here in the
Antidote docs section as it provides a better vision for what the GUI should be
than the current requirements document, and should be considered an integral
part of the long-term plans for Antidote. Simeon Fitch)


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********************
**Anttool Proposal**
********************

By: Stefan Vaillant <mailto:Stephan.Vaillant@nokia.com>

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Anttool Overview:
-----------------

With Anttool a user can manage the build process for existing ant build files.
By using the grafical user interface, the user can adjust certain properties to
his environment, start and cancel builds, monitor their progress and call
appropiate programs to fix problems.  It is not possible to modify the build
file. Instead, an external XML editor or antidote should be used.


For inexperienced users, the tool provides an easy and efficient way to install
open source software: load software to the local system, build it and install
it.  The tool can be used without any knowledge of XML or the ant DTD.  Instead,
the user just adjusts the relevant properties to his environment and starts the
build.

For programmers, the tool supports the basic build/test/edit cycle.  Given an
existing ant build file, the programmer can use the grafical user interface to
execute individual targets, browse the effects of the build and start editors to
fix problems that occured during the build.


I general, anttool is ment for users who see the build file as a black-box: They
are not primarily interested in the internal structure of the build file nor in
modifiying it.  Instead, they want to call ant with the appropiate arguments and
want to see, what is the result of the build.

Therefore, anttool only shows targets and properties that are relevant for these
users. Tasks are not shown at all.


Anttool User Interface:
-----------------------

The user interface of anttool is devided into two panels: The "Control Panel"
shows all loaded build files and their targets.  The "Project Panel" shows
details for one project, including the logging information from the last
build(s), the editable properties of an build and relevant files of that build.

By default, the user interface does not show targets or properties that have no
description or a descriuption starting with a ".".  These targets or properties
are called "hidden" in the following text.


The Control Panel:
------------------

The Control Panel shows a tree with all loaded projects.  For each project the
non-hidden targets are shown.  (Anttool can be configured to show also hidden
targets, see Configuration below).

If you move the cursor over a project or target, a description for it will be
shown as a tooltip.

Two icons are prefixing the name of the project or target: one is visualizing
the state of the project or target, the other is a button to start or cancel the
project or target.  The state icon can have the following different colors:
	- green if the execution was successfull.
	- yellow if an execution is needed because the output files are
      out-of-date [not possible with current ant version?]
	- red if the execution resulted in errors.
	- white (i.e. nothing) if the state is unknown
[Alternative: what about buttons labeled with the target name?
 The button is used for start/stopping the build.
 No tree required then. ]

	
If you select a node in the tree, the Project Panel (see below) will show
details for the relevant project.

If you right-click on a node in the tree, a pop-up menu will show the following
commands:
	edit: open XML editor at selected element
	open: in new window  [? is that needed]
		
		
The Project Panel:
------------------

The Project Panel consists of three tabs: 

The "Build Log" tab shows information about the last build(s), the "Properties"
tab shows non-hidden properties and the "Files" tab shows files relevant for the
project.

The Build Log Tab:

In this tab you can monitor the build on detail.  A tree shows the executed
targets of a build, their tasks and log messages for each task.  The start time
is noted after the build name.

In the pop-up menu, you can choose from the following commands:
		edit: open editor for shown file at shown location.
		show log level->Error/Warning/Info/Verbose/Debug
			(only the items possible are shown,
			 see configuration.)

The Properties Tab:

The properties tab shows all non-hidden properties of the project.  (optionally,
also hidden properties can be shown, see Configuratin below.)

Each Property is shown as follows:
	<Name>: <entry field>     <reset checkbox>
where
       	<Name> is name of the property, with "." and "-" replaced by " "
	and first letters capatilized.
	<entry field> is a text field to enter a value for the properts.
	In some cases, special benas are shown:
		Name ends with ".dir"	=> provide a file chooser to select a directory
		Name ends with ".lib"   => provide a file chooser to select .jar file
		Name is "build.compiler" => provide combo box with possible compilers.
			[selecting JDK's seems not well support in ant?
			 If you have e.g. JDK 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 installed,
	 		 how to easily select the compiler version?]
		Name ends with ".jdk"   => let the user select one of the configures
JDK's
			[more general then build.compiler, but supported by ant?]
		Name ends with ".file"  => provide a file chooser
	<reset checkbox> resets the value to the (default) value that is
contained in the .xml file

All values entered are save in a file
$HOME/.ant/<full-path-build-file>.property.  (See also Configuration.)

If property values are changed, then ant is called with
main("-Dproperty1=value1 ..").
	
[show also (class)pathes as property, use id instead of name?  But: is that
 required? Why not simply define individual properties for the required
 libraries and combine them then to a path.  ]
		

	
The File Set Tab:

This tab show files that are releated to the project.  For each non-hidden
fileset of the project, the id of the fileset is shown and all files included to
that fileset.

If you right-click on a file, a pop-up menu is shown with which you can start
programs to deal with these files.  The relevant configuration information is
extracted from the existing operation system settings.

[or: one tab for each fileset?] 

Repository:
-----------

[This needs some more work.]

Anttool also simplyfies the loading of source files form the web.  By using the
repository mechanism of anttool, you can perform the complete workflow from
download to install with just a few mouse clicks:

	select one out of the Repositories from the main menu.
		Anttool will query the server for a list of up-to-date
		packages.
		
	select one of the presented packages
		Anttool will then download the selected package:
		In case a .zip (or similar) package was selected,
		the file is downloaded and
		unpacked to "/Users/"<name>.
		In case a CVS repository was selected, 
		the files are downloaded to "/Users/"<name>.
		
		Afterwards
		a file with the name "build.xml" is searched 
		and loaded to anttool.
		Optionally, the file "$HOME/.ant/default.properties"
		is copied to "$HOME/.ant/<full-path-build-file>.properties,
		overwriting the defaults in the downloaded build file
		with your preferences (e.g. installation directory, JDK, ...)
		[copy only relevant properties?]		

	check if the properties in the selected project match your intention.

	press "start" on the project
		

Anttool Configuration:
-----------------------

The menu "Tools" in the menu bar allows you to adjust Anttool behavior to your
preferences and environment.

The following menu entries are available:

Configure JDKs:
	Can be used to configure the JDKs available
	on your system. The configured values are offered
	for properties that end with ".jdk".
	
	The screen offers a table to edit a set of names
	and pathes.
	By pressing "rescan" the system is scanned for new JDKs
	by consulting the installed software.

	[Should there be one combo box
		Anttool JDK:   <internal|JDK list|....>
	 that indicates the JDK that should be used to run ant?
	 Should that be even project specific setting?
	]

Configure Repository: [better name?]
	Anttool is aware of certain places where Anttool supporting software
	can be found on the internet.
	These URLs can be configured here.
	These repositories are offered to the user when he selects 
	the "Repository" menu in the menu bar.

	The screen offers a table to edit a set of names
	and URLs.

Configure Libraries:
	Can be used to configure the libraries available
	on your system. The configured values are offered
	for properties that end with ".lib".
	
	The screen offers a table to edit a set of names
	and pathes.
	By pressing "rescan" the system is scanned for new libraries
	by searching below a directory.


Preferences:
	show hidden targets: bool 
		[or: offer addition menu to start hidden targets?]
	show hidden filesets: bool
	show hidden properties: bool	

	log level used for build: ...
	number of log files saved: 
	number of log files shown in UI:

	Directory to save property values:

	file name remembered in file menu: 

	checkig for new files in filesets: [seconds]	
	autoload new buildfile: [seconds, 0= never]


General features:
-----------------
The menubar menu's are 
	File
		Open...
		Close
		-------
		1 buildfile.xml
		2 ....
		3 ...
		------
		Exit
	Repository
		Apache...		as configured
		<name2>...	        
		....	      	
	Options
		Configure JDKs...
		Configure Repository...
		Configure Libraries...
		Preferences...
		Look&Feel...
	Help
		Antool Help...
		Ant Web Home		calls netscape
		-----------
		About...


Build files can be dragged and dropped into anttool.	

The set off loaded build files should be saved on exit and
reloaded on restart automatically.



Technical questions on the internals of anttool
-----------------------------------------------
- How to detect if a target needs to be run (yellow color)?
  Seems not be possible currently.
  One solution [what will ant 2.0 contain?]:
	Define new abstract class "MonitoredTask", inherited from Task.
	Copy, Javac, javadoc, etc inherit from these.
	MonitoredTask defines:
		execute() { prepareTask(); if (executionNeeded) { perform() }; }
		executionNeeded: boolean // signals that I need to run because output is
older than input
		perform()
		performMap() // what will happen with each file, i.e.
				Main.java  -> Main.class
				UI.java    -> UI.class
				...
			     or
			        Main.class -> lib.jar
				UI.class   -> lib.jar
			     size of Map should be equal to number of steps reported in loggin.

  Only "executionNeeded" is required to add a yellow flag for targets.  The
  performMap would be nice to have. It could be used later to show a finegrained
  graph (or matrix) about what is happening during a build.

  Add configuration item on how often call the funtions (i.e. how often to do
  the polling.)
	
- How to do the calling of the external tools?
	XML editor? (how to generate the dtd? How to execute "antstructure"
    withour changing the build file.)
	How to simulate the windows functionality for e.g. open java source with
    JBuilder?
		How to read the registry information?
		How to do DDE calls?

- is there any free installation tool for java?
	(to install anttool itself)