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Module Manager - UI spec

Author: Jindrich Dinga
Date: 08/17/05
Version: Final draft

Content

Usecases and Scenarios
Module Manager - UI design
Position of Module Manager in Tools menu
What should be removed
Related links

1. Usecases and Scenarios

For usecases and scenarios click here.

2. Module Manager - UI design

In this section, appearance of module Manager (figure 1) is described there. The module manager shows all modules (sorted alphabetically according their categories by default, all categories are expanded by default) installed in the IDE, their status, current version and previous (backup) version.

The table has ten rows and five columns, all rows and columns are visible by default. The categories are colored by color used in property sheet (different color for different platforms), row selection uses appropriate color as well.

figure 1 - appearance of Module Manager

Pressing the Uninstall button invokes a modal dialog (figure 2a,b) in which the user has to confirm deleting of selected modules.

for one module:
for more than 2 modules:
no module dependancy	module dependancy
figure 2 - Confirm Uninstall dialog

On the other hand by pressing the Revert button invokes a modal dialog (figure 3) in which the user has to confirm reversion of selected modules.

for one module:

for more than 2 modules:

figure 3 - Confirm Reversion dialog

If modules are deactivated and other modules depend on them, a confirmation dialog is invoked (figure 4). If a category is deactivated and contains a module which some module depends on, same dialog appears, however the first sentence is slightly changed: "Deactivation of selected category will ..." (for certain module the sentence is: "Deactivation of <module name> will...").

figure 4 - Confirm modules deactivation dialog

A contextual menu can be invoked on the module list and contains actions mentioned below (figure 5).

- selected module(s) (module category) is loaded on start up (for more than one selected module the <module name> is changed to <modules>)
- all modules are loaded on start up

- selected module(s) (module category) is uninstalled (for more than one selected module the <module name> is changed to <modules>)
- selected module(s) (module category) is reverted (for more than one selected module the <module name> is changed to <modules>)

- sorts according to the category or name

- opens Properties dialog

figure 5 - Contextual menu in Module Manager

Pressing the "Update..." button invokes the Update Dialog (opened above the Module Manager dialog), where the user selects whether s/he wants check the update center or install modules manually.

Note about Revert action:

In NetBeans IDE, this feature will not be implemented for this release, because of technical reasons.

3. Position of Module Manager in Tools menu

Module Manager (M mnemonic) and Update Center are placed at the bottom of the Tools menu (figure 6).

figure 6 - Tools menu

4. What should be removed

Setup Wizard (Tools | Setup Wizard)

Because Module Manager covers all actions covered by Setup Wizard it is suggested to get rid of this item from Tools menu. MDI/SDI mode actions can be moved to somewhere else, e.g. Tools | Options | ...