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Bug 593890 - New folder window is not in focus in filter dialog
New folder window is not in focus in filter dialog
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Product: evolution
Classification: Applications
Component: Mailer
2.30.x (obsolete)
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: Matthew Barnes
Evolution QA team
evolution[kill-bonobo]
: 620745 621621 622560 633607 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2009-09-02 10:21 UTC by Akhil Laddha
Modified: 2010-10-31 13:08 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Attachments
screenshot of the Thunderbird Nostalgy plugin (23.61 KB, image/png)
2009-09-23 21:43 UTC, Matěj Cepl
  Details
evo patch (631 bytes, patch)
2010-05-03 20:35 UTC, Milan Crha
committed Details | Review

Description Akhil Laddha 2009-09-02 10:21:24 UTC
Evolution 2.29.1 

1. Edit > Message filter > Add 
2. Add condition  
3. In 'add action', click on button which says 'click here to select a folder'
4. Click on 'New' as i want to create a new folder as destination folder 
5. I cann't write folder name as it's not in focus 
6. I have to close 'select folder' window
Comment 1 Akhil Laddha 2009-09-02 10:29:55 UTC
This bug is valid in search folder dialog also.
Comment 2 Matthew Barnes 2009-09-02 12:31:19 UTC
I think this bug also exists in 2.27.
Comment 3 Akhil Laddha 2009-09-03 03:53:54 UTC
It works fine in 2.27.91 for me.
Comment 4 Matthew Barnes 2009-09-03 10:22:28 UTC
Hmm, perhaps I dropped another patch then.  Will hunt for it.
Comment 5 Matthew Barnes 2009-09-10 17:59:11 UTC
So this problem is not limited to just editing filters.  It also occurs when moving a folder or messages to another folder via "Copy to Folder" or "Move to Folder" menu items.  There is no easy fix here -- we need to rethink how to handle the use cases behind this dialog.

Some thoughts:

 - Desktop-wide authentication prompts are the only use case for modal
   dialogs, and Gnome-Keyring and PolicyKit cover them.  Any other modal
   dialog is a bug, and should not be part of a solution to another bug.

 - It appears you cannot have a transient window for another transient
   window.  I think the only reason the filter dialog case is working in
   2.28 is because the "Choose Folder" dialog is made modal instead of
   transient, which itself is a bug.  And I haven't checked this but I
   bet the "Copy to Folder" and "Move to Folder" dialogs in 2.28 still
   exhibit this bug.

 - Since dialogs categorically suck, the ideal solution is to provide a
   way to choose a folder without popping up a dialog at all.  With Bonobo
   now gone, we can do this.

Based on how Apple Mail handles this, I recommend the following:

   1) Drop the capability to create a New folder while picking a target
      folder.  And kill the "Choose Folder" dialog altogether.

   2) Convert the "Copy to Folder" and "Move to Folder" menu items to
      submenus, and have the submenu reflect the folder tree:

       Message -> Copy to Folder -> On This Computer  (grayed out)
                                    Inbox
                                    Drafts
                                    Outbox
                                    Sent
                                    Templates
                                    ----------------
                                    My IMAP Account   (grayed out)
                                    Inbox
                                    Drafts
                                    Subfolder
                                      Nested Subfolder
                                    ...

      There's some logistics to work out here.  For example, virtual
      folders (including Junk and Trash) would be absent.  We'd also
      have to figure out how to deal with accounts that do and don't
      let you combine messages and subfolders in the same folder.
                                    
   3) For the filter rule window and similar cases, convert the
      <click here to select a folder> button to a combo box that shows
      the folder hierarchy similar to the menu above.

EMFolderTreeModel implements the GtkTreeModel interface and already has all the information we need, so I think we can easily build GtkAction and GtkComboBox subclasses around it.
Comment 6 Matěj Cepl 2009-09-23 21:43:41 UTC
Created attachment 143840 [details]
screenshot of the Thunderbird Nostalgy plugin

Just to record alternative keyboard-friendly method of working with MANY folders.
Comment 7 Matthew Barnes 2009-09-28 19:19:21 UTC
Untagging this as a regression since the problem exists in 2.28 but is masked by improper use of modality.  This is a usability issue.
Comment 8 Milan Crha 2010-05-03 20:32:13 UTC
(In reply to comment #7)
> Untagging this as a regression since the problem exists in 2.28 but is masked
> by improper use of modality.  This is a usability issue.

I do not think it's wrong, or "improper use of modality". See in what level of window hierarchy you are in Message filters, it is "Message Filters"->"Edit rule"->"Choose folder window"->"New folder window". It's deep enough to believe user is really willing to enter the new folder name first, then playing with mails in the main window. Also, setting transient as it is now and having the "New folder" shown modal means you are still able to move with background windows.

With respect of comment #5, it doesn't sound bad, but only for small folder hierarchies. When you've more than 5 accounts and in each of them say 30 folders, it would be quite hard to find it in the menu, not talking about an inability of showing it "nicely" as a submenu with deep folder hierarchy.

Talking about this, I know I was fixing it already, maybe it explains it worked fine in 2.27.91 for Akhil.
Comment 9 Milan Crha 2010-05-03 20:35:28 UTC
Created attachment 160223 [details] [review]
evo patch

for evolution;

I'm committing this. Feel free to disagree, but it's too late for stable (2.30) anyway, and I believe there will not be enough time to make this behave as you suggested in 2.31. But I can be wrong. Do not hesitate to reopen.
Comment 10 Milan Crha 2010-05-03 20:39:04 UTC
Created commit 0a06578 in evo master (2.31.2+)
Created commit 4993d81 in evo gnome-2-30 (2.30.2+)
Comment 11 Matthew Barnes 2010-06-06 15:40:21 UTC
*** Bug 620745 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 12 Matthew Barnes 2010-06-15 09:51:31 UTC
*** Bug 621621 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 13 Akhil Laddha 2010-06-24 06:52:40 UTC
*** Bug 622560 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 14 Matthew Barnes 2010-10-31 13:08:53 UTC
*** Bug 633607 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***