Toad World® Forums

UI Changes

#1

We had a comment from Tom on the UI changes. I was wondering if others had any
input?

The following changes were made:

  1. Large grouping buttons of 'Undestand
    , ‘Query’, ‘Report’ and ‘Automate’ were removed.
  2. Hiding windows per connections was removed.
  3. Hiding windows per group was removed.
  4. Launch window added.

Do you like each of these changes? Hate them? Or don’t really care one way or
the other?

(And while we are on the topic, let me know if there are any other UI items that
you would like to see changed.)

Debbie

#2

I don’t miss the grouping buttons but the majority of new users I’ve worked with
find the Hiding windows options very useful: especially when new to the tool.
It’s consistent with the tool’s easy-to-use theme by simplifying the screen real
estate.

I find the Hide by connections useful when using multiple windows with several
active connections. Since it’s an easy-to-find option to turn off/on, I’d
recommend keeping that.

Is there an option to turn off the launch window? I may adapt to it over time
but for now I’m not a fan.

Thanks!

#3

Thanks for the input. You can turn off the launch window by closing it. It should prompt you to ask if you want to have it displayed the next time you open TDA. Just respond, ‘No’. Otherwise, on the Environment | Interface option, uncheck the ‘Option to Enable Launch Window at startup’.

Debbie

#4

I can see where having all the windows visible is useful if you only have 3 or 4
connections/editors open. I actually took advantage of that today.
But for the most part, I typically have several editors open and it becomes
confusing, so having the ability to turn the feature on/off is good.

The large buttons, Query, Automate, etc… I used to use them all the time. It
was an easy way to switch between the database viewer and editors. Especially
now since you have to hunt through the tabs to find the viewer. I typically
always have a viewer open. (Incidentally, I had a feature enhancement request
way back in 2.1 where I wanted to be able to select and copy the index names
from the viewer to paste into query hints in editors. You have to write down the
index name if you want to use it in code.)

What would be helpful are three things:

  1. make the scroll buttons scroll through the tabs faster.
  2. create a page scroll for the tabs
  3. display the color codes of the editors in the scroll dropdown.

Another feature I thought of, ability to ‘pin’ tabs so they don’t scroll when
scrolling other tabs. (Actually, what I need is a quick way of switching to the
viewer. So if I could pin that tab, it would be easy to switch to it.)

But the grand-daddy enhancement for real estate would be the ability to detach
tabs, snippits, navigation manager etc… and drag them to a second or third
screen. That would be nirvana.

Speaking of the color codes. I don’t know how other people use them, but I don’t
use them to “Categorize” connections, rather I use them to identify individual
connections to easily identify editor tabs.

#5

Great ideas! I captured then in CR84,256.

P.S. We implemented the copy and paste of Oracle index name from Viewer tab. Should be in latest Beta.

Debbie

#6

Hi Debbie,

I just opened the latest beta version (3.0.0.739), and I’m not seeing the
changes you describe below. I still have the 4 large grouping buttons, and my
connections still only display for the current connection. If I’m missing
something, please let me know.

That said, though, I like both the group buttons and the display tabs for
connection only option. If the group buttons went away, I’d adapt, but the
tabs by connection would be sorely missed. It’s especially handy when
working in both prod and dev regions, and when I’ve got a number of
connections open (which is pretty often).

One UI request I had in the past, should the tabs by connection feature be kept,
is to maintain tab order and current tab when switching connections.
Currently, you can rearrange tab order, but if you switch to another connection,
and the switch back, the reordering is lost, and you always start at the first
tab.

Also, it would be nice if, in the command panel, the box that shows the executed
script was resizable. As it is,you can see about 2 1/2 lines of code. And,
don’t know if this is possible, but it’d also be great if the executed
script showed the variable substitutions, so if I run a script using
variables, I can see what values were used.

Matt

Matt

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 8:44 PM, dpeabody2003 wrote:

We had a comment from Tom on the UI changes. I was wondering if others had
any input?

The following changes were made:

1) Large grouping buttons of 'Undestand
, 'Query', 'Report' and 'Automate' were removed.
2) Hiding windows per connections was removed.
3) Hiding windows per group was removed.
4) Launch window added.

Do you like each of these changes? Hate them? Or don't really care one
way or the other?

(And while we are on the topic, let me know if there are any other UI items
that you would like to see changed.)

Debbie
#7

Hi Matt,

In the beta that is posted, the new layout was a choice. You can check it out by going to the configuration wizard and choosing the new layout. Or you can rename your data directory and it will display by default when you do not have any prior settings. Check it out and let me how it is after you used it for awhile.

I remember the tab ordering request. Shawn, worked on that but I need to see if he was able to complete it. (I think it turned out to be more difficult than we thought.)

 I like your idea on the sizable command panel and entered CR84,317 for that.

Thanks for you input.

Debbie
newlayout1.png

#8

[ Attachment(s) from Debbie Peabody included below]

Tom,

I have been thinking more about your comments.

Right now you can take any tool window, such as the navigation manager,
snippets, etc and drag outside the app and to another window. It will retain the
location after shutdown and relocate there on next startup. Do you mean you want
the document windows to do this also? Or do you have issues with the current
dockable windows?

Also, another way to identify what connection a tab is associated to is to use
the “Show connections in document tabs”. This will include the
connect data in the tab. This takes up a bit more real estate but you
don’t have to color code all of your connections. See attached screenshot
for option.

Debbie