Re: [Logicmail-devel] Development Version

[Derek K. <dko...@lo...>]

On Monday 29 June 2009 4:33:52 pm you wrote:
> > > 7) The user interface could stand a few improvements. One suggestion
> >
> The problem I have is that I have sub-folders, and I'm reduced to using the
> menu button instead of clicking on the folder to open it.

I did some investigation, and this is very much a Storm-specific issue.  To be 
more specific, I originally wrote LogicMail against the 4.1 API, which only 
supported thumbwheel devices.  When I started on 2.0, I implemented click-ball 
support in a way that was still backwards-compatible with the 4.1 API, using a 
bit of a kludge in how I override onMenu() in the BaseScreen class.

This workaround no longer functions correctly on the Storm (4.6).  My solution 
will be to fix how I handle navigation clicks by correctly overriding 
navigationClick() instead, which works fine on the Storm, and exists in 4.2 
onward.  (and LM 2.0 won't support anything older than 4.2.1 anyways, so this 
is now a non-issue)

I'll still need to do more Storm-simulator testing, because I might also be 
hooking to navigationUnclick() in some places now, and that doesn't trigger as 
reliably on the Storm as it does on click-ball devices.

> > > Another improvement would be to have icons for deleting, replying,
> The Storm mail program has a toolbar at the bottom of the screen when
> you're reading a message. There are about 4, reply, delete, move, and close
> (I think).

This would definitely have to be a Storm-specific UI mode.  I currently don't 
have any multi-OS-target support built into my source tree, and am still 
debating between the many different ways to accomplish it.  However, issues 
like this make it all the more important to actually have a few variants of 
the UI.  (I also know that 4.6, which my Bold runs, has some home screen hooks 
I'd like to use that are finally in the public API, for example.)

> > > It would be nice if you could make some of the buttons bigger on the
> > > dialogs. Examples would be the delete confirmation. If you could make
> I would have to say that should not be a real high priority then.
Its amazing just how many UI quirks appear on the Storm that are a complete 
non-issue on the rest of the traditional BB devices.  Its almost like you have 
to design a completely custom Storm-specific UI just to have a clean and usable 
app.  I wonder what RIM's future Storm plans are, and how future devices will 
work.  (I really wish they had a Wi-Fi capable Storm out there so I could play 
with something other than the simulator, since I really don't want to move my 
SIM out of my Bold just for tinkering)

> > > 8) The "Move" function doesn't work right. I can't move things to a
> I can't select the folder. Attempting to select the folder
> expands/unexpands it.
See my comment near the top of the message.  I think any/all TreeField widgets 
in the app are currently affected by the exact same issue, but hopefully it 
shouldn't be too hard to fix in a BB OS 4.2 compatible way.

> > > 9) Attachments aren't handled. With the Blackberry mail client, I can
> That's fine. 99% of my attachments are PDFs and Word documents.
Which reminds me that I need to implement some stub support for all the major 
MIME types so the app will correctly let you download/save such attachments.  
(and then, on-demand attachment downloading is coming up really soon on my to-
do list)

> > > If I pull the current code down from Subversion and compile it, is
> Maybe I'll try downloading the source and taking a look at it. I'm a pretty
> decent Java programmer.
If you merge in the subscribed-folder bits as implemented in the 1.1 branch, 
it'll take a little hand-tweaking to make everything line up in the diff tools.  
(personally, I've become partial to BeyondCompare, even if it costs money)  
The real tricks will just be working through the use cases of where to put the 
option, and how to react to it being changed.  (which goes back to many 
possible configuration-change use cases, and what should/shouldn't trigger a 
refresh of the known/loaded folder tree)

Going forward, if you'd like to become a contributor, I'd certainly welcome 
that.  One thing you're definitely reminding me to do is get serious about 
multi-OS support, so the Storm UI can be better.  And if I head in that 
direction, I really need to get back on track with my attempt at refactoring 
the UI to a model-view-presenter approach, which I never really did to more 
than the MailHomeScreen.

-- 
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Derek Konigsberg
dko...@lo...
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