IDEA 6.0 Beta coming: plea for a feedback

Hi All,

we're going to release IDEA 6.0 Beta soon and really need your feedback either
positive and negative.
Feel free to step up with any issues that bother you most in latest EAPs,
we'll consider fixing them as soon as it possible.
Anyway, this will not be a released version of any kind so if we won't
actually fix your favorite pet issue in Beta we still have plenty of time
to fix before it actually goes GA.

Thanks in advace

-


Maxim Shafirov
JetBrains, Inc
http://www.jetbrains.com
"Develop with pleasure!"


0
168 comments

I'm hoping you want the feedback as replies to this thread...

My pet peeve with the EAP (and it has been around for a good while) is
the way IDEA randomly loses its record of changes on a file, and then
subsequently calls to the vcs every time the file is opened to get the
diffs. It is detailed in:
http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEADEV-6690

Like Mark, I am also on a remote connection to the cvs server, and this
is a heck of a pain when it happens. To fix it I have to select
all/copy, rollback the file, and then paste in the updated content... if
at least IDEA did this - i.e. fixed its cache - it would be better, but
once the problem occurs on a file it seems to still exist every time the
file is opened.

Cheers,
N.

0

Hi,

I posted some issues concerning the UI builder. I think there has to be
done some more work (even if it is still very impressive).
At work I have started a very long list together with my colleague. I
think I will post it tomorrow ;)


Johannes Schneider


Maxim Shafirov (JetBrains) wrote:

Hi All,

we're going to release IDEA 6.0 Beta soon and really need your feedback
either positive and negative.
Feel free to step up with any issues that bother you most in latest
EAPs, we'll consider fixing them as soon as it possible.
Anyway, this will not be a released version of any kind so if we won't
actually fix your favorite pet issue in Beta we still have plenty of
time to fix before it actually goes GA.

Thanks in advace

------------------
Maxim Shafirov
JetBrains, Inc
http://www.jetbrains.com
"Develop with pleasure!"

0

Code coverage functionality and the new "Changes" toolwindow are way too difficult to find, to the point where you might as well not even bother to have them as far as a naive user is concerned.

The Plugins panel has actually gotten more difficult to use, less clear, and more visually jarring than it was. Since the old Plugins panel was no great shakes in the usability department, this is impressive.

There don't seem to be any examples or doc for the XML-based language support.

I've got about a dozen TeamServer/TeamServer-plugin gripes at about the same level of grumbliness, but I don't know if you want those here or in an equivalent thread on the TeamServer forum.

All that said, a damn fine release. Clear out the pending exceptions and profile the hell out of it, and you can be justly proud.

--Dave Griffith

0

There are many new tabs and more and more is coming. Some of them are of no
use to some people but there is no way to set up IDEA not to show them. I
wish there we an options to hide them all together - right now they are only
taking valuable space


"Maxim Shafirov (JetBrains)" <max@jetbrains.com> wrote in message
news:488e3f9b380ab8c87d802facba90@news.jetbrains.com...

Hi All,

>

we're going to release IDEA 6.0 Beta soon and really need your feedback
either



0

Settings|Appearance|Show toolwindow bars ?

-


Maxim Shafirov
JetBrains, Inc
http://www.jetbrains.com
"Develop with pleasure!"

There are many new tabs and more and more is coming. Some of them are
of no use to some people but there is no way to set up IDEA not to
show them. I wish there we an options to hide them all together -
right now they are only taking valuable space

"Maxim Shafirov (JetBrains)" <max@jetbrains.com> wrote in message
news:488e3f9b380ab8c87d802facba90@news.jetbrains.com...

>> Hi All,
>>
>> we're going to release IDEA 6.0 Beta soon and really need your
>> feedback either
>>


0

Hello Maxim,

I want the bar, but I would like to hide certain tool windows from it:
- Commander
- Changes - do not even know what it is and how to use it
- Palette what is it?
- UI Designed (have no idea why it is visible but cant get rid of it)
- Some people do not use IDE Talk why make them see those two windows?
....

Ability to specify standard order for tool windows would be nice too

Thanks

Alex

"Maxim Shafirov (JetBrains)" <max@jetbrains.com> wrote in message
news:488e3f9b3813f8c87d96493d4d40@news.jetbrains.com...

Settings|Appearance|Show toolwindow bars ?

>

------------------
Maxim Shafirov
JetBrains, Inc
http://www.jetbrains.com
"Develop with pleasure!"

>
>> There are many new tabs and more and more is coming. Some of them are
>> of no use to some people but there is no way to set up IDEA not to
>> show them. I wish there we an options to hide them all together -
>> right now they are only taking valuable space
>>
>> "Maxim Shafirov (JetBrains)" <max@jetbrains.com> wrote in message
>> news:488e3f9b380ab8c87d802facba90@news.jetbrains.com...
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> we're going to release IDEA 6.0 Beta soon and really need your
>>> feedback either
>>>
>
>




0

Yes,the losing changebars issue has been present for months now. It's very depressing. I didn't bitch about it because I assume that something this obvious would be quickly fixed!

0

Yeah, we've been told that the plugin panel is a WIP and will be revisited, so again, I'm assuming it'll become usable at some point ;)

I'd also like to bitch yet again about the error reporting when confronted with bad network conditions. I often hit 'submit error report' and am met with....nothing. IDEA just hangs because the site dealing with reports is down, but the proxy in front of it isn't, so effectively I can't cancel out now or do anything beyond a force kill.

0

My main gripe currently (as in 10 minutes ago) is the JSP code formatter still likes to completely trash some files now and them.

Just spent 40 mins or so tracking down some annoying struts related problem only to eventually trace it to IDEA having inserted newlines into some struts tags.

Admittedly the file had struts tags smeers disgustingly inside a javascript block and was showing all manner of errors inside IDEA, thou it runs fine.

One or two options here come to mind:

1) If idea sees the code fragment as having errors, or problems, DONT reformat it.

2) Allow files to be exluded from the reformat-on-commit process. Currently you can "reformat or not", not "reformat java", or "reformat everything except login.jsp"

0

These are my important issues.

Bouncing window - http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA-8299

Missing ant targets - http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA-2510 (critical for me)

Unable to move .form file - http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEADEV-7331

and this one that I just entered
Generated UI source is red - http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA-8431

0
Avatar
Glen Stampoultzis

I came into this EAP cycle a bit late so I got hit with a lot to take in. Frist the good:

The good:

1. GUI designer is looking great. I don't have need for one right now but that doesn't mean it's a worthless feature.
2. The code coverage tool is really useful. I already generate code coverage as part of my cruisecontrol build but having the results instantly available is great.
3. Extra javascript support is really helping me as I'm doing a lot of Javascript at the moment.
4. The CVS support has had some nice incremental improvements.

The bad:

1. Speed. I know it isn't optimized yet but please make a priority to get Idea as fast as humanly possible. Even the previous production release was too slow. The little pauses you get while idea does it's processing totally annoy.
2. Careful about over inspecting. I get big bars filled with errors that aren't actually problems with the Javascript support at the moment.
3. The project roots is a step backward in some ways. It has cleaned up some of the tabs but it just feels a bit alien. I think it's the tree structure on the left. It feels a bit arbitrary.
4. When you add jars to your project the add tree should indicate in some way the ones you've already added.
5. Too many configuration options. The fact that you have a search bar on your configuration options should serve as a sign that they need to be simplified. 80% of options most people will probably never need to tweak. Maybe these should be move under an advanced button or something like that.
6. Some plugins don't need to be enabled by default. I doubt the market for Google Web Toolkit is that large. Faces support no doubt is important for some people but for those of us that don't use it we shouldn't have the interface cluttered with faces stuff. Maybe on first install you could ask the user which features they're interested in.
7. More stuff should be implemented as plugins so we can disable the bits we don't need.
8. If you turn on coverage support it should also default to displaying the coverage marks in the sidebar.

0

I agree with other EAPers about lack of polish and poor user experience. It doesn't feel like the changes were made in the spirit of "Develop with pleasure." I'm speaking of the extra toolwindows, the IDETalk window popping up without being asked, plugin manager, and lots of little quirks such as how clicking an item in the Search autocompletion menu doesn't jump to that section. I think the new features could work more pleasantly and without extra UI. I think you should find some Eclipse or Visual Studio users who would spend some time using IDEA for a few days. I think it's an investment that would pay off hugely.

Performance is still the biggest issue for my team (project load, sync, etc). Actually, we probably would've been happier if 6.0 was focused entirely on bugfixes and performance improvements, and some API improvements. I'm sure you're working on performance for GA, though, so I won't say more about it.

0

Now for the positive, I like Changes view a lot. It simplifies a lot of the workflow for my team. The Language API improvements are exciting, it's a lot at once so it might take me a while to use a lot of the new stuff. I think the new Project Roots UI is much more useful and efficient.

0

I agree with nearly points posted here so far. Now since you're nearing feature-freeze, how about starting OpenAPI-doc and more examples of all the new fancy stuff we're supposed to use in our plugins :)

0

Maxim Shafirov (JetBrains) wrote:

we're going to release IDEA 6.0 Beta soon and really need your feedback
either positive and negative.


On the positive side, I wouldn't like to go back to 5.x after using
Demetra for a couple of months. I particularly like the functionality
provided by the Changes toolwindow.

Feel free to step up with any issues that bother you most in latest
EAPs, we'll consider fixing them as soon as it possible.


Please, please, please fix the long-standing
http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA-6704

Is there any reason this is still in Feedback rather than Development?

Progress dialogs that stay on top of all applications on all virtual
desktops are hugely inconvenient!

--
Mark Scott
mark@codebrewer.com

0

I'd say the functionnality is rich enough, although I don't like the fact that some very interesting plugins became commercial. Please, concentrate on the speed, 'cause that is and always has been the weakest point of IDEA.

0

Please fix this, I have submitted that request on 10 Feb, it's time to fix this too.
Thanks,
Dan

0

Negative:

Long pauses mid edit - not always when heap is under pressure.
Long file synchronisation after CVS commit - why?
'Find Class/File' popup (Ctrl-N) doesn't keep history of find strings.
Code coverage option hidden away.

Still get 'Cannot resolve symbol' error on 2nd link in JavaDoc comment, although it does resolve on Ctrl-Q and Ctrl-B :

Cannot resolve symbol 'AttributeContainer.ATTRIBUTE_VISIBLE_STATE'

Positive:

Almost everything else!

0

Hello Hani,

HS> I'd also like to bitch yet again about the error reporting when
HS> confronted with bad network conditions. I often hit 'submit error
HS> report' and am met with....nothing. IDEA just hangs because the site
HS> dealing with reports is down, but the proxy in front of it isn't, so
HS> effectively I can't cancel out now or do anything beyond a force
HS> kill.

This is fixed in 5561.

--
Dmitry Jemerov
Software Developer
http://www.jetbrains.com/
"Develop with Pleasure!"


0

Hello Hani,

HS> Yes,the losing changebars issue has been present for months now.
HS> It's very depressing. I didn't bitch about it because I assume that
HS> something this obvious would be quickly fixed!

Unfortunately finding specific steps to reproduce this particular issue is
not as obvious. We've made some fixes in 5561, but looks like it's not a
complete fix.

--
Dmitry Jemerov
Software Developer
http://www.jetbrains.com/
"Develop with Pleasure!"


0

Please, don't forget to update the JsIntentionPowerPack plug-in, 'cause the current one that comes with the distribution is not only old , but also fails to update.

0

Dmitry Jemerov wrote:

Hello Hani,

HS> I'd also like to bitch yet again about the error reporting when
HS> confronted with bad network conditions.

This is fixed in 5561.


Can selecting 'try again' be enhanced to put the original message text
back into the submission dialog please? Do you want a Jira issue
created for this?

--
Mark Scott
mark@codebrewer.com

0

Hello Mark,

>> HS> I'd also like to bitch yet again about the error reporting when
>> HS> confronted with bad network conditions.
>>
>> This is fixed in 5561.
>>
MS> Can selecting 'try again' be enhanced to put the original message
MS> text back into the submission dialog please? Do you want a Jira
MS> issue created for this?

There's one already: http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA-7211

--
Dmitry Jemerov
Software Developer
http://www.jetbrains.com/
"Develop with Pleasure!"


0
Avatar
Alberto Martinez

Please, Completion API.

0

For negatives:

  • New Project Root configurable (i guess it not so best usability as old one)

  • Can't turn off automatical error highlighting in ProjectView

  • New plugin manager is not so user freindly and usefull as previous

  • Performace


For positives:

  • New GUI designer

  • Changes view

  • Settings levels


Thanks!

0

+1

0

I'm not sure, but shouldn't it be written
{@link AttributeContainer#ATTRIBUTE_EDITABLE_STATE}
(a # rather than a . to separate the class and attribute/method)

0

Alexey Efimov wrote:

For negatives:

  • New Project Root configurable (i guess it not so best usability as old one)

  • Can't turn off automatical error highlighting in ProjectView

  • New plugin manager is not so user freindly and usefull as previous


Full Ack.

While the Classpath tab under Project Roots may be more "consistent" now and may
be slightly more obvious for an inexperienced user, it is a step backward for
those who got used the old system.
But even for new users it can be less than obvious in some edge-cases: The
JavaScript support seems to make use of module-dependencies, but why would a
user, to configure JavaScript dependencies, check the "Classpath" tab to add a
module dependency?

  • Performace


Well, I can't say I'm negatively impressed by the overall performance. For the
things I've been using the EAP so far it felt pretty much like 5.1.

For positives:

  • New GUI designer


Yep, although it needs serious testing and polishing. Copy/Paste and
Drag-and-drop sometimes don't work as expected and the designer likes to spit
out exceptions in all kinds of (non-reproducible) situations. I don't think it's
GA-ready yet.

  • Changes view


To be honest, for my usage-pattern, the old Commit Project dialog felt more
convenient. I haven't figured out (yet) which benefit I get from changelists.


Sascha

0

Hello Sascha,

SW> Yep, although it needs serious testing and polishing. Copy/Paste and
SW> Drag-and-drop sometimes don't work as expected

Any details?

Of course we plan to dedicate more time to the UI designer fix and polish,
but we really need feedback in order to succeed.

--
Dmitry Jemerov
Software Developer
http://www.jetbrains.com/
"Develop with Pleasure!"


0

Mark,

You would really help to nail down the problem if you create an issue
with the sample inside.

0

Please sign in to leave a comment.