View source for Field Decorators and Validation

<pre>
This document describes design ideas pursued during the development of Eclipse 3.2 that were never fully implemented.
</pre>

[https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=237372 Bug 237372] tracks this issue.


This document describes Use Cases and Solutions for field decorators of (1) Content Assist, (2) Required Fields, and (3) Errors/Warnings.  Each of these indicators are shown in various UI contexts, such as Dialog Boxes, Wizards, and Forms, in order to describe the design issues and apply a consistent solution where possible.  The main techniques that are described in the Blueprint Specifications and Solutions refer to icon/text treatment (size and position) at the Control-level, as well as messages at the UI-level. <br />


<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%">
    <tr>
      <th width="10%">Indicator (cue)</th>
      <td>
      <ul>
        <li>Content Assist</li>
        <li>Required Input</li>
        <li>Errors & Warnings</li>
      </ul>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th width="10%">UI Controls or Area</th>
      <td>
      <ul>
        <li>Text Field</li>
        <li>Combo Box</li>
        <li>Drop-Down List Box</li>
        <li>List box</li>
        <li>Table</li>
        <li>Table Cell</li>
        <li>Header</li>
        <li>Body</li>
        <li>Tab</li>
      </ul>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <th width="10%">UI Context</th>
      <td>
      <ul>
        <li>Dialog Boxes</li>
        <li>Wizards</li>
        <li>Forms</li>
      </ul>
      </td>
    </tr>
  
</table>



== Content Assist ==


'''''Figure 1.1''''' Find/Replace Dialog - Combo Box<br/>
Lightbulb overlay is middle-aligned vertically with the combo box and text labels, when the field has focus
<br/>

[[Image:FindReplace2.gif]]


'''''Figure 1.2''''' JDT New Java Interface Dialog - List Cell Editor<br/>
Lightbulb overlay is placed to the left of the list box, when the list item has focus.<br/>

[[Image:NewJavaInterface2.gif]]


'''''Figure 1.3''''' JDT Change Method Signature Dialog - Table Cell Editor<br/>
Lightbulb overlay is placed to the left of the table, when the row has focus.<br/>

[[Image:ChangeMethod.gif]]

== Required Input ==


'''''Figure 2.1''''' Save As Dialog: Parent folder and file name fields - Text Field<br/>
Asterisk is placed after the text label and colon.

[[Image:SaveAs.gif]]


'''''Figure 2.2''''' Save As Dialog: Input error - Text Field, Header (banner)<br/>
Asterisk is placed after the text label and colon; Error icon with message replaces the description in the top banner info area;   Large error icon provides association with the text field indicator inside the dialog page.  

[[Image:SaveAsError.gif]]


'''''Figure 2.3''''' PDE Form - Text Field<br/>
Asterisk is placed after the text label and colon; Lightbulb overlay is middle-aligned vertically with the combo box and text labels.

[[Image:PDE.gif]]

== Error and Warning Messages ==


'''''Figure 3.1''''' Native Library Folder Configuration Dialog: Input error - Text field, Body of dialog<br/>
Warning indicator is placed to the left of the text field.

[[Image:NativeLibrary.gif]]


'''''Figure 3.2''''' New Package Wizard - Text Field, Header<br/>
Error icon with message replaces the description in the top banner info area; Large error icon provides association with the text field indicator inside the dialog page.

[[Image:NewPackage.gif]]


'''''Figure 3.3''''' New Class Wizard - Text Field, Header<br/>
Asterisk is placed after the text label and colon; Content assist icon is placed to the left of text field; indicator inside the dialog page.  Warning icon with message replaces the description in the top banner info area; Large error icon provides association with the text field 

[[Image:NewClass.gif]] [[Image:NewClassB.gif]]

== Blueprint Specifications ==
Note: Fields (and the dialog space surrounding the field) are not to grow/shrink due to presence/absence of the decorator, so it is the responsibility of the dialog designer to allocate space for it.

[[Image:BlueprintSpecifications.gif]]

[[Category:UI Guidelines]]