List of bugs in gContactSync-0.3.0a1pre1

[PeterLairo]

I posted the issues in but think they would be better here:

I just installed gContactSync-0.3.0a1pre1.xpi, created a Google contact "group" for each of my Thunderbird address books, and, in gContactSync, linked each of my Thunderbird address books to the respective Google contact "group". e.g.:

Address Book   Google Account
-----------------------------
Newsletters    Me@Google.com | Groups and Contacts to Sync:
                             |  [ Newsletters ]
                             | Direction:
                             |  [ Write-only  ]

1. The first thing that happened was that suddenly all my Thunderbird address books were *empty*! (fortunately, I had made a backup)

2. Also, gContactSync created a Thunderbird address book ("AB") called "Google Contacts" that was synced with Google's "My Contacts". The "Google Contacts" AB had "Lists" named after all my Thunderbird ABs. Why? I already have those as ABs in Thunderbird. This is just needlessly highly confusing. Additionally, the "My Contacts" in Google has zero entries, even though the Thunderbird "Google Contacts" AB has all my contacts in it. Again: confusing and needless.

3. The error log had one error (no biggie), but opening the log opens it in a window without any search function (and no other function either), so searching the long log for "error" is impossible. Why no just open it in the default text editor?

4. The "Remove Settings" action is remembered even if I Cancel out of the dialog.

5. I think the "New Address Book and Delete Address Book buttons shouls be removed. These functions should be used from the actual address book, they clutter the UI, and ae confusing (am I deleting the Thunderbird AB or the Google AB?).

6. I also think the "Reset All Synced ABs" and "Remove Settings" buttons should be removed. They are unnecessary clutter and confusing. In the extremely rare cases this might be needed, the user can already manually select account="None" for each AB.

7. I have no idea what the drop-downs "All groups and contacts" and "All contacts but no groups" (better: "Only Contacts"?) means. Probably a result of Google's confusing AB structure.

8. The drop-down list of the Google groups should be sorted alphabetically.

9. For the same reason as above, the "Save Changes"button should be removed. This should be handled by the "OK" button. the settings would have to be remembered until the user presses OK or CANCEL.

10. The first time you open your Thunderbird address book, gContactSync asks for the "User Name" and then promptly complains when I enter "FirstnameLastname" instead of my Google e-mail address (FirstnameLastname@googlemail.com). Why not simply rename the prompt to "Google E-Mail Address:" or do it like Windows 7's log-in prompt: gray text ("enter your Google account e-mail address") plus a blinking cursor. The prompt text disappears as soon as you start typing. Elegant.

The net result is that I now have empty Thunderbird address books; I have a new "Google Contacts" AB that I don't need nor want that contains Lists named after my now empty address books; and I don't know how to sync my Thunderbird "Lists" (or if it's even possible). I'm confused. Am I overlooking something obvious here?

Here is a suggested clearer and cleaner UI:

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Synchronization Settings                                [_][ ][X]|
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Thunderbird AB      | Direction | Google Account | Google Groups |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Address Book 1      |   <-->    | Account x      | Group 1       |
| Address Book 2      |    -->    | Account x      | Group 2       |
| Address Book 3      |   <--     | Account x      | Group 3       |
| Address Book 4      |  No Sync  | Account x      | Group 4       |
| Personal AB         |  No Sync  | Account x      | All Contacts  |
| Collected Addresses |  No Sync  | Account x      | Group 4       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [Manage Google Accounts...]                    [ OK ] [ Cancel ] |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+

Alternatively:

| ...                                                              |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [Add/Remove Google Accounts...]                [ OK ] [ Cancel ] |  <-- "Add/Remove"
+------------------------------------------------------------------+

| ...                                                              |
| Collected Addresses |  No Sync  | Account x      | Group 4       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Manage Google Accounts:                                          |  <-- Within same dialog
|  +---------------------------+                                   |
|  | Account x               /\|    [Add an Account...      ]      |
|  | Account y               |||    [Edit Selected Account  ]      |
|  |                         \/|    [Remove Selected Account]      |
|  +---------------------------+                                   |
|                                                [ OK ] [ Cancel ] |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+

Drop-down selections:

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Thunderbird AB      | Direction | Google Account | Google Groups |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Address Book 1      |[  <--> \/]| Account x      | Group 1       |
                       |  <-->   |
                       |   -->   |
                       |  <--    |
                       |  No Sync|
                       +---------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Thunderbird AB      | Direction | Google Account | Google Groups |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Address Book 1      |   <--> \/ | [Account x \/] | Group 1       |
                                    |Account y   |
                                    |Account z   |
                                    +------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Thunderbird AB      | Direction | Google Account | Google Groups |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Address Book 1      |   <--> \/ |  Account x \/  | [Group 1 \/]  |
                                                     |Group 1   |
                                                     |Group 2   |
                                                     |Group 3   |
                                                     +----------+

Note: The cells in the "Direction" column and in the two "Google..." columns would be drop-down selectors to put the functions "closer" to where the user is. This would dramatically reduce clutter.

Note: even the "Refresh" button could be eliminated if the remote data were automatically retrieved when the dialog opens and when a new account is added from within the dialog.

Note: The "Manage Google Accounts" button would open a new dialog to add/remove Google accounts. This keeps the sync dialog cleaner. Alternatively, the add/remove features could be added to the bottom of the existing dialog.

Despite all these issues, I still think gContactSync is great for a 0.3
version. :-)

[Josh Geenen]

1. The first thing that happened was that suddenly all my Thunderbird address books were *empty*! (fortunately, I had made a backup)

That won't happen in the next release.  Previously, the accounts dialog 'reset' the address book whenever changes were saved.

From now on the AB is reset if all the following conditions are met.  It is in a method that can be overridden if necessary (com.gContactSync.Accounts.needsReset), the suggestion is logged, and there is a confirm/explanatory dialog.

• The username was not previously blank and was not just removed
• The new username is NOT "None"
• The AB was synchronized at some point
• AND at least one of the following is true:
  
  • The username has changed.
  • The group(s) to sync has changed.

. Also, gContactSync created a Thunderbird address book ("AB") called "Google Contacts" that was synced with Google's "My Contacts". The "Google Contacts" AB had "Lists" named after all my Thunderbird ABs. Why? I already have those as ABs in Thunderbird. This is just needlessly highly confusing. Additionally, the "My Contacts" in Google has zero entries, even though the Thunderbird "Google Contacts" AB has all my contacts in it. Again: confusing and needless.

That was probably done during the initial setup after you logged into your first account if you used a new profile.
Are you sure it was only synchronized with "My Contacts"?  Lists are never added (or at least shouldn't ever be added) to an address book that synchronizes with a group.

4. The "Remove Settings" action is remembered even if I Cancel out of the dialog.

I originally had the Accounts dialog setup to be a preferences dialog which means there is a cancel button in Windows (not sure about Mac OS).  However, due to some backwards compatibility issues elements in the Accounts dialog cannot be directly mapped to preferences so I replaced the preference dialog with a normal window that only has a Close button.

5. I think the "New Address Book and Delete Address Book buttons shouls be removed. These functions should be used from the actual address book, they clutter the UI, and ae confusing (am I deleting the Thunderbird AB or the Google AB?).

I agree with removing the Delete button and I'm considering removing the new AB button as well.

6. I also think the "Reset All Synced ABs" and "Remove Settings" buttons should be removed. They are unnecessary clutter and confusing. In the extremely rare cases this might be needed, the user can already manually select account="None" for each AB.

The Reset All Synced ABs button is mostly used for debugging, and might be necessary as long as I support TB 2 since it is difficult to tell when a mailing list has broken before TB 3.

I do agree with removing the "Remove Settings" button, so it has been removed since the user can just check "Temporarily disable synchronization with this address book" or select "None" instead.

7. I have no idea what the drop-downs "All groups and contacts" and "All contacts but no groups" (better: "Only Contacts"?) means. Probably a result of Google's confusing AB structure.

I changed "All contacts but no groups" to "Only contacts (no groups)".  All groups and contacts means that the AB is synced with all of your contacts and your groups are synchronized with mailing lists.

8. The drop-down list of the Google groups should be sorted alphabetically.

I agree (see Bug 22260, but it is not a high priority yet.

9. For the same reason as above, the "Save Changes"button should be removed. This should be handled by the "OK" button. the settings would have to be remembered until the user presses OK or CANCEL.

See the response to #4.

10. The first time you open your Thunderbird address book, gContactSync asks for the "User Name" and then promptly complains when I enter "FirstnameLastname" instead of my Google e-mail address (FirstnameLastname@googlemail.com). Why not simply rename the prompt to "Google E-Mail Address:" or do it like Windows 7's log-in prompt: gray text ("enter your Google account e-mail address") plus a blinking cursor. The prompt text disappears as soon as you start typing. Elegant.

I use the prompt username/password dialog and cannot modify the way it works or looks other than the title and description (where it mentions using your full e-mail address).

In the long term I probably will create a login form similar to the one you described (url=https://www.mozdev.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=22261]see Bug 22261[/url].

Here is a suggested clearer and cleaner UI:

That UI does look pretty good, but I'm trying to design it with 0.4 in mind and there are/will be too many options to fit horizontally in a reasonably-sized dialog

Note: even the "Refresh" button could be eliminated if the remote data were automatically retrieved when the dialog opens and when a new account is added from within the dialog.

The Refresh button is mostly used for the Address Books or in case someone is manually editing preferences instead of registering another AB listener and some preference listeners.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!