Custom extensions to context menu of messages from custom validation

[Hydrogen]

We are happy users of the custom validation engine feature. We use the linked output message format so that the user can click the message and be brought to the appropriate place in the XML source file. Nice.

However, we would like to give the user more options. Here is what I envision:

Let a linked output message add context menu items (selected by "right clicking") to custom actions. The actions may be internal to Oxygen (e.g. insert some code, activate a plugin or code template) or external (link to a web page or start a process). Each message should be able to add more than one context menu item.

An alternative: Make parts of the message clickable and linked to custom actions.

Some potential uses:
- Link to a web page that describes the message in more detail and suggests actions
- Activate a plugin that corrects the error with or without user input
- Insert a custom processing instruction that instructs the validation engine to suppress this particular message in this particular element (or document).
- Submit an e-mail with the message and relevant code piece to a support department.

[adrian]

Hi,

Are you using the Text mode or the Author mode in Oxygen (Document > Edit Mode > ...)?

Currently it's not possible to customize the contextual actions from the results panel (validation results/errors, find results, etc).
However, for the Author mode it is possible to customize the contextual actions from the editor itself.

I've submitted a request on our issue tracking tool to allow the customization of the results panel actions through the Oxygen API. I've also mentioned your use case. This will be analyzed and an API solution will be implemented in a future version of Oxygen.

Regards,
Adrian

[Hydrogen]

Thank you!

We are almost exclusively using the text mode. We have been able to create plugins that are accessible from a sub menu of the context menu in the editor. This particular request however is for the result pane as you mentioned.

Looking forward to future versions. Keep up the good work!

[Radu]

Hi,

- Link to a web page that describes the message in more detail and suggests actions

Related to this topic:

http://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/ug-oxygen/ ... ngine.html

In the short term, I think we could add another field like AdditionalInfoURL: so you could return from the engine something like:

Code: Select all

Type:F

SystemID: file://c:/path/to/test.xml

Line: 15

Column: 10

AdditionalInfoURL: http://host/path/to/documentation.html#errorcode

Description: message content.

Then when the results view shows the problem, it will have a little book icon on which the user will be able to click in order to open the Web Browser with the additional information URL.
Would this be useful to you?

Regards,
Radu

[Hydrogen]

Hi Radu,

Yes, that is a useful extension that we could benefit from.

Your suggestion does not preclude a more general solution later on. I was already thinking (to myself) that a format for context menu extensions might look something like this:

Code: Select all

AddMenuItem: "Explain message msg999",URL:"http:somewhere"

AddMenuItem: "Disable msg999 for current element", CodeTemplate:"dis"

AddmenuTiem: "Fix problem", Plugin:"magicCode"

There are many more ways to skin the cat of course.

Thank you for the reply and consideration of my suggestion!

[Radu]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions.
I will integrate the quick fix for specifying an AdditionalInfoURL in time for Oxygen 14.2 (in a couple of months).
We'll look into adding some way for specifying contextual menu actions for the results view in a future version.

Regards,
Radu

[Hydrogen]

Thank you,

Would it be hard to allow External Tools to use the Linked Output Message format similar to External Validation Engines?

Kudos to you for reflecting on customer input.

[Radu]

Hi,

I'll also add this as an improvement request. Could you elaborate on the use case?

Regards,
Radu

[Hydrogen]

Could you elaborate on the use case?

Currently we invoke a batch process as an external tool to process the XML file we are working on. Informative and error messages are displayed in the output pane.

If we could format these messages the same way as for external validation engines we might have the following benefits (in order of value):
- Linking the message to the relevant line in the XML source file. Will save some head scratching.
- Benefit from future improvements like AdditionalInfoURL and a common message documentation infrastructure. Other possible future improvements.
- Have a common appearance including color coded severity levels