IdeaJam(tm) feed for Nathan T. Freeman

Notes Client / Core/Frameworks (Incl. sidebar, rich text editor): Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:06:10 +0000

Author: Nathan T. Freeman
Tags: Client Ctrl+Break Interface
Idea:

Make a STOP button next to the Open button that does exactly what Ctrl+Break does. Right now, that's just the super-secret keystroke for power users only.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, there IS a Stop button in the toolbar today. But it's not useful, because when your client is in a wait state, such as when running a long agent process, you CAN'T CLICK ON IT.

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:21:35 +0000

Author: Theo Heselmans
Comment: Make it visible only if the designer is installed/running ?

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:28:49 +0000

Author: Harkpabst Meliantrop
Comment: Well, if there has to be a stop button, it'd better works like Ctrl+Break.

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:12:56 +0000

Author: Matt White
Comment: Couldn't agree more, with my MBP where I don't have a Break key, I have to get up a soft keyboard to break out of agents etc. Yes Please :-)

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:10:21 +0000

Author: Jess Stratton
Comment: Good idea... even us power users have trouble fumbling with the CTRL+break combo on a lappy, especially when things go awry and you're in "whoops" mode. :-)

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:32:12 +0000

Author: John Head
Comment: only if this is tied to a preference or ini parameter and is default off. Last thing we need is people clicking that just because it is there

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:28:51 +0000

Author: Nathan T. Freeman
Comment: @5 - Theo, the thing that made me think about this was overhearing my boss tell our financial controller that she could stop a hung reply message by hitting Ctrl+Break. I think it has excellent end-user applications.

The only reason I'd want to policy-control it per John's suggestion is because so few Notes apps have graceful handling of a Ctrl+Break event today. But this would just make us all write better code.

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:05:22 +0000

Author: Keil Wilson
Comment: The thought that the end users can easily ctrl-break scares the hell out of me. I'm thinking about an LS action button I've written that updates thousands of documents while the user waits (they are all so patient, you know). The reality, though, is that it doesn't take a ctrl-break like action to kill a script like that. Bad wireless connectivity, a server outage, a crash of the user's machine could all create the same problem, and my code ought to handle it. Unfortunately, it probably doesn't. While it might increase the likelihood of a script stopping before successful completion, a stop button certainly wouldn't be the sole cause.

So, Nathan, you've given one scenario where this may be useful to the users. What are some others? I'm trying to understand the full benefit of this for the users given the potential trade-off that our old or less-"graceful" code might see more early terminations and/or problems.

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:38:25 +0000

Author: Jess Stratton
Comment: It sounds like a perfect marriage of this idea and the suggestions that follow is to have it be a Notes client context-plugin that installs when the Designer client is installed.

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:20:59 +0000

Author: Ben Poole
Comment: AMEN! And Matt, which soft keyboard do you use on your Mac? I've installed on in XP in VMware to no avail...

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:39:14 +0000

Author: Jess Stratton
Comment: Whoops, #5 already suggested that. Theo, I wholeheartedly agree with you! :-)

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:54:42 +0000

Author: Jess Stratton
Comment: Thanks Bruce! Better late than never, right? Like I said, lately, if I managed to get dressed I consider it a productive day. I'm coding and admining with an infant glued to my hip. So anything that makes life easier, and will allow me to get something done quicker is a BIG PROMOTE from me. :-)

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:18:54 +0000

Author: Bruce Elgort
Comment: Jess is an idea jam newbie as of today. Welcome aboard Jess!

re: Make a STOP button

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:41:24 +0000

Author: Matt White
Comment: @8 - I just use the keyboard that comes with Windows... Start --> All Programs --> Accessories --> Accessibility --> On Screen Keyboard, it offers enough functionality to be able to send a Ctrl-Break to Notes.

re: Make a STOP button

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:43:32 +0000

Author: Bill Malchisky
Comment: The Ctrl+Break is something I train my clients' end-users and well, unless they write it down and are reminded...it's a loss cause. Many are thankful for the tip, though. In the end, a Stop sign with "Stop" inside would be great...just to the right of the Open button and to the left of the thumbnail button. Perfect placement.

re: Make a STOP button

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 04:17:58 +0000

Author: Gregg Eldred
Comment: Like many of us have noted, this would be huge for the end-users.

re: Make a STOP button

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:36:07 +0000

Author: Ninke Westra
Comment: a stop button that actually works would be nice yes ;-)

re: Make a STOP button

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:14:33 +0000

Author: Slawek Rogulski
Comment: With the way that multi-threading has been implemented in the client having a button may just not work as it will be locked like the rest of the UI. Keyboard on the other hand is on a different interrupt. Still I think it may be worth exposing this function to regular users through a button.

re: Make a STOP button

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:05:19 +0000

Author: Paul Hobson
Comment: @Matt (4) I'm in the same position. 'Break' is probably a banned word @ Cupertino :)

re: Make a STOP button

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:37:55 +0000

Author: Gareth Howell
Comment: Oh, yes. Particularly for us Mac users