[Under consideration] Improving App-Manager: download/Install basket [Archive] - maemo.org

sph

2009-12-27, 09:55

I've just created a poll for App. Manager improvements.

Please vote and add new solutions here:
http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager_experience (deleted)
http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002

mivoligo

2009-12-27, 10:03

I would wait for new Application Manager and see what's in it. http://blogs.igalia.com/vjaquez/2009/12/14/shinning-new-ham/

noobmonkey

2009-12-27, 10:11

ahhhh good post!!! - that shows that the ovi store can't open until that is done too i think :)

sph

2009-12-27, 11:04

Wow, so a big update is coming, good to know!

tissot

2009-12-27, 11:18

I would wait for new Application Manager and see what's in it. http://blogs.igalia.com/vjaquez/2009/12/14/shinning-new-ham/

Ah that's great i had no idea new one was coming.

torpedo48

2009-12-27, 11:30

The list of enhancements is pretty interesting... I like the "live search support", I was waiting for it.

DaSilva

2009-12-27, 11:54

Together with http://tabletui.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/2010-ui-countdown-9-%E2%80%93-extras-assistant/ there should be no more wishes, right? ;-)

asidana

2009-12-27, 11:55

how it will be distributed? as an update?

Bec

2010-01-11, 16:45

Would it be possible to only select the apps we want to install in app manager and then, click "install all" when we've finished browsing?

Here's the link to the "enhancement" in bugzilla so futher firmwares may contain this fix by default: https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=601
And a link to branistorm, suggestions welcome: http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002/

http://www.maemo-guru.com/2010/01/sending-the-nokia-n900-home/
5. Installing apps is unbelievably frustrating. You would think anything would be an improvement over the Symbian method of installing apps, but Maemo is not, currently. For one, you can’t install more than one app at a time. On my Android-powered Eris (with Android v1.5), when I click to install an app, it does so in the background, so I can keep browsing. On the N900, not only does it require the full attention of the device, but after the install finishes, it dumps me back at the top of the list, so I have to flick my way all the way back to where I was. There’s also no way to browse the App…market? by recently added apps. This means, on the device, I have no way of knowing what has been added since I last went app shopping. It’s just really frustrating.

This is a rant from someone who hasn't touched symbian for a while now but still he/she is right!
An option for more comfortable installs should be added.

Cheers

b666m

2010-01-11, 16:53

good idea ;)

the same thing would be great in the uninstall-window too :)
select all apps you want to uninstall and then perform the action with only one click.

chemist

2010-01-11, 17:13

a "mark to purge/[un,]install" field would be nice yes.
I think this thread belongs to "Applications", want it moved or does it need brainstorming? if brainstorming; please create a brainstorm item and read the links in my signature.

Bec

2010-01-11, 17:19

Maybe it should be moved to Maemo5 since it's something that should come by default in the app manager.

If you think it's possible to mod the app manager with an installable package, move it to applications.

chemist

2010-01-11, 17:51

Like to change it to "Improving App-Manager"? Maybe some others have further ideas.
Create a brainstorm item, please.

fatalsaint

2010-01-11, 18:09

I think someone needs to port a native "synaptic" over for the N900. That would solve this problem. How is synaptic in Easy Debian for touch operation?

Bec

2010-01-11, 18:46

Like to change it to "Improving App-Manager"? Maybe some others have further ideas.
Create a brainstorm item, please.

"Improving App-Manager: download/Install basket" so everyone knows what the thread is about?
Please change it since the current tone is really not apropriate; "I didn't want it to sound like that".

Done, brainstorm link added: http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002/

qgil

2010-01-11, 20:06

Bec

2010-01-11, 20:45

Please add one or more solutions to the proposal, otherwise won't get out of the Sandbox. Also link from the Brainstorm proposal to this Talk thread. Thanks!

btw, your enhancement request is a duplicate of an old one, containing good technical detail inside:

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=601

Done.. partly... I don't really know what solution to add since I'm not a dev; I don't know how relevant a theoretical solution would be since it has no foundation in programing...

chrisp7

2010-01-11, 21:57

Good idea;)
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=40110

Bec

2010-01-11, 22:31

We should ask the mods to merge the threads ;)

chrisp7

2010-01-11, 23:11

lol mine is rubbish.

chemist

2010-01-12, 00:39

Done.. partly... I don't really know what solution to add since I'm not a dev; I don't know how relevant a theoretical solution would be since it has no foundation in programing...

you dont need to be a dev guy for doing this

add marking options and a "install marked" button to app manager
prevent marking while scrolling with synaptics like behaviour
and so on

please create proper solutions with the ideas from this thread

Bec

2010-01-12, 05:25

you dont need to be a dev guy for doing this

add marking options and a "install marked" button to app manager
prevent marking while scrolling with synaptics like behaviour
and so on

please create proper solutions with the ideas from this thread

Ok, added the way I imagine the process.

@chrisp7
the idea is still good, please cast your vote.

Thanks

chrisp7

2010-01-12, 19:30

Ok, added the way I imagine the process.

@chrisp7
the idea is still good, please cast your vote.

Thanks

Tis done :)

Tesno

2010-01-13, 05:00

Hope that someone adds repository names to alphabetical program list. That would make at least me to think twice before adding extras-dev apps to my device.

pycage

2010-01-13, 08:06

Hope that someone adds repository names to alphabetical program list. That would make at least me to think twice before adding extras-dev apps to my device.

Yes, would be helpful.
But solely having extras-devel enabled is dangerous, because dependencies for packages from extras or testing might get pulled from devel.
Or does the HAM take care about that, already? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Bec

2010-01-13, 16:32

ndi

2010-01-13, 18:20

Would an uninstall similar suggestion also go as a solution for same brainstorm or would it be better to create a new brainstorm?

Ideally, the app manager would have multiple selection for uninstall. Selecting one or more apps in the AM would give you the following output:

The following will be uninstalled:
Google Latitude Updater - 6 MB
Bounce - 15 M

Additionally, the following packages are no longer needed and will be uninstalled as well:
libqt4-network - 21 M

Total space freed: 42 M

Proceed? (Y/N)

This is basically a formatted version of what apt-get does when ran with -s.

mece

2010-01-13, 18:47

I added a solution.

It's rather similar to the first, but has a little more detail.

http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002/?solution=download_and_installation_queues

Details:
This solution might actually be the same as the first one with a little more detail, so I'll put it here anyway.

Since the actual installation process is cpu consuming and the download process can be time consuming I suggest a solution where you'd have a download queue and a separate (not necessarely visible) installation queue.

It would work like this. When you select an application for installation, that application would immidiately start downloading, and a button to "install all" would appear. That way you can continue to add applications to the queue while at the same time download the already selected stuff. After you're done you can click the install all button and let the installer hog the cpu for a while. If not all applications have been downloaded when install all is clicked, it can start installing the completed ones while downloading the rest.

I think this would really streamline the installation process, and minimize the wasted time.

The uninstall process would work in a similar way, but obviously would not start before the "uninstall selected" or whatever you'd label it.

Go vote for a solution so we can get this moving forward.

VRe

2010-01-14, 12:44

Check the "download basked" link in my signature too.
http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002/
https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=601

Vote it, since it will greatly improve user experience :)

I think it would be better to keep all Application Manager related ideas in one brainstorm than divide into multiple separate storms which do not separately gather as many votes as single storm would. Therefore I would suggest the author to invalidate the separate "download basket" brainstorm and concentrate on this.

Anyhow, if you would keep the separate brainstorm it should be re-edited as now one (of two) of the solutions is given as a problem. I think the issue what that brainstorm was supposed to be is "How to streamline the install process for multiple applications - now one has to select and apply install one by one and that is cumbersome for many applications - how this situation could be improved".

Bec

2010-01-14, 14:47

Since my brainstorm has already reached [under consideration] (http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002)status I will rename it to "Improving App. Manager" if you agree to move your solutions there.
It would speed up the process for you guys and allow direct voting for solutions instead of the entire project.

What do you say?

chemist

2010-01-14, 15:48

13 posts merged from "Improving App. Manager experience".
Give a call for the title change.
I moved my solution.

chrisp7

2010-01-14, 16:46

Solution added for another application manager issue - Notification of Application Installed.

Cernunnos

2010-01-15, 00:28

Closer to the Ubuntu app manager? Me likez

chrisp7

2010-01-15, 15:58

Closer to the Ubuntu app manager? Me likez

Closer to Android - thats the perfect solution imo.

chrisp7

2010-01-15, 17:29

I also thought perhaps this 'basket' idea could be slightly modified and extended to the 'update' section. A tickbox could be added next to each application, allowing multiple selection of application updates and an 'update all selected' box. This would work with the same basket/queuing solution (a la Android).

Elhana

2010-01-15, 18:03

Currently application manager spends some time refreshing repository info on slow connections every time it starts or when user press update option. In CLI you run "apt-get update" once and then other actions take much less time of you close application and open again or just want to update.

* Make automatic update an option.
* Make an app menu button - "update now" in case manual mode is set
* Ask user to update when application starts.

chrisp7

2010-01-16, 15:51

qgil

2010-01-17, 03:19

Like other brainstorms, http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/improving_app-manager-download-install_basket-002/ is starting to become just too vague, with very different ideas put at the same level.

Solution #4: "Application Installed" notification - this could be almost sold as a bug at http://bugs.maemo.org

Solution #7: Option to update repository data manually - isn't all this implemented already?

Solution #8: shortcut keys - it's having actually two ideas in one:

> Up and down keys should go... up and down.
Right.

> Typing a word should go to that position in the list. E.g. typing
> V will scroll down the applications that start with V.

Yes, and this one is already implemented in a recent internal release.

So what are we supposed to do with the brainstorm? It makes sense to split it in different proposals. There is one clear about being able to install/unistall/update groups of applications. There is another one about the listings: info and sorting.

Bec

2010-01-17, 08:42

You guys should consider the relevance of each proposal and the number of votes it has since users aren't tied to vote one proposal alone.

Solution #1 though should be prioritized since it's also reported as a bug/enhancement and has another 40 or more votes in bugzilla.

Solution #4 is good too since I always asked myself, why refresh the repos since I've done this 2 minutes ago - simply remove the installed apps from the list - If the user thinks something new has shown up he can refresh by himself.

I also liked Solution #5 but we actually have an app for that don't we? App watch? - something similar anyway.

For the rest... I suggest more votes, or separating them in another brainstorm, to start working on this one.

qgil

2010-01-17, 11:22

Nobody is tied to anything when it come to Brainstorm votes but all we have a common interest of efficiency. The topic of this thread reads "[Under consideration] Improving App-Manager: download/Install basket, which is a proposal much concrete than "Application manager - Improving user experience", even if still you could consider it vague.

The main point of the Brainstorm is to detect one problem and discuss the possible solutions. Like with bug reports, the more you stay on focus for a report the more chances you have of finding the right solutuon and implement it. We have a trend currently of converting brainstorm proposals in a kind of survey to see what people think about a very wide problem. This is useful to get a first grasp e.g. about what to improve the Application Manager but then it comes to a point where the lack of focus is a problem.

It's clear that a proposal is to be able to install/uninstall/update a selected group of apps at a time. This already conforms a good brainstorm proposal. If there are more proposals for other problems then I believe it's better to address them in different brainstorm proposals.

Bec

2010-01-17, 11:38

Well we (as in we the guys that had app manager ideas) asked to merge the initial brainstorms " Improving App-Manager: download/Install basket" with "Improving app-manager user experience" so that the users could express themselves with more ease on the app manager improvement options.

Our goal was avoiding the "oh, another appmanager thread, I already voted for other 3... what could this one possibly want more"

So the users can check a single brainstorm about app-man and choose what they think fits them best.

Proposal:
Let's summarize the solutions, make a TOP 3 and give the users a chance to see the others via a "see more link".
Brainstorms like calendar improvement that fail to have 3 top solutions (with more votes than the others) within a week should be somehow downgraded.

Sorry for the oftopic.

tousisd

2010-01-17, 20:04

nice idea!

Bec

2010-01-29, 20:52

Thanks.

Any progress anyone?

Flandry

2010-01-30, 18:08

I added a little cosmetic solution since i've already made and submitted a patch that fixes it.

Solution #12: Make the extended description less command-line like

Posted on 2010-01-30 18:03 UTC by David Falkayn.

Summary: This is a purely cosmetic change that is already implemented: it just needs to be included by the App Manager maintainers. It flows the extended description text to fill the window.

I made a very simple patch for App Manager a while ago that improves the "nicefy" function that prepares a package's extended description for display. This is what the user sees when they ask to see details about a package.

Currently, the text is fixed-width. If the package's extended description has lines that are too long, they will wrap to the next line and leave an ugly linebreak midway through the next line.

My patch flows the text so that it fills the window properly, looking more like a GUI should and less like a nasty UNIX CLI-cum-GUI wrapper.

Details here: Extended description panel doesn't flow text. (https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6305)

xomm

2010-01-31, 03:48

Is there any way to delete or edit a solution?

I added a solution a while back to implement wazd (Andrew Zhilin)'s extras-assistant, but it seems it's a 3rd party app.

If someone could do it, either edit, or delete and create a new solution:

Merge wazd's extras-assistant with the app-man itself.

Bec

2010-01-31, 07:51

Just tell me which one you want edited/merged :)

bachagabriel

2010-02-04, 18:04

epage

2010-02-04, 18:06

I proposed a solution to hide applications from the list...

Everytime I browse the app manager I run into applications I have already seen but do not want to install... I find it very useful to hide those applications so that we can browse applications faster.

Plz vote for this solution

In case you aren't tracking replies to your thread (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=510684#post510684)

I'm curious about the use case. What value do you gain by hiding applications? I can see one benefit being shorter lists. Why do shorter lists matter?

The benefit I could see to shorter lists is to make it easier to see what applications are new

I wonder if the Download Assistant is the type of thing you are looking for. Its still in development and not yet available in the Application Manager by default.

Review
http://danielwilms.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/download-assistant-for-extras-applications/

bachagabriel

2010-02-04, 21:23

I did track the reply to my thread but I did not find it useful. I thought I'd add a solution to this brainstorm so that it is added officially

In fact, I already tried this application but I want the feature to be available to all repositories in the official application manager.

Bec

2010-02-04, 21:37

This is also considered a bug and it's pretty old too.

epage

2010-02-04, 21:55

I did track the reply to my thread but I did not find it useful. I thought I'd add a solution to this brainstorm so that it is added officially.

You might not have found my alternate solution useful but I would have found your answers to my questions invaluable.

"Why" questions when people make requests are essential to help getting at the root issue. I doubt the root problem is "I don't want to see app X" (well, I guess it could if the app offends you). Looking at the root problem helps open up the field of possible solutions even if in the end you end up going with the exact same solution.

Now this can go too far and that depends on various peoples situations. For me, the GNOME folks seem to be going too far with their ideas for replacing tabs (http://live.gnome.org/Epiphany/FeatureDesign/EpiphanyRedux).

I don't mean this to be me taking issue with your idea. I'm just interested in seeing what other ideas can be generated.

In fact, I already tried this application but I want the feature to be available to all repositories in the official application manager

Joys of ambiguities introduced by text-only communication.

"the feature"? Does Download Assistant have the ability to hide applications? Are you referring to seeing new / updated applications?