[Boost-testing] Re: What's missing in the summary

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-06-02 11:16:45

Aleksey Gurtovoy <agurtovoy_at_[hidden]> writes:

> David Abrahams writes:
>> When I go to the summary, one of the first things I want to know is
>> whether any of the libraries I'm responsible for are regressing.  But
>> I can't see all the red squares and the list of libraries at the same
>> time.  I'd like to have a 2-D table that's just got a library name in
>> each box and a color to indicate its overall health.  
>
> Would it work equally well for you if we highlight the library link in
> the left frame according to its overall status? 

That would be a big help certainly, but then:

1. I can't see all the libraries at once

2. the next click still gets me a view where I can't see all the
   failing platforms at once

>> Then I'd like to be able to click through to a summary just for
>> that library (The current library summary has the same problem:
>> many of the red squares can be off the screen), and again I'd like
>> to have a 2-D table of compilers/platforms with a color to indicate
>> the overall health of the library on that compiler/platform.
>
> Rene suggested to reflect the overall toolset status in the table
> header/footer. Would that work for you?

I don't understand what that suggestion means, nor which table we're
talking about (I missed the original suggestion, so may need more
detail).

> I still maintain that most of the usability issues along the above
> lines will be solved by introducing what we call "Regressions View":
> basically, a "Release View" with all-green rows/columns filtered out.

That might help a lot, but I fear it will still push some important
information off the screen.  If library A is failing everywhere, for
example, I won't be able to see what I need to know about library B.

>> Only after clicking through the red squares in _that_ table should I
>> see the results of individual tests.
>>
>> Or... Just give me a table that shows me what's amiss:
>>
>>   Iterators:  12 regressions, 14 new warnings since release 1.32.0:
>>      gcc-2.95-3: test1, test2, test3
>>      msvc-8.0: test7, test9
>>      ...
>>
>>   Graph: 3 regressions since release 1.32.0
>>
>>   Python:     245 regressions since release 1.32.0:
>>      gcc-2.95-3: test1, test2, test3
>>      msvc-8.0: test7, test9
>>
>> That seems like an improvement actually, and probably simpler to
>> generate. 
>
> That's basically how the old issues page looked like. As a release
> manager, I found it only of a moderate usefulness, but it definitely
> wouldn't hurt to bring it back to live as long as it doesn't take too
> long to generate. As Doug said in another reply, he is looking into
> it.

Thanks for your generous attention

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com