148545 - Right-clicking a column header should list available columns instead of using context menu for an item

Status: NEW

(Core :: XUL, defect)

Description

[David Tenser [:djst]]

From David Tenser ([e-mail]):
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.0+)
Gecko/20020601
BuildID:    2002060108

When right-clicking the columns above the list of messages in mail/news, the
context menu for message appears (e.g. "Open Message In New Window" etc.).

Right-clicking the columns should have the same effect as left-clicking the
special "column button" at the right-side of the columns (e.g. the list of
available columns should appear). That is more intuitive and user-friendly.

Comment 1

[Kai Lahmann (is there, where MNG is)]

this is is enhancement

Comment 2

[David Tenser [:djst]]

I was not sure, since the Severity:Minor category describes as "Minor loss of
function", which this is in a way. Anyone expecting to be able to change the
column will think that it's impossible if he/she right-clicks the columns (which
is usually the place where you find the list of available columns). 

Choose Advanced view in Windows Explorer and right-click on those columns and
you see what I mean.

Comment 3

[R.K.Aa.]

related: bug 109905

Comment 4

[Jesse Ruderman]

*** Bug 109905 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5

[Jesse Ruderman]

-> Trees

Comment 6

[Chris Lyon]

*** Bug 102310 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[Scott MacGregor]

Step 1: let's turn off the context menus on tree column headers first

Step 2: add context menu to emulate column picker

Step 3: Possibly obsolete the tree column picker altogether

Comment 8

[Jan Varga [:janv]]

> Step 3: Possibly obsolete the tree column picker altogether

Nate, I think this would eliminate our layout problems in bug 212789

Comment 9

[Scott MacGregor]

Jan, is this something you are at all interested / have time to work on? I just
took it because hewitt's address is no longer real. But I could certainly use
help  with having a tree widget / toolkit person drive this.

Comment 10

[Jan Varga [:janv]]

Sure, but I'd like to land a patch for bug 221619 first.
Hope I'll be able to land it soon.

Comment 11

[David Tenser [:djst]]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Step 3: Possibly obsolete the tree column picker altogether

That's bug 163398.

Comment 12

[Dave]

Not sure if bug 433039 is going to be marked as a dupe of this one, but attachment 434251 [details] shows a comparison of the context menu in OE and (lack of one) in Thunderbird.

Comment 13

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Fixed for thunderbird by bug 433039. (Not really sure this is meant to be a core bug?)

Comment 14

[Colby Russell :crussell (no longer Mozilla-ing)]

(In reply to comment #13)
> Fixed for thunderbird by bug 433039. (Not really sure this is meant to be a
> core bug?)

I'd venture a guess and say that the treebody's context menu is irrelevant and looks out of place as the treecols context menu for almost every consumer.

Comment 15

[Rainer Bielefeld]

At least the effect is visible with  SeaMonkey German 2.39 final Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:42.0 from official download area)  Gecko/20100101  Firefox/42.0  Build 20151103191810  (Classic Theme) on German WIN7 64bit:

Rightclick on Sidebar Panel column headings
History: Nothing happens
Address Book: Wrong list item related context menu shown.

We have lots of similar bug reports concerning wrong column heading context menu, some have been fixed in between, some not ....

I think it's useless to keep this nearby 14 years old Bug open ad to hope for a fix. It might be useful as a meta bug for coordination of fixes for the different areas where the bug still does exist, but I think we need separate bugs for each appearance of this problem.