1764808 - (restore-tabular-AB-view) Restore horizontal, tabular list of AB contacts as a filter/search/view option in the new Address Book

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, defect)

Description

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(As discussed with Alex and Ryan)

For feature parity with the current (old) address book of Thunderbird 91, for 102 we want to restore a horizontal, tabular display of AB contacts (3-pane-view), which delivers a number of benefits (also for AB search results):

• View multiple contacts and their details at the same time
• Faster view on and access to details without having to navigate to each contact just to see its details (so if my search didn't find what I'm looking for, which I'll check from the details on display, I can add incrementally to my search or start over without hassles)
• Easy overview to visually browse and compare details like organization, roles, custom fields etc.
• Allow user to choose which colums (details) to show (all fields should be eligible).
• Allow for fast and easy sorting by column

Comment 1

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: Bug 1764808 - Allow TreeViewListbox to easily change row implementation. r=henry

Not a major change but it enables a change of implementation class simply by setting the rows attribute. Reconfiguring and redrawing the list, including maintaining the selection, happens automatically.

Depends on D145397

Comment 2

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: Bug 1764808 - Add a cards-above-details layout to about:addressbook. r=aleca

Depends on D145398

Comment 3

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: Bug 1764808 - Add a new Address Book list row implementation. r=aleca

Depends on D145399

Comment 4

[Henry Wilkes (they/them) [:henry-x]]

As far as I can tell, this display would require role="grid", which would extend the required work in bug 1752532 for 102 a little bit. In particular, for such an element I'll need to manage headings and arrow navigation between columns. For this bug, the "rows" would need to be split into gridcells etc.

The first patch is fairly simple, but I'm not sure if you'll want to wait on bug 1752532 (set it as blocking) before finalising the next two WIP patches. I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to land something now, and correct it later. Or wait until I'm done so you can land something without having to make adjustments.

Comment 5

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/9b442f5d7a3e
Allow TreeViewListbox to easily change row implementation. r=henry

Comment 6

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/5c26a8cf0a11
Add a cards-above-details layout to about:addressbook. r=aleca
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/6c2b6733806c
Add a new Address Book list row implementation. r=aleca

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/4c6432394735
follow-up - Add complete fluent string names in comments. rs=me DONTBUILD

Comment 8

[clochrua]

I have not found a general "New Address Book" bug and this seems the most appropriate place to log a couple of issues.

In general, the new tabular view is approaching the same functionality as the old addrss book, with some exceptions. (Note: not being able to easily swicth between old and new makes my validation difficult - TB101 with -allow-downgrade and TB102 into the same profile is how I'm currently doing the validation - suggestions and I do understand the reasons behind this but!!)

1. In the tabular view, only the first character of each Organization entry is displayed, except if there are multiple words in the Organization entry, in which case the whole entry is displayed.
   Note that searching on a particular value of Orgnization sebsets the list displayed - seems to be working correctly.

2. The "Department" entry can be displayed and searched in the tabular form, but there is no display field in the individual contact for adding/editing/deleting a contact's "Deprtment" entry.

And a minor issue, there is no option to resize the panels, making editing the individual contact difficult.

Comment 9

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to clochrua from comment #8)

I have not found a general "New Address Book" bug and this seems the most appropriate place to log a couple of issues.

Thanks clochrua. Well, there's Bug 1705276 alias tb-new-addrbook.

In general, the new tabular view is approaching the same functionality as the old address book, with some exceptions.

Yep.

1. In the tabular view, only the first character of each Organization entry is displayed, except if there are multiple words in the Organization entry, in which case the whole entry is displayed.

Fixed in Bug 1776625.

2. The "Department" entry can be displayed and searched in the tabular form, but there is no display field in the individual contact for adding/editing/deleting a contact's "Department" entry.

Bug 1777780.

And a minor issue, there is no option to resize the panels, making editing the individual contact difficult.

Bug 1713876.
See also: Bug 1770852.