279935 - The message filters list does not update automatically when adding a new message filter

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(MailNews Core :: Filters, defect)

Description

[Prefix]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

When creating a message filter using the context menu (clicking on the context
menu icon to the right of (e.g) the "To" address in an email header, the message
filter list is not refreshed automatically.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. I create a new message filter for Local Folders by clicking the context menu
icon in an email (e.g. the icon next to the "To" address in a received email header.
2. The Message Filter opens and I set my criteria - good so far.
3. I press OK. Also appears to be good. I choose Tools>Message Filters... to
open the Message Filters Dialog.
4. The message filter I just created does not appear.
5. I select another display filter from the drop-down list and then reselect
Local Folders as the display filter.
6. ONLY AFTER I reselect the Local Folders display filter does the message
filter I just created appear in the list.

Actual Results:  
AFTER I reslected the Local Folders display filter, the created message filter
appears in the message filter list.

Expected Results:  
When a message filter is created and you press OK to finish creating the message
filter, the message filter list should be refreshed automatically - so that when
you next open the Message Filter dialog, you should see the message filter you
created in the list - assuming that the display filter (from the drop-down list)
is showing the appropriate list of filters.

Comment 1

[Joseph Conner]

I have had trouble getting filters to stay in the list.  I select a message, and
create a filter from the message.  I then test the new filter by running it. 
Yes, it moves the message successfully.  But sometimes when I next launch
Thunderbird, the filter has disappeared.

WinXP Pro, Thunderbird 1.0 (20041206)

[e-mail]

Comment 2

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Steps to Reproduce:
> 1. I create a new message filter for Local Folders by clicking the context
> menu icon in an email

This email message is *in* a Local Folder, right?

> 3. I press OK. Also appears to be good. I choose Tools>Message Filters... to
> open the Message Filters Dialog.
> 4. The message filter I just created does not appear.

Which account is shown in the Message Filters dialog when it opens?  I am seeing 
confusing behavior here; per bug 283476, the Local Folders account is *not* 
selected in the dropdown, if a message in the Local Folders has been selected.


> Expected Results:  
> When a message filter is created and you press OK to finish creating the
> message filter, the message filter list should be refreshed automatically

I get these expected results with TB 1.0, Win2K.  In fact, if you keep the 
Message Filters window open, and use Create Filter From Message on a message in 
the same account, once you click OK the list dynamically refreshes.

Reporter (Prefix) -- does this description match what you see with TB 1.0 / Mac?
If so, can you reproduce bug 283476 on the Mac?


(In reply to comment #1)
> I have had trouble getting filters to stay in the list.  I select a message,
> and create a filter from the message.  I then test the new filter by running
> it. 
> Yes, it moves the message successfully.  But sometimes when I next launch
> Thunderbird, the filter has disappeared.

This is bug 277189.

Comment 3

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Reporter (Prefix) -- please respond to comment 2.

Comment 4

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

[Reporter responded in the wrong place : bug 283476 comment 2]

=====
> This email message is *in* a Local Folder, right?

Yes, the email message is in a Local Folder.

> Which account is shown in the Message Filters dialog when it opens?  I am
> seeing confusing behavior here; per bug 283476, the Local Folders account is
> *not* selected in the dropdown, if a message in the Local Folders has been
> selected.

When I view the Message Filters dialog, I first (always) select Local Folders
from the pop-up list . When I reopen the Message Filters dialog, I would expect
the Local Folders selection to be highlighted and the Local Folders filters to
be displayed in the Filters list. In other words, I would expect the selected
option from the pop-up list to "stick" and to display the appropriate message
filters based on the last option selected.

> Reporter (Prefix) -- does this description match what you see with
> TB 1.0 / Mac? If so, can you reproduce bug 283476 on the Mac?

I do not currently have the software to test whether this bug is reproduceable
using TB on the Mac. I DO however, have an iMac G5 and am using Thunderbird 1.1
on Mac OS X 10.3.8. The refresh DOES occur correctly, but I still need to
reselect "Local Folders" from the pop-up list to view the list of folders every
time I open the Message Filters dialog. 
=====

So which program/OS combination(s) is showing the problem of no refresh 
occurring?

Comment 5

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Frankie, can you make any sense of this one?

Comment 6

[Frankie]

Tbird 1.03, OSX 10.4, cannot replicate this bug.

I create a filter as described, then open Message Filters dialog. My primary
account is shown, filter is not there. I switch to Local Folders, filter is
there. No reselect needed.

Comment 7

[Prefix]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Tbird 1.03, OSX 10.4, cannot replicate this bug.
> 
> I create a filter as described, then open Message Filters dialog. My primary
> account is shown, filter is not there. I switch to Local Folders, filter is
> there. No reselect needed.

The issue is why do we need to always switch to Local Folders - the Message
Filters dialog should open to show the filters list of account/Local Folders
last selected from the pop-up list.

Comment 8

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #7)
> In other words, I would expect the selected
> option from the pop-up list to "stick" and to display the appropriate message
> filters based on the last option selected.

I see; you're correct, it doesn't do that.  See my new comment at bug 283476.


Going back to your original report:
(In reply to comment #0)
> Steps to Reproduce:
> 1. I create a new message filter for Local Folders by clicking the context
> menu icon in an email (e.g. the icon next to the "To" address in a received
> email header.
> 2. The Message Filter opens and I set my criteria - good so far.
> 3. I press OK. Also appears to be good. I choose Tools>Message Filters... to
> open the Message Filters Dialog.

There has been a change (in trunk builds) in the behavior between step 2 and 
step 3 -- the program (Moz 1.8b2 and TB1.0+0428) now automatically opens the 
Message Filters dialog after you've created a filter using Create Filter From 
Message.

This is good because you will see the filter that you just created, and you will 
also immediately see which account that filter was created for.  (It's also good 
because it fixes another problem where the filter could be inadvertantly 
discarded -- if the Message Filters dialog is not explicitly closed before 
exiting, any new filters are not saved to disk: bug 237470.)

However, I now see there is an additional behavior that's probably not desired. 
If you use the "Create Filter From Message" from the main window's Message menu, 
the filter is created for the account to which the message was sent -- which I 
think is what you wanted in the first place.

BUT:  If you create the filter for the message as described -- right-click on a 
header, select "Create Filter From Message" (which *actually* behaves like 
"Create Filter from *Address*") -- then the filter is create for the account in 
which that message resides.  In this case, it's created in Local Folders.

I think *that* is the problem you originally encountered -- the list didn't 
"update automatically" because, altho you were looking at the "right" list, the 
filter was created elsewhere.  Does this sound right to you?

While filters defined for Local Folders are not useless, they are not run 
automatically as mail arrives, even if the mail is automatically deferred into 
the Local Folders Inbox.  Since you can't just move a filter from one account to 
another (e.g. from Local Folders to the actual mail account), this is a problem.

Comment 9

[AlfonsName]

Hi,

If i add a filter by context menu when viewinga message, the filter gets created
and can be applied but gets lost when i restart the tb.
The filter doesn't get lost if i open the menu extra -> filter dialog after
creating the filter before closing tb.
Therefore it appears to me that this is a bug of tb, forgetting to automatically
save the filters table.
I'm using current tb (1.0.6 build 20050716) on windows with german localisation.

Hope this helps, 
  azf

Comment 10

[David :Bienvenu]

this is fixed in trunk and 1.8 branch builds - so the fix will be in 1.5

Comment 11

[Frankie]

if it's fixed, it should be labeled fixed.

Comment 12

[Frankie]

as per comment #10

Comment 13

[David :Bienvenu]

no, it should either be marked wfm, or a dup of the bug that was fixed

Comment 14

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #10)
> this is fixed in trunk and 1.8 branch builds - so the fix will be in 1.5

David, could you be a little more descriptive about what exactly was fixed?
The only thing I know of that has changed, with regards to the analysis in 
comment 8, is that Local Folders filters are now run on incoming mail going to 
the global inbox -- is that what you meant?

Especially for novices, having to look in two different places for filters that 
apply to their incoming mail is a source of confusion, but to fix this the whole 
filter-definition UI needs to be overhauled.



(In reply to comment #9)
> If i add a filter by context menu when viewinga message, the filter gets
> created and can be applied but gets lost when i restart the tb.

Alfonse, your comment is nothing but noise.  Please read bugs carefully before 
posting comments.  The symptom you describe is mentioned in comment 8, which 
also points to the bug that's explicitly about that problem -- not THIS bug, 
but bug 237470.

Comment 15

[David :Bienvenu]

the bug described in #9 was fixed at some point - the problem of defining a
filter for local folders and then looking at filters for another server and not
seeing your filter is not one that we can do much about.

Comment 16

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #15)
> the bug described in #9 was fixed at some point

That comment is not about this bug; it's bug 277189, which was neither dependent 
on nor blocking this bug.


> the problem of defining a filter for local folders and then looking at
> filters for another server and not seeing your filter is not one that we
> can do much about.

There are two issues here.  One is:    Message | Create Filter From Message    
will create the filter under the account to which that message was sent; but
right-click on a message header and   Create Filter From Message   will create 
the filter under the account where the message resides (i.e. Local Folders).
The user can't control that.   Now that the Message Filters window opens 
automatically after CFfM, it's a little less confusing.

Another is: if the Message Filters window is already open, using CFfM (in either 
context) to create a message doesn't update the account selector to show the 
account that owns the new filter.