542065 - Give user a button to take them to the UI to turn off SMTP secure auth on failure

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Description

[David :Bienvenu]

Right now, if the smtp server prefs are set to use secure auth, but secure auth doesn't work, or isn't advertised, we put up a message telling the user to go into the smtp server settings and uncheck use secure auth. We should have a button on this dialog that takes them directly to that UI.

Comment 1

[David :Bienvenu]

We should do the same for the user name and password error message.

Comment 2

[rsx11m]

Technically, comment #1 is probably a dupe of bug 524868... ;-)

Guiding the user to the respective UI was one aspect of that bug to make the settings more easily reachable (case #1 discussed there), but there is also
the issue of trusted vs. untrusted networks having different authentication requirements, forcing the user to switch that setting all the time (case #2). Where would you see this covered? In either of bug 534158 or bug 522633?

Comment 3

[David :Bienvenu]

bug 534158 looks like it matches that issue.

Comment 4

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

We wouldn't hold for this if it were the last bug standing, but we REALLY want it.

Comment 5

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

Added this to my list: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:UX/Priorities/3.1

I'm wondering if it's possible to turn off the option in the dialog itself instead of sending people somewhere else to hunt for the option.  Though helping them find the location would be a good step forward.

Comment 6

[David :Bienvenu]

it's going to get a bit more complicated when the user has to choose their authentication method, but it's certainly possible to set prefs as the result of a button on this dialog.

Comment 7

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

Attachment: screenshot of the dialog

Just so I understand what we're talking about.  It's this dialog that we would need to get the user to, correct?

And we need them to uncheck "[x] Use secure authentication"...

I'm not exactly sure how a dialog like this would work, we could try offering to fix the connection via a default button.

e.g.
+---------------------------------------------------+
| We'd detected an error in your Outgoing (SMTP)    |
| email configuration.  The server connection does  |
| not allow for "Secure authentication" in          |
| passwords.                                        |
|                                                   |
| ( Edit Settings... )  ( Fix Connection Settings ) |
|                                                   |
+---------------------------------------------------+

This doesn't feel quite right but I don't think I fully understand the issues right now.

My goal was to offer people to open up the settings editor for changing things manually while defaulting to a "Fix the Issue" button.

Comment 8

[Roland Tanglao needinfo please :rolandtanglao, :mohnkuchen, :adobo, :sinigang, :roland]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Created an attachment (id=430685) [details]
> screenshot of the dialog
> 
> Just so I understand what we're talking about.  It's this dialog that we would
> need to get the user to, correct?
> 
> And we need them to uncheck "[x] Use secure authentication"...
> 
> I'm not exactly sure how a dialog like this would work, we could try offering
> to fix the connection via a default button.
> 
> e.g.
> +---------------------------------------------------+
> | We'd detected an error in your Outgoing (SMTP)    |
> | email configuration.  The server connection does  |
> | not allow for "Secure authentication" in          |
> | passwords.                                        |
> |                                                   |
> | ( Edit Settings... )  ( Fix Connection Settings ) |
> |                                                   |
> +---------------------------------------------------+
> 
> This doesn't feel quite right but I don't think I fully understand the issues
> right now.
> 
> My goal was to offer people to open up the settings editor for changing things
> manually while defaulting to a "Fix the Issue" button.

I agree with Bryan: I think this example dialog is not quite right but it's a lot closer to what we want.
To refresh everybody's error here's the currently unhelpful dialogue we put up in 3.0.x (see http://gsfn.us/t/nvmd for screenshots from Peter James of the manual workaround):
An error occurred sending mail: Unable to authenticate to SMTP server YOUR_SMTPSERVER.com. It does not support authentication (SMTP-AUTH) but you have chosen to use authentication. Uncheck 'Use name and password' for that server or contact your service provider.

Comment 10

[rsx11m]

> (comment #8) It does not support authentication (SMTP-AUTH) but you
> have chosen to use authentication. Uncheck 'Use name and password' for that
> server or contact your service provider.

It appears that this case has been eliminated in bug 534158 by removing the trigger for NS_ERROR_SMTP_AUTH_NOT_SUPPORTED entirely. Secure authentication
set but not supported remains the only issue to be covered here in this case.