547449 - New event / task creation dialogue should default to today's start and end dates if selected calendar date is in the past.

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Calendar :: Dialogs, defect)

Description

[Roadie-man]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.0) Gecko/20100115 SUSE/3.6.0-1.2 Firefox/3.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.0) Gecko/20100115 SUSE/3.6.0-1.2 Firefox/3.6

When creating a new event or task, the start and end dates default to the currently selected date in the calendar. This even happens if the selected date is in the past. This is bad usability as there is no point in defaulting to start and end dates in the past when creating a new event or task. The dates should default to today's date.



Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open TB / Lightning and set the calendar date to a date in the past.
2.Create an event or task.
3.
Actual Results:  
The default start and end dates default to the selected date from the past.

Expected Results:  
The start and end dates should default to today's date.

Comment 1

[Stefan Sitter [:ssitter]]

I disagree. Sunbird/Lightning should respect the date that was selected by me, no matter if it is in the past or future.

Comment 2

[Tom Phan]

Thank you for raising this software deficiency report.  I agree with the submitter that Lightning should default start and end dates to the system date (today's date).  Lightning's current behaviour is inefficient, frustrating, and untenable.

BTW, where are the business requirements and software specifications for the current behaviour published?  TIA.

Comment 3

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][☁️📆]]

I also think it makes more sense to use the currently selected date. If I want to create an event on a specific date, I usually click on this date then select new event. If todays date would be pre-selected, I'd have to do a further step.

Also, I doubt its the general case that you plan events for the current day, but rather for some days in advance?

Comment 4

[Tom Phan]

Attachment: Screen snapshot

WRT the attached screen snapshot, today is Feb. 21, I selected Mar. 26 on the mini calendar and clicked New Task.  Lightning shows Start and Due dates defaulting to Feb. 25 (presumably based on some prior action on my part).  This is just wrong.

Comment 5

[Tom Phan]

Suggested (simplified) use case:
1. The mini calendar in the Task tab should default to the system date, i.e. today.

2. If the user wishes to create a task for a different date, then the user has the option of selecting that date on the mini calendar.

3. When New Task is clicked, the date in the mini calendar is the default for Start and Due dates (as described by Philipp).

4. The user can override the default Start and Due dates as desired.

Comment 6

[Tom Phan]

Further testing reveals the Feb. 25 default stems from clicking on that date on the Calendar tab.

It appears the date on the Calendar tab dictates/influences the date on the Task tab.  What is the rationale for that?

Comment 7

[Roadie-man]

Stefan & Philipp. OK, I can see what you see makes some sense for the way you work. Perhaps the most logical way is to have it work in the following way.
If a date on the calendar is selected that is before today's date, i.e. in the past, then the start and end dates should default to today's date. If the date selected in the calendar is in the future then that date is used as the start and end dates. It makes no sense to default to a date in the past in my opinion.

As for setting events or tasks on the current day, for me that is quite common.

Tom, I can reproduce your observation. Whilst in the task tab, changing the date on the mini-month calendar doesn't have any effect on setting the date in the calendar or the default start and end dates when creating tasks or events. I think you should open a bug for that if it doesn't already exist.

Comment 8

[Stefan Sitter [:ssitter]]

Previously the current date was used for new tasks. This behavior was changed on user request with bug 411849 to use the selected date instead.

If I select a date in the past it should be used for new events too. This is useful for e.g. entering birthday events or keeping track of how you spend your time.

Comment 9

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][☁️📆]]

Also, changing the behavior for the past may not be intuitive for everyone, I think we should stay consistent here.

> It appears the date on the Calendar tab dictates/influences the date on the
> Task tab.  What is the rationale for that?

There is one date which is marked as the selected date, event creation uses this date. I agree its not very intuitive when in the task tab, but just taking the day from the minimonth may seem strange too. When in the calendar tab, why would you take the start/end dates from the minimonth, instead of from the selected day in the calendar view?

If you want to take the date from the minimonth in the task tab and the calendar view in the calendar tab, again this is not very consistent and can cause confusion.

We probably don't want an extra preference for this, we should rather find a sensible default. Adding preferences for each aspect of event creation would bloat the preferences dialog too much.

Comment 10

[Roadie-man]

(In reply to comment #9)
> Also, changing the behavior for the past may not be intuitive for everyone, I
> think we should stay consistent here.
I agree. Things need to be consistent to provide good usability. 

> There is one date which is marked as the selected date, event creation uses
> this date. I agree its not very intuitive when in the task tab, but just taking
> the day from the minimonth may seem strange too. When in the calendar tab, why
> would you take the start/end dates from the minimonth, instead of from the
> selected day in the calendar view?
> 
> If you want to take the date from the minimonth in the task tab and the
> calendar view in the calendar tab, again this is not very consistent and can
> cause confusion.
When in the calendar tab, clicking on a date in the minimonth sets the date in the calendar view. However when in the task tab clicking on the minimonth does not offer any functionality in that it doesn't set the selected date in the calendar tab nor does it set the date for the task tab (i.e. the tasks are not filtered according to the date selected in minimonth and the default start and end dates are not set).

I would say that clicking on the minimonth in the task tab should set the date on which tasks are manipulated (created, edited or filtered).  When viewing in the task tab one may not necessarily remember what date is set in your calendar view so having the date reference the date set in calendar view doesn't make sense. It would be logical to just select a date in the minimonth and then create your task based on that date.

Alternatively for arguably better consistency, you could have it so that setting a date in minimonth would set that date in both the calendar and task tabs irrespective of what tab is being viewed when clicking on the minimonth. Does that make sense?

> We probably don't want an extra preference for this, we should rather find a
> sensible default. Adding preferences for each aspect of event creation would
> bloat the preferences dialog too much.
Agreed.

Comment 11

[Tom Phan]

Why should the selection of a date on either tab influence the date on the other tab?  Has that been captured in the requirements document?

Events, aka meetings or appointments, are a different business process than tasks, yet Lightning is bent on intertwining them so tightly that inconsistencies abound; this bug report is evidence of that.  Unravel the Calendar and Task tabs and make them function independently by default; other calendar products do, and that's what you're being measured against.  If you are intent on introducing some co-dependence, then make that a configuration option.

Comment 12

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][☁️📆]]

(In reply to comment #11)
> Why should the selection of a date on either tab influence the date on the
> other tab?  Has that been captured in the requirements document?
There is no requirements document that states this, the reasoning for this is purely historical. I'm happy to change the behavior, but we need someone to do it, and a watertight concept. If this is the issue you'd like to report, I'd suggest we morph this bug to reflect that requirement. Any Objections?

Comment 13

[Roadie-man]

(In reply to comment #12)
> There is no requirements document that states this, the reasoning for this is
> purely historical. I'm happy to change the behavior, but we need someone to do
> it, and a watertight concept. If this is the issue you'd like to report, I'd
> suggest we morph this bug to reflect that requirement. Any Objections?

I have no objections - but to be clear the behaviour we are looking for is that the date selection in the calendar and task tabs are completely independent of each other.

I.e. when viewing the task tab, clicking on a date in the minimonth will use those dates as the default start and end dates of the task creation. It will not change or affect the calendar tab date selection.

Conversely when viewing the calendar tab, clicking on a date in the minimonth or on a date directly in the calendar pane will set that date in the calendar and will be used for the default start and end dates of the event creation. It will not change or affect the task tab dates.

Tom is that how you see it working too?

Comment 14

[Tom Phan]

(In reply to comment #13)
> (In reply to comment #12)
> > There is no requirements document that states this, the reasoning for this is
> > purely historical. I'm happy to change the behavior, but we need someone to do
> > it, and a watertight concept. If this is the issue you'd like to report, I'd
> > suggest we morph this bug to reflect that requirement. Any Objections?
> 
> I have no objections - but to be clear the behaviour we are looking for is that
> the date selection in the calendar and task tabs are completely independent of
> each other.

I concur with this requirement with emphasis on Completely Independent.

> I.e. when viewing the task tab, clicking on a date in the minimonth will use
> those dates as the default start and end dates of the task creation. It will
> not change or affect the calendar tab date selection.

I concur again.

> Conversely when viewing the calendar tab, clicking on a date in the minimonth
> or on a date directly in the calendar pane will set that date in the calendar
> and will be used for the default start and end dates of the event creation. It
> will not change or affect the task tab dates.

I concur again.
 
> Tom is that how you see it working too?

Yes.  Thank you for articulating the requirements perfectly.