Feature Request (Project Monitor): Clear All Errors

[Paul P.]

Hello,

Not sure if this is the correct place to submit feature requests for Project Monitor - if not, kindly share the correct place so I can submit there.

I regularly use Project Monitor (TSVN 1.10) to track 20-25 repos, some of which are behind a VPN or which experience occasional downtime. If the server is down while Project Monitor is checking for updates, Project Monitor displays a connection error on each item. Clearly this is the intended behavior.

The problem comes when the connection is re-established. In order for checks/updates to resume on a given repo, the error must be individually cleared. This is time-consuming to do with several repos being monitored, and requires manual intervention.

I propose some possible solutions for this use case:

1. Add a "Clear all errors" button.
2. Add an option to auto-clear the error during the next scheduled update, so the monitoring thread can check for updates if the server is available again.

-------
Regards,
Paul P.

[Stefan Hett]

On 5/28/2018 11:07 PM, Paul P. via TortoiseSVN wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Not sure if this is the correct place to submit feature requests for
> Project Monitor - if not, kindly share the correct place so I can
> submit there.
>
> I regularly use Project Monitor (TSVN 1.10) to track 20-25 repos, some
> of which are behind a VPN or which experience occasional downtime. If
> the server is down while Project Monitor is checking for updates,
> Project Monitor displays a connection error on each item. Clearly this
> is the intended behavior.
>
> The problem comes when the connection is re-established. In order for
> checks/updates to resume on a given repo, the error must be
> individually cleared. This is time-consuming to do with several repos
> being monitored, and requires manual intervention.

FYI, the issue also occurs for all projects, if you put your machine to
sleep and "boot" it afterwards.

>
> I propose some possible solutions for this use case:
>
> 1. Add a "Clear all errors" button.

That already exist. Shift-click the "Mark all as read" button to clear
the errors.
Obviously that functionality is not too obvious to find. Maybe an
alternative like a button on the the project page for projects which
have an error (aka: clear error / clear all errors) and/or an entry in
the context-menu when right-clicking one of the entries with an error
might be worthwhile adding?

> 2. Add an option to auto-clear the error during the next scheduled
> update, so the monitoring thread can check for updates if the server
> is available again.

> [...]

--
Regards,
Stefan Hett, Developer/Administrator

[Paul Paquette]

Hi Stefan,

Thank you for the quick reply. I am on mobile - please excuse any typos in my response. 

> 1. Add a "Clear all errors" button.
That already exist. Shift-click the "Mark all as read" button to clear
the errors.
Obviously that functionality is not too obvious to find. Maybe an
alternative like a button on the the project page for projects which
have an error (aka: clear error / clear all errors) and/or an entry in
the context-menu when right-clicking one of the entries with an error
might be worthwhile adding?

Either proposal would improve the current state. 

I had difficulty finding this functionality until you pointed it out. I went back to check - it's in the documentation... even so, the UI features should remain intuitive for the average user as much as possible.

> 2. Add an option to auto-clear the error during the next scheduled
> update, so the monitoring thread can check for updates if the server
> is available again.

After doing some additional searching, I understand each project is supposed to clear errors for scheduled update checks, unless the error was an authentication error. 

I am not sure what behavior I am really seeing, as I have not tried to isolate it. 

All I know is the symptom (projects not updating for long periods).

I will do some monitoring on my side and report back if my case is not already covered. 

----- 

Regards,

Paul P.

[Stefan]

On Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 1:59:56 PM UTC+2, Paul P. wrote:

Hi Stefan,

Thank you for the quick reply. I am on mobile - please excuse any typos in my response. 

> 1. Add a "Clear all errors" button.
That already exist. Shift-click the "Mark all as read" button to clear
the errors.
Obviously that functionality is not too obvious to find. Maybe an
alternative like a button on the the project page for projects which
have an error (aka: clear error / clear all errors) and/or an entry in
the context-menu when right-clicking one of the entries with an error
might be worthwhile adding?

Either proposal would improve the current state. 

I had difficulty finding this functionality until you pointed it out. I went back to check - it's in the documentation... even so, the UI features should remain intuitive for the average user as much as possible.

It's also in the tooltip of that button.

[Paul P.]

Hi Stefan,

You are right - it is in the tooltip. That does not make the behavior easier to find, though, because the two behaviors are not similar from a user's perspective.

Even though the behavior is documented, I would recommend putting this functionality onto its own button. This would make the functionality more obvious.

With the current state, it is unclear if any unread log messages will be marked as "read" if clearing all errors in this way.

Regarding my point #2, I seem to be having many issues where a disconnected VPN causes a connection error, which "lingers" until the error is manually cleared.

This means I cannot reliably use the project monitor to track changes in the "background" and notify me when changes occur (my desired use case).

Do you have any feedback or items you would like to see, in order to investigate this? It sounds more like a bug than a feature when described this way... 

[Stefan]

You are right - it is in the tooltip. That does not make the behavior easier to find, though, because the two behaviors are not similar from a user's perspective.

Even though the behavior is documented, I would recommend putting this functionality onto its own button. This would make the functionality more obvious.

With the current state, it is unclear if any unread log messages will be marked as "read" if clearing all errors in this way.

ok, I'll add a separate button for this.

 

Regarding my point #2, I seem to be having many issues where a disconnected VPN causes a connection error, which "lingers" until the error is manually cleared.

This means I cannot reliably use the project monitor to track changes in the "background" and notify me when changes occur (my desired use case).

Do you have any feedback or items you would like to see, in order to investigate this? It sounds more like a bug than a feature when described this way... 

The problem is that if you have connection problems, there's no way for TSVN to know that. The connection error could also be because the server rejects your connection attempt. To avoid adding load to an already stressed server, TSVN then stops monitoring that repo.

I'll see if I can find a way to re-monitor such repositories after a certain time again.

Stefan

 

[Álvaro González]

Regarding my point #2, I seem to be having many issues where a disconnected VPN causes a connection error, which "lingers" until the error is manually cleared.

This means I cannot reliably use the project monitor to track changes in the "background" and notify me when changes occur (my desired use case).

Do you have any feedback or items you would like to see, in order to investigate this? It sounds more like a bug than a feature when described this way... 

The problem is that if you have connection problems, there's no way for TSVN to know that. The connection error could also be because the server rejects your connection attempt. To avoid adding load to an already stressed server, TSVN then stops monitoring that repo.

I'll see if I can find a way to re-monitor such repositories after a certain time again.

I would appreciate that too. I just came here for help about the sleep and boot issue you mentioned earlier (though my computer is hibernated), that in my case specifically triggers a "host not found" error message.

I can also confirm that me lousy user didn't notice the "Mark all as read" tooltip. So far it's an acceptable workaround, as long as I remember to check Project Monitor window now and then.

[Sven Neuffer]

Same Problem here: 

Project Monitor is starting automatically when log in. 

If I'm working in Home Office, I log in before connect to SVN Server via VPN and get Error "Unable to connect to a repository at URL '...' Der angegebene Host ist unbekannt." 

I would like to see Errors getting cleared automatically when VPN Connection is active and next update is tried after configured Monitor intervall (the host is known at this time). 

I think the host unknown error automatically clear would be nice feature for all users.