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Improve UX for file selection in the Common tab#2817

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Improve UX for file selection in the Common tab#2817
SougandhS wants to merge 1 commit into
eclipse-platform:masterfrom
SougandhS:ImprShared

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@SougandhS

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Set focus to the shared location text field when the "Shared file" option is selected in the launch configuration dialog. This allows users to immediately enter or browse for the shared configuration location without requiring an additional click.

@SougandhS SougandhS changed the title Improve UX when selecting "Shared file" in Launch Config Dialog Improve UX for file selection in the Common tab Jul 18, 2026
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github-actions Bot commented Jul 18, 2026

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Test Results

    54 files  ±0      54 suites  ±0   56m 41s ⏱️ -28s
 4 687 tests ±0   4 665 ✅ ±0   22 💤 ±0  0 ❌ ±0 
11 955 runs  ±0  11 802 ✅ ±0  153 💤 ±0  0 ❌ ±0 

Results for commit 1f3e90c. ± Comparison against base commit acbe07b.

♻️ This comment has been updated with latest results.

@merks

merks commented Jul 18, 2026

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I don't think this can be quite right. The enable argument might be false and still you would call set focus. I also wonder how this makes sense when the common tab is not visible (is not the active tab) or what the impact of this is while using keyboard navigation to navigate all the launch configurations...

@SougandhS

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I don't think this can be quite right. The enable argument might be false and still you would call set focus

weird, I remember I added enabled condition and pushed that change.. let me push that again.

@SougandhS

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I also wonder how this makes sense when the common tab is not visible (is not the active tab) or what the impact of this is while using keyboard navigation to navigate all the launch configurations...

I'll check this

@SougandhS

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I also wonder how this makes sense when the common tab is not visible (is not the active tab) or what the impact of this is while using keyboard navigation to navigate all the launch configurations...

Handled this to activate only during selections.. 👍

Automatically focus the associated file path text field when the Shared
file, Input File, or Output File option is selected in the Common tab,
allowing users to immediately enter or browse for the corresponding file
location without an additional click.
@merks

merks commented Jul 18, 2026

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That seems more sensible. I wonder though, how does this affect keyboard users? Maybe in a good way? 😀

@SougandhS

SougandhS commented Jul 18, 2026

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how does this affect keyboard users? Maybe in a good way?

On mac I see no benefits with keyboards, using TAB I only get access to Text fields and menu tabs, not on any checkboxes and radios..

@merks

merks commented Jul 18, 2026

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On Windows the up and down arrow keys change the radio button selection and also cycle to the browse button. With this change, the focus moves to the entry field as soon as you navigate to the second radio button via down arrow whereas previous one could navigate to the browse button which is probably the more likely next thing you want to do...

Is there anyone on your team who can test the behavior on Windows? I'm really not 100% sure this is an improvement.

Maybe @iloveeclipse or @HeikoKlare have an opinion?

@iloveeclipse

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I've tested on Linux and it looks OK. So LGTM from my side.

@HeikoKlare

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On Windows the up and down arrow keys change the radio button selection and also cycle to the browse button. With this change, the focus moves to the entry field as soon as you navigate to the second radio button via down arrow whereas previous one could navigate to the browse button which is probably the more likely next thing you want to do...

Is there anyone on your team who can test the behavior on Windows? I'm really not 100% sure this is an improvement.

In my opinion, this introduces a new UX concept at a single place only. There are other places with the same pattern (selecting a radio option enables a text field in which you can define a location), e.g.:
image

In my opinion, establishing this concpet at a single place will lead to more confusion than improvement. The average user who does not heavily use this input field will not know and value that at this specific field the user interaction behaves different than anywhere else. They may rather be confused why the interaction is inconsistent to everywhere else.

So I would generally vote against this kind of behavior changes without a holistic (and consistently applied) UX concept for such a change. Though I think this specific place will not be that problematic due to being rarely used (which I why I would not block this kind of change), still making Eclipse UX more inconsistent. @BeckerWdf wdyt?

@BeckerWdf

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I agree with Heiko. Consistency is the prio 1 topic in UX. Changing interaction patterns only in single places (and not in a holistic way) does worsen the UX of the overall product.

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5 participants