Re: pgAdmin 4 1.0-beta4 - Query Tool, Select file popup issues

There is all this talk about web browsers, and server instances shared by multiple users. While that is nice to have in some situations, me and the other people in my team currently have no use for that.

My use case is installing pgAdmin locally on my workstation as an application that will run standalone (what you call the “desktop runtime”), not as an web app. And having the various SQL files that I use to do my development and ops work locally on my computer.

This means I need to be able to navigate files and folders quickly with an easy to use UI, that is preferably the OS native dialog.

As it is now, by default I have to click a lot of folders until I reach the local folder with the SQL files. And it doesn’t even remember the last folder used. If I want to open another file, I need to navigate through the hierarchy of folders again. There is no history of previously open files, and it doesn’t allow me to pin favorite folders. I can’t type folder / file names and have them autocomplete automatically.

In theory, alls this could be implemented as features in the non-native file dialog. But I think it would be much easier from a development point of view and better for the users to just use the native OS file dialog for standalone client installations (the desktop runtime).

Having to navigate the file system manually only using the mouse feels like being forced to write SQL queries using a graphical query builder. Or like removing the terminals and shells from an operating system. I feel like I’m working with my hands tied when I need to use the current file picker.

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Dave Page-7 [via PostgreSQL]
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 18:39
To: vnicolici
Subject: Re: pgAdmin 4 1.0-beta4 - Query Tool, Select file popup issues

On Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 4:00 PM, Michal Kozusznik
<[hidden email]> wrote:

> On 26.10.2016 16:15, Dave Page wrote:
>>
>>
>> Or a misunderstanding on your part on the goals of the project and
>> reasons for them.
>
>
> So just list the reasons, please.
> IMO there is no single reason to work with files stored on the server. It
> could be even considered non-safe in some scenarios. It's enough to work
> with client-side files. It's valid for local as well as remote work

Server based deployments, where multiple users manage servers from one
or more instances of pgAdmin.

>> I agree. Except where it is not possible to do so, or in cases where
>> it could lead to an inconsistent UI experience.
>>
> What do you mean by inconsistent UI experience? If you mean pgadmin having
> different file browser appearance across various operating systems then it's
> non-relevant argument. Goal should be to have UI-consistent app in
> environment it's running under.

I mean having to use our own dialogues in some places where native
ones cannot work, and native ones in other places.

> With client-app responsible for opening files approach, everything would
> work out together.

Except as I pointed out, we have little control over native dialogues
because web browsers have security concerns that cause them to limit
access to the client filesystem.

--
Dave Page
Blog: http://pgsnake.blogspot.com
Twitter: @pgsnake

EnterpriseDB UK: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

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