From: bgardner@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 22:35:16 -0400
Message-Id: <8910110235.AA02040@PINK.MIT.EDU>
To: argus2@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Ruleeditor comments

    (1) I have several rules whose text-with-commas-as-ORs turned out to
be quite long and ran past the end of the space allocated for viewing
the predicate's values. So, I tried to resize the ruleeditor so as
to allow enough space. The ruleeditor resized, but unfortunately,
the predicates didn't, so the extra width didn't help.
If possioble, the ruleeditor should be set up so that a resize of
the main shell also resizes the width of field's space.
This effect is even more of a problem if the rule is displayed in the
complex format, since the space allowed is very small to begin with.
     (2) Having to always select an item in the predicate section
before the predicate's menu button will work is most annoying.
The pop-up information menu is slow an quite unneccessarily annoying,
and hard to understand as well. I would suggest something shorter and clearer.
This restriction is most annoying then it is totally illogical...
for example, when I make 3 predicates, then 2 actions, and then go
back to group my 3 predicates in an OR box -- this invokes the error msg
informing that I MUST select a predicate first...which makes no sense,
grouping operations (an option of the predicate's menu button)
does not require that a field be selected (since any fields selected
are done by the boxer-like interface, and the selected focus field is ignored
anyway).
     I would suggest that clicking on the predicate's menu button
should ALWAYS pop-up the menu options, and that an error message
be displayed ONLY if the user in fact selects an option that
should generate an error. (So, grouping operations are correctly allowed).
Then, if the user selects 'delete' or something similar, the error
message should pop-up that says (a) how to fix it (mouse click or tabbing)
and (b) why something needs to be selected first. (Since the
error message pop-up AFTER the user selects a bad option (this way)
then the error message can even be specific to that function, and thereby
considerably less cryptic).

    (3) While having 3 predicates and 1 action, which the action selected,
I tried to click on the predicate's menu button, and the ruleeditor
died, with the following error messages for the session:

X Toolkit Warning:
    Name: if-work
    Class: XmForm
    Circular dependency in Form children.

X Toolkit Warning:
    Name: if-work
    Class: XmForm
    Circular dependency in Form children.

X Toolkit Warning:
    Name: if-work
    Class: XmForm
    Circular dependency in Form children.

Assertion failed: file alpop.c: line 108: x>=0
lpr: stdin: empty input file