[Phpmyadmin-devel] User prefs

[Marc Delisle]

Zeeshan Mughal a écrit :
> Hello, phpMyAdmin developers!
> 
> I am Zeeshan Mughal, a student at Stony Brook University studying 
> Computer Engineering.  First off, I would like to thank you phpMyAdmin 
> team for accepting my proposal.  I hope this summer of code will bring 
> me closer to free software development, and I will become more 
> enthusiastic about it in the coming future.
> 
> Basically, my project is not very nifty as other projects.  I plan to 
> write a library that will enable users to store their preferences 
> permanently.  So, if a user wants to view 100 entries per table each 
> time he/she accesses the system, this script will make it happen.
> 
> Well, this would not be the only user preference to be stored 
> permanently.  There are of course other preferences that user wants to 
> store permanently.  I would appreciate if you can share with me your 
> ideas about what other settings may be suited to be stored permanently.
> 
> Please check out my newly-created Joomla! powered web log at:  
> http://www.zeeshan.zixan.net
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> Best regards,
> 
> Zeeshan Mughal
> Telephone:  +1 347 284 8987
> Email:  zeeshanmughal at ieee.org <mailto:zeeshanmughal at ieee.org>
> Web:  http://zeeshan.zixan.net

Hello Zeeshan,

In general, we will have to look what is currently remembered as cookies 
(for example, pma_fontsize, pma_navi_width, pma_lang) and see if these 
could be moved to user prefs.

Then, some of the settings in config.inc.php could be made available as 
user prefs (remembering that phpMyAdmin must be able to work without 
user prefs too). As examples: LoginCookieValidity, NavigationBarIconic, 
MaxRows (as you said), ForeignKeyMaxLimit, PropertiesIconic, 
PropertiesNumColumns.

For other settings in config.inc.php, for example LeftFrameLight, 
UseDbSearch, MaxDbList and MaxTableList, there are pros and cons about 
offering a user pref about them. In particular, the fact that a user has 
no control over the LeftFrameLight has bothered me for years but there 
are performance issues.

Maybe we'll need a mechanism so that the phpMyAdmin installer (or person 
responsible about config.inc.php) can mark which setting can be 
remembered in user pref.

About the UI, I see some options:

1. a central panel where a user sets up her preferences (in the same 
style than an admin uses phpMyAdmin/setup to maintain config.inc.php)

2. choices made by the user during her use of phpMyAdmin are remembered 
automatically

3. the settings that can be remembered are marked with some visual clue 
that enables a user to change them.

I tend to prefer #2 but am wondering about its performance impact.

That's all for now!

Marc