Is it possible to browse tasks in MyLyn same way as in Outlook?

Question

I'm trying to configure MyLyn and was hit by very strange problem. All issue control system I know use Outlook-like approach: filters to the left, issues at top right and issue description at bottom-right. Typical workflow while browsing issues is to click filter to the left so issues list is displayed at top right and then click issues at top right to see descriptions at bottom right.

But mylyn interface is user-friendly and behaves like nothing i have seen before. First, issues list is integrated with filter list O_O. This works fine if you have like 20-30 issues total and a few filters, but if you have dozens of filters each selecting dozens of issues this effectively doubles amount of clicking: To browse issues you can't just click through filters. You need to expand each filter, see issues list, then close the filter (because issues list is long and other filters are scrolled out by it) and open next one.

But ok, this is the thing i can handle. But the second thing stands out - if i click the issues in tasks list MyLyn is not displaying issues! Instead i need to double click the issue and MyLyn opens it in a new tab O_O. Ok, this will work if i know exactly what issue i need and click it. But regular issue browsing is a hell: instead of just clicking through issues and look for relevant information i neet to double click issue, look at new tab, close the tab and only after that i can double cick second issue (and i need to close tabs since Eclipse have only one editor areas and i have some other tabs open while browsing for issues).

So is it any way in MyLyn to prevent a new tab being opened for each task and just display them in one place like all other desktop issue control systems (outlook, jira client, devtrack, ontime) do?

Answer 1

Thank you for your feedback! Let me suggest a few things that might help:

First, you can change Eclipse to open on a single-click instead of a double-click by going to Preferences->General, then changing the radio button on "Open Mode" from double-click to single-click.

Second, you can see all your issues in one list if you switch from the Categorized View to the Scheduled view. Then you would not need to switch back and forth between queries.

Third, you can use the search box in the Task List to help limit the tasks that you see. If you know that it's a crash, for example, you could type "crash" in the search box to help limit the number of queries you need to look at.

Fourth, focusing your view (by clicking on the Mylyn focus button, which looks like three purple balls) will restrict the list of tasks to ones that are probably more interesting.

Finally, if you want to look at a whole bunch of tasks in rapid succession but don't want to clutter your current task context with those tasks, consider making a Local task just for exploring tasks. Switch to that before you start looking, and the new tabs will show up in that context, not the one you were just working in. That means that you can click on a task, it will open in a tab, and you can ignore the tab. Keep clicking until you find the task you want, and then you can close all the other task tabs. (Or not. They aren't bothering anything where they are.) Then, when you switch back to your main task context, all those tabs will disappear and your main task's tabs will reappear.

If you have any other questions, by all means, feel free to ask.