Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] [PATCH] New menu items to copy packet data
From: Ulf Lamping <ulf.lamping@xxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:46:37 +0100
Douglas Pratley wrote:
Ack, keeping a contribution as simple as possible is a good idea - but now we're already in the second round ;-)2.) Packet Details / Copy item (only one Copy item in this menu): Description ------------------ Bytes (Offset Hex Text) Bytes (Offset Hex) Bytes (Printable Text Only) ------------------ Bytes (Hex Stream) Bytes (Binary Stream)I agree that it would be good to combine the Copy / Copy Selected Bytes menu items. I didn't for the first cut as I didn't want to interfere with existing functionality.
Same problem I had. I also just don't know a good and suitable name here. Anyone else?Is "Description" the right phrase? I find it vague, but can't think of anything better.
I guess so. This is a *context* menu, so it's ok in my eyes that the same entry at different places will copy different parts.These items do something different to the ones from Menu (1); they copy only the selected bytes. That is why they are "inconsistent" at the moment. I agree that it is ugly to have them different, but is the context of having a row within a packet enough to make it intuitive on its own?
BTW: I disagree that "these items do something different". They copy the currently selected bytes in both cases, only the amount is different, namely corresponding to the selection.
As the functionality doesn't work nicely in the Bytes pane, I'd vote to just remove it. We can add it later again if someone is shouting "foul" loud enough ;-)3.) Packet Bytes / Copy item:The usability of this menu is completely odd, as you select things you don't want. With the new Details menu the dialog menu is completely obsolete - after some cleanup. Namely moving the "Export Selected Packet Bytes" item to Packet Details menu (shouldn't be too difficult?!?). We might also want to remove this export feature completely, as I guess that the "Copy" mechanism is what users really need ...Again, I was reluctant to change existing functionality; I think that we should either drop the Copy and move the Export as you suggest, or else duplicate the same Copy and Export functionality across both pop-ups (either should be easy).
Well, removing *might* be a problem. My observation over the last years of Ethereal / Wireshark development is that anything that is changed, there's someone who will dislike it, regardless what your doing.The question is, is there anybody out there who is going to be upset if we remove this functionality (or more accurately, move it and rename it). I'd value a third opinion!
Ack, having a basic "copy" mechanism is a good idea. Don't know if an UTF-8 will work nicely on Windows, but that needs further investigation.BTW: Is the "Printable Text" a good idea? Wouldn't the "common" replacement of unprintable chars by dots be more common / helpful? Or is there even a need for both?Don't know - quite possibly both - I actually think we could probably do with more advanced functionality that copes with unicode text (UTF-8 and UTF-16) as well. Steve F suggested being able to decode Base64 would be useful. I hope that this patch will give a better baseline for all of that if anyone gets the time to do it.
I guess, the first comments you'll get is when the 0.99.6 is released in a lot of weeks ;-)I'm tempted to leave it for a few days to let my documentation patch work its way through and to let others comment (they've been quiet so far); if they stay quiet I'll then implement your suggestions.
Regards, ULFL
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