Ovirt devel - Jan 2009 - oVirt server wui console integration

Currently the idea for the console interface in the wui is that a user
can navigate the the 'virtual machines' tab under a vm pool, click on a
specific vm, click on 'console' in the details pane and will be
presented with a console to that vm. There were a few ideas as to where
the console should appear,

  * in a minimally themed popup window, most likely the first
implementation as it is simplest, but may result in many popups when
connected to several vms
  * in the dialog / popup box interface we have now, we will want to
introduce a tabbing mechanism for access to multiple vm consoles
  * in another tab in the main content area, same vm-tab concept needed here
  * a rollover, eg the user rolls over 'console' in the vm details pane
and the console appears so long as the user holds his mouse over it /
the link
 
Its currently looking like the console frontend and apache-proxied
backend daemon will be driven by anyterm http://anyterm.org/ . We will
use anyterm to launch ovirt-viewer or the virsh console to connect to
the vm and then present the anyterm html / js / css ui to the user. A
rough layout of the setup can be found here
http://ovirt.org/page/Image:Anyterm.png

Looking for thoughts / feedback / suggestions as to the interface
placement of the console or the backend.  Thanks alot,

   -Mo

On Jan 8, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Mohammed Morsi wrote:
> Currently the idea for the console interface in the wui is that a user
> can navigate the the 'virtual machines' tab under a vm pool, click
> on a
> specific vm, click on 'console' in the details pane and will be
> presented with a console to that vm. There were a few ideas as to  
> where
> the console should appear,
>
>  * in a minimally themed popup window, most likely the first
> implementation as it is simplest, but may result in many popups when
> connected to several vms
>  * in the dialog / popup box interface we have now, we will want to
> introduce a tabbing mechanism for access to multiple vm consoles
>  * in another tab in the main content area, same vm-tab concept  
> needed here
>  * a rollover, eg the user rolls over 'console' in the vm details
pane
> and the console appears so long as the user holds his mouse over it /
> the link
>
I've taken the liberty of mocking some of these ideas up here:
http://file.rdu.redhat.com/~jeperry/ovirt/terminal/round1.html

I didnt mockup the new themed popup window yet, since its simple to  
imagine. I think its a decent approach, but wondering if we can  
eliminate the multiple popups issue by targeting our popup once there  
is at least one open. Subsequent terminals would nest via tabs in the  
one terminal window, so all you deal with is one window with tabs for  
each vm terminal.
> Its currently looking like the console frontend and apache-proxied
> backend daemon will be driven by anyterm http://anyterm.org/ . We will
> use anyterm to launch ovirt-viewer or the virsh console to connect to
> the vm and then present the anyterm html / js / css ui to the user. A
> rough layout of the setup can be found here
> http://ovirt.org/page/Image:Anyterm.png
I based my mockups on their demos - let me know if the actions I  
included (like copy, paste) make sense or not.
>
> Looking for thoughts / feedback / suggestions as to the interface
> placement of the console or the backend.  Thanks alot,
>
>   -Mo

Finally, I wanted to propose we settle on the term "Terminal" instead
of "Console" - at least in the UI - since that is what is used in  
Fedora. I know terminology consistency is a challenge for us, is this  
a place we can make a choice in the UI and be consistent?

Thanks!
- Jeremy