Queue-manager

[ByronFortescue]

I would really like to see a sort of queue manager.. Unlike installer which has a broken one (in my opinion) it would be nice to select a package and then when you're done confirm the changes by having an overview of what's going to be installed.. same thing with uninstalling.. See it as how the synaptic package manager works in Ubuntu and the likes..

[saurik]

I think this is a great idea. The APT backend actually already handles this pretty well (as you can just mark things as install/uninstall), and I even expose similar functionality inside my code. It would really only have to be handled by just marking the thing instead of immediately bringing up the confirmation dialog.

[ByronFortescue]

Great, then I would suggest the following:

Change the location of the updates from the "Changes" tab to the "Install" tab, when there are updates, highlight them at the top in a separate folder which is labeled as such and put a number icon on the icon in the tab-bar (and maybe in red on the folder itself).. Only if there are updates, this folder will be visible.. This way, after you refresh your sources, you will be immediately presented with the optional updates at the top of the screen, thus eliminating the step to tap "Changes"..

I would move the content of the "Changes" tab to a separate folder at the top of the "Install" content, below the (if it's available) "Updates" folder, thus giving the content the appropriate location in Cydia.. Maybe rename this content to "Latest Releases" or something like that..

Then make the "Changes" tab reflect the changes you are about to make to the system, giving a list of packages that are going to be installed, or that are going to be uninstalled.. Then a choice to confirm this (maybe at the bottom of the screen, so you are 'forced' to review the changes you are about to make) and maybe it's a good idea to have an edit button so you can remove a package if you would like to not install it after all.. See the Mail.app for what I'm talking about..

For the Sources tab, I would recommend removing the "Search" tab and place it in the "Install" section at the top of the screen, left (or right) of the title "Install", then you can add the "sources" list to the bottom tab-bar.. Maybe when you tap the search icon, it slides up from below, making it a proper transition, when you want to leave the search, tap the white space after you have removed the input from the search field or something like that..

[saurik]

So, a few of the changes you are suggesting don't really make much sense, and seem to rely on maximally overloading the concept of "Install". When you are searching for packages, you might be trying to uninstall them. Search shouldn't be put under Install.

Also, Sources aren't something you access often, so they should either be put under the i in the upper left (similar to Stocks or Weather) or hidden under Settings (which I started to work on). It just isn't important enough to take up a button on the button bar.

Finally, I consider unification of Updates and New Packages to Changes to be one of the most interesting aspects of Cydia. Do you disagree? They are both simiar concepts ("show me what's new"), and they are both the first and in fact only places in the interface I want to go on a general basis. I therefore would loath to have to hide them under Install, another click away.

It seems to me that the list of changes you have so far made would be better expressed graphically on the packages as you see them, combined with something like a "checkout" that lets you make the changes you've queued take effect.

Considering I want to do away with the nagging bar at the top of the screen (with the time of update and reload buttons... that should really be more automatic with manual overrides hidden in Settings) I could see using that area for the checkout button.

You make a queued change, and a checkout button with a number of changes made slides down from the top. This seems very clean to me, UI wise (which I strongly care about).

[ByronFortescue]

Yes, Sources under a seperate Settings tab is much better indeed, I agree, and didn't think about it because of the fact that it is not there yet ;)

And yes, I do agree on your point about the updates and new packages being in the same place, it's actually better then my idea, maybe it's a good idea to automaticly switch to changes once you have refreshed sources?

I think a seperate tab with the changes you are going to make is still a good idea, because then you have the room to view what you are about to change.. Maybe when you click on the 'confirm' button or similar, the view swooshes (like the genie effect in OSX) to the new changes tab so you know it has been added to the list, and a number is added to the icon.. I would change the name of the 'Install' tab to 'Packages' because the tab is not about installing (now it is though) but about the different software there is.. It would not hurt to have the uninstallation if packages in the same tab, and maybe the uninstallation could be reflected with an additional number-icon (maybe red for new installs, and blue for deinstalls (adding a minus-sign tot the number for deinstalls).. This ofcourse shouldn't have to be a tab and could be added to a top-right button which says 'checkout' as well, which will slide up a view of changes, but I like the idea of having a view of the number of changes you are going to make, everywhere you go, troughout the whole app..

[andreev2001]

My idea of handling queue in Cydia is: Each package name under Install, Changes and Uninstall tabs to have a small button “+” or “-”. Just like in Mail when you tap on edit button. “+” will add to queue, “-” will remove. If the package is not in the queue then “+” is displayed. Otherwise it displays “-” In addition, packages already in queue may have a different background color.