Add control with last interactive Git outputs and traces

[mstv]

Fixes #10206

Proposed changes

• FormBrowse: Add control which is filled with the output from the last 20 Git commands executed in FormStatus
  as well as with trace output
• Show the control as Tab or docked in the lower left corner (GE needs to be restarted in order to bring changed settings into effect)
• Hotkey: Ctrl+9 for toggling panel visibility and focusing

Screenshots

Before

After

Test methodology

• manual

Test environment(s)

• Git Extensions 33.33.33
• Build 63a2b45
• Git 2.38.1.windows.1
• Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0
• .NET 6.0.10
• DPI 96dpi (no scaling)
• Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App Versions

    Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.21 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
    Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 5.0.12 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
    Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.9 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
    Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.10 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Merge strategy

I agree that the maintainer squash merge this PR (if the commit message is clear).

---

✒️ I contribute this code under The Developer Certificate of Origin.

[mstv]

@PeterMinin, you could try https://ci.appveyor.com/project/gitextensions/gitextensions/builds/45223566/artifacts.

If it was not such complicated, I would rather place the git output in the lower left corner in order to have it visible always.

[gerhardol]

Nice!

Changing hotkeys could be sensitive, but probably OK here...
Any commands with more than one output?
What is the effort to add to command log, also for other commands?
Should be added to settings, like console and gpg (and build status). Should be default off.
A context menu to copy would be nice too - ctrl-c works though.

[PeterMinin]

Thanks @mstv! This looks useful already. However my idea was to keep output from multiple commands, so that you could return to it after you've done something else. I think that would also mean writing the commands themselves, otherwise it would be hard to navigate.

I took a look at the code to see if it's easy to implement that way. Although FormStatus doesn't have access to the command executed, its child FormProcess does. I think it's ok to move the hook to FormProcess. And perhaps it's even better, because some uses of FormStatus, namely FormStatus.ShowErrorDialog, aren't for long-running operations. For example, as far as I understand, and error in the staging dialog (which I usually encounter if I try to stage specific lines but have a wrong encoding selected in the viewer) uses that form, which I don't think is useful to keep. What do you think?

Also I guess it would be nice to show some placeholder before there is output to show.

[mstv]

I have updated the description.

to be done?

1. internal AppSetting for number of displayed results
2. hide by default
3. store splitter position
4. DPI-awareness
5. add toggle button to main toolbar or to Left Panel toolbar:
   

[gerhardol]

to be done?
internal AppSetting for number of displayed results

yes. Maybe ttal size too?

hide by default

Probably

• store splitter position

Related to this PR?

• add toggle button to main toolbar or to Left Panel toolbar:

I do not want that there, maybe context menus on the tabs (in addition to AppSettings, as for other tabs)

I also want:

• Context menu in the tab, see GPG info, to select/copy text
• Move the tab to rightmost position. Will not change existing shortcuts, also separate use.

No direct comments on the code.

[mstv]

I have updated the description.

... but forgot to push the update button.
There is no tab anymore but a splitter added to the Left Panel.

see GPG info

Could you elaborate?

[gerhardol]

... but forgot to push the update button. There is no tab anymore but a splitter added to the Left Panel.

I liked the tab better than this panel
It always occupies space, it is not often I want to view the contents.
With this, I would deactivate by default, rather have the info in Command Log.

Could you elaborate?

Compile error

Still no major code comments, I will review (likely approve) when we agree on the display.

[mstv]

I liked the tab better than this panel
It always occupies space, it is not often I want to view the contents.

I don't need it always - but if, switching tabs is a nuisance. It is becoming a killer feature for me. Toggle it using Ctrl+9. Tab can be implemented as an option.

Compile error

My bad. Removed.

[RussKie]

I don't like it, sorry. It looks very untidy. I would have thought that we'll have a new tab of some kind....

Also, any new controls should be encapsulated as UserControls (or whatever) and not be coded directly in FormBrowse. We should be decoupling and encapsulating elements as much as possible.

[mstv]

I should have marked it as draft / PoC more clearly... Extraction to a dedicated control is planned for after getting a consensus on the UX.

The variant as Tab is available in the first commit. But believe me it is not very usable.

[vbjay]

Tried it out

Didn't create a new line between commands.

Maybe we can take a page from visual studio. This would be a great thing for auto hide from bottom of window.

[RussKie]

Expandable/movable windows would be great, but it'd either require 3rd party controls (💰💰💰) or custom implementations (⌛⌛⌛).

[gerhardol]

I have been using a previous version of this for dome time. No direct comments when browsing this update.
I do not get any output when using this PR though. Hints?

Rebase on master to clear the merge conflicts?

Edit: Still fails for me.

[mstv]

What is really missing yet? Consider please that the variant to display the output control as panel is not the default. Who does not like it can switch back to the Tab variant.