UI doesn't show if a series initialization request failed, it just vanishes

[Ursula Junque]

I requested an initialization of a series, in https://dogfood.launchpad.net/explorer/theseries, and the page showed a text saying "Series initialisation in progress". Julian ran the proper scripts on dogfood to initialize the series, and it failed.
After that, the "Series initialisation in progress" text disappeared, and there was no other message or text informing the initialization failed, it just disappeared and the series page returned to the same it was before my request. There's no info about the failure or the request, while it's pending.

[Gavin Panella (allenap)]

I have discussed this with jtv:

- On DistroSeries:+index we should only display a message that the
  initialization has failed. We should not show a free-form error
  message (which might contain tracebacks or sensitive information).

- For those users who can use DistroSeries:+initseries we can show
  some additional instructions along with the failure message.

  Most likely this will initially be a link to +initseries, to try
  again, but as we become aware of the common failure modes we could
  show something more appropriate.

- Because free-form error messages from jobs are not being displayed
  anywhere, we need to ensure that OOPS reports are being recorded
  when jobs fail.

- I need to talk to Huw about the appearance of the UI.

[Gavin Panella (allenap)]

I've discussed this with huwshimi and here are my notes:

- Put a warning banner on DistroSeries:+initseries when the previous
  attempt has failed.

- On DistroSeries:+index, use the area also used for the "Derived from
  ..." and "Series initialization in progress" (the latter I only
  discovered after the call) so that people who are already accustomed
  to looking in that place will find information about failures too.

- Try to use some of the the warning banner appearance in the portlet
  area - maybe just the triangle - but don't worry if it doesn't look
  right. Screenshot some prototypes.

- After implementation talk again to huwshimi to discuss how it went
  and how easy it was to do the UI side of things.

[Gavin Panella (allenap)]

I have three designs for the portlet. They are all in:

  http://people.canonical.com/~gavin/ui/show-init-series-failure-bug-795387/

1. unadorned.png

   A simple <h2>Series initialization has failed</h2> and a single
   line of text.

2. warning.message.png

   The same as (1) but wrapped in <div class="warning message" />.

3. warning-large.float:right.png

   The same as (1) but preceded by <img src="/@@/warning-large"
   style="float: right" />. The src is the same icon as appears in
   (2).

I think (2) is too much.

I think (1) is too little.

My favourite is (3), but I can't figure out how to properly position
the icon on the right without interfering with where the top of the
<h2> appears.

[Huw Wilkins (huwshimi)]

Hi Gavin,

I like where this is heading. Is it possible to try a version with the heading like it is in (1) but the line of text in the portlet with the yellow box like in (2)? Might demand a little less attention, but still signify that something needs to happen (we might have to look at the text so it makes a bit more sense with that arrangement too).

[Gavin Panella (allenap)]

Cheers Huw. Another prototype for you:

4. warning.message.not-on-h2.width:auto.png

   .warning.message forces a 30em width, so I've added a width:auto to
   the div on the message here. Fwiw, warning.message.not-on-h2.png is
   what it looks like with the 30em width.

I think that looks good, but part of me feels that the warning
triangle should be associated with the "Series initialization has
failed" text.

[Huw Wilkins (huwshimi)]

I think it looks good. I'm not sure we need the triangle at all.

[Gavin Panella (allenap)]

> I think it looks good. I'm not sure we need the triangle at all.

Do you mean I should stick with (1)?

[Launchpad QA Bot (lpqabot)]

Fixed in stable r13423 <http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~launchpad-pqm/launchpad/stable/revision/13423>.

[Huw Wilkins (huwshimi)]

Oh, sorry gavin, I meant I like (4) but it might be fine without the triangle.