[GnomeMeeting-devel-list] Incoming Call Mode : what's your opinion?

[Damien Sandras <dsandras seconix com>]

Hello to all,

There is an old consistency problem in GnomeMeeting since a very long
time: you can select both "Auto-Answer" and "Do Not Disturb" at the same
time, and you can even go in the Call Forwarding section and choose
"Forward All Calls".

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That is why I want to define an "Incoming Call Mode" with the following
available modes :
- Normal
- Accept all Calls
- Reject all Calls
- Forward all Calls

I could alternatively name them :
- Available
- Free for Chat
- Busy
- Forward

That is more similar to IM's but perhaps less evident.

---------------------------

I will place that menu with *mutually exclusive selections* in the "Call
menu" and in the "Tray menu".

---------------------------

The first problem is that the new "Forward all Calls" incoming call mode
is exactly the same than the current "Forward all Calls" checkbox in the
"Call Forwarding" section.

I have 2 possibilities :
- Remove it from the call forwarding section, but in this case, new
users could think it is not possible to forward all calls
- Keep both options (in the menu and in the preferences) in sync
together. Checking "Forward all Calls" in the preferences, would make GM
automatically switch in the "Forward all Calls" Incoming Call Mode.

---------------------------

If the user chooses to "Forward all Calls", and that there is no host
specified, a popup will warn him to add one in the "call forwarding"
section of the preferences, just like now, and he will be put back in
the "Normal" mode.

I don't plan to make the Incoming Call Mode unsensitive in the menu,
because users will wonder how they can make it unsensitive and use it.

---------------------------

Currently, in the tray, you have an icon for the normal mode, and an
icon which is the same for the "Do not disturb" mode and when
gnomemeeting already is in a call. I will change this.

We have to determine if the icon in the tray should :
- represent the Incoming Call Mode (Normal, Auto-Answer, Reject,
Forward)
OR
- represent the current call status (Waiting for a call, Already in a
Call, Current call is held, ...)

I think the simplest is to partly mix both, ie, the icon in the tray
represents the current Incoming Call Mode, but if you are in a call, you
have a different icon which would be the current Do Not Disturb icon.
But to not confuse users, we will have to ask for a new icon for the
"Reject all Calls" Incoming Call Mode. If we don't, users will think
that their Incoming Call Mode changes during calls, which I could also
do, that would even be logical.

Example :
- You choose to forward calls when you are in a call
- You choose Auto-Answer as Incoming Call Mode

The icon in the tray will be the Auto-Answer icon when tehre are no
calls, but it will switch to the "Forward all calls" icon during calls.
Same for the menus.

Incoming call mode icons and menus would then always represent the
current Incoming Call Mode at each second.
-- 
 _	Damien Sandras
(o-	GnomeMeeting: http://www.gnomemeeting.org/
//\	FOSDEM 2004:  http://www.fosdem.org
v_/_	H.323 phone:  callto:ils.seconix.com/dsandras seconix com