Equations inside the Equations Operation window of the declarative debugger are difficult to interpret

[casella]

Please consider the attached test case. Click on Debug more and select equation 14 in the Equations Browser. The solved equation reads:

y := x - 0.001*$cse2;

The Equations Operations window looks like the attached image file. Each line shows a diff between the code of the equation before and after each operation. Stuff highlighted in light blue has been added, stuff highlighted in light red has been removed.

Although all the relevant information is there, I find it really awkward to read and interpret, because the eye tends to read the whole set of characters, i.e.,

y += x - 0.001 * $cse2 = x
y + 0.001e-3 * sin(w) = x;

which doesn't make any sense. IMHO,mentally removing only the stuff highlighted in light red to see what the final result is is not intuitive at all.

I would suggest to add two buttons to the top of the Equations Operations widow: one light blue with text "after transformation", one light red with text "before transformation". There are three possible states:

• A both buttons are active -> both light red and light blue stuff is shown
• B only the "after" button is active -> only the light blue stuff is shown
• C only the "before" button is active -> only the light red stuff is shown

The initial state should be A. The state transitions are

• A + click on "after" -> C
• A + click on "before" -> B
• B + click on "before" -> A
• C + click on "after" -> A

I think this will make understanding the content of that window much more straightforward.

[casella]

Test case

[casella]

Content of Equations Operations window

[adeas31]

I tried to achieve what you want in dc171cc/OMEdit. It was easier to handle things with a drop down instead of buttons, so I added a drop down.

Test the functionality in the tomorrow's nightly build and let me know if some more improvement is required.

[casella]

Replying to adeas31:

I tried to achieve what you want in dc171cc/OMEdit. It was easier to handle things with a drop down instead of buttons, so I added a drop down.

Sure, I hadn't thought about that but it was pretty obvious in hindsigtht :)

Test the functionality in the tomorrow's nightly build and let me know if some more improvement is required.

Will do, thanks!

[casella]

I checked this out, it's just fine.