Remote connection config uses wrong state

[grgrzybek]

When you manage remote connection (add, edit) we have some issues:

• after adding a connection, when you edit it to change port, you see the port changed in the list, but if you open "edit" dialog again you see old port. close without saving, edit again and the port is correct
• after changing name of the connection, existing browser tabs with this connection break

I have a fix for first problem and I have some suggestions:

• add hidden, generated "id" field, which is not changed during edits - then con parameter contains the id instead of name (which may contain spaces and other URL-unfriendly characters)
• in the top bar, when showing the remote tab, we may have a connection name with connection status, so user knows whether this tab is main or remote

This is a result of investigation related to hawtio/hawtio#3178 and #705

[grgrzybek]

@tadayosi @phantomjinx WDYT about adding a state to top bar for Hawtio instances showing remote Jolokia agents?

main Hawtio:

connect tab of Hawtio (connected and disconnected):

[grgrzybek]

BTW, in Hawtio 1.4 we had recent connections:

[tadayosi]

@grgrzybek

in the top bar, when showing the remote tab, we may have a connection name with connection status, so user knows whether this tab is main or remote

Sounds great to me. The proposed change also looks great.

On the other hand, for the first part (and the original issue):

• after adding a connection, when you edit it to change port, you see the port changed in the list, but if you open "edit" dialog again you see old port. close without saving, edit again and the port is correct
• after changing name of the connection, existing browser tabs with this connection break

I think it's actually a corner case and the users wouldn't face the issue in most cases as I don't think the connection list is something the normal users would change so frequently.

That said, if we really want to fix it, I think it's ok to introduce the permanent ID instead of name, but then please make sure that the changes don't affect the import/export format of JSON and keep backward compatibility, because I assume it's something the users would share and maintain within their teams even since Hawtio v2.

Also, I'd suspect that the root cause of the issue is in the way the Connect plugin (and its service) is implemented. https://github.com/hawtio/hawtio-next/blob/main/packages/hawtio/src/plugins/connect/connections.ts The plugin is actually the initial prototype of the hawtio-next implementation, and I initially tested React's context & reducer combination (just like Redux) before reaching the current (more conservative) singleton services approach but then reached a conclusion that it's a bit of over engineering for the state management for Hawtio as the state in Hawtio mainly just comes from the Jolokia endpoint.

So I guess that refactoring the Connect to the singleton service approach in the same way as the rest of plugins should be an ideal way to fix the issue.

[grgrzybek]

@grgrzybek

in the top bar, when showing the remote tab, we may have a connection name with connection status, so user knows whether this tab is main or remote

Sounds great to me. The proposed change also looks great.

OK - it's quite easy, but to be fair, a little change is required to Plugin interface. Why?

• I thought that it'd be nice to use plugin.headerItems field and it was ok, however isActive() for connect plugin returns true only for main Hawtio window (without con parameter, which is rational).
• So I added 2nd hawtio.addPlugin() call to packages/hawtio/src/plugins/connect/index.ts with different isActive which is true only for windows with con parameter
• However this required a change to Plugin interface - I made title, path and component fields optional, because I wanted a plugin which contributes only header items. Locally everything works fine without any disruptions.

If you think it's too invasive change, let me know. I can't think of any other way to create a plugin that doesn't have a left-side menu item and doesn't have a path, only header item contributions...

On the other hand, for the first part (and the original issue):

• after adding a connection, when you edit it to change port, you see the port changed in the list, but if you open "edit" dialog again you see old port. close without saving, edit again and the port is correct
• after changing name of the connection, existing browser tabs with this connection break

I think it's actually a corner case and the users wouldn't face the issue in most cases as I don't think the connection list is something the normal users would change so frequently.

That said, if we really want to fix it, I think it's ok to introduce the permanent ID instead of name, but then please make sure that the changes don't affect the import/export format of JSON and keep backward compatibility, because I assume it's something the users would share and maintain within their teams even since Hawtio v2.

I implemented "id" locally and everything works - I only didn't check import/export.

Also, I'd suspect that the root cause of the issue is in the way the Connect plugin (and its service) is implemented. https://github.com/hawtio/hawtio-next/blob/main/packages/hawtio/src/plugins/connect/connections.ts The plugin is actually the initial prototype of the hawtio-next implementation, and I initially tested React's context & reducer combination (just like Redux) before reaching the current (more conservative) singleton services approach but then reached a conclusion that it's a bit of over engineering for the state management for Hawtio as the state in Hawtio mainly just comes from the Jolokia endpoint.

So I guess that refactoring the Connect to the singleton service approach in the same way as the rest of plugins should be an ideal way to fix the issue.

Actually the problem is here: https://github.com/hawtio/hawtio-next/blob/9cd5b02/packages/hawtio/src/plugins/connect/remote/ConnectionModal.tsx#L115-L123

clear() is called for add and edit which calls setConnection(input) in both cases. The fix is to:

• call setConnection(input) on add
• call setConnection(connection) on edit

I checked and it works.

Anyway - before I send PR I'll verify few more things. The reason I started working on it is #705.

[tadayosi]

OK, let's fix it altogether as you propose.

[grgrzybek]

PR: #932