Merge notification, activities and uploads

[tobiasKaminsky]

Merging Notifications and activities :+1: as they are both provided by the server. Upload is only device specific and should stay separate: If this is all sorted by date the failed/pending uploads will vanish somehow on the bottom of the list. And if they stay on top of the list, then we have it just like the current way.

But maybe we just need a detailed input of @nextcloud/designers or from you if you thought already deeper about this.

[mario]

@tobiasKaminsky this was actually jointly designed by me and @jancborchardt, and there is a pen&paper wireframe in one of the issues (I'll find it for you later). I believe you also commented on it. :)

Also, stuff that needs actions have their own group so nothing really disappears.

[mario]

(P.S. Many many months ago)

[jancborchardt]

Reposting the spec with mockups from https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/557#issuecomment-274776899:

Here’s the mockup of the activity stream merged with notifications as @mario and I talked about:

From the writeup in the sidebar issue: https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/556#issuecomment-274772899

Activity: Merged Activity & notifications etc, much like the unified timeline in the sidebar of files https://github.com/nextcloud/server/issues/658. Most of these entries will at some point be interactive, like accepting a share, reverting to a version, or commenting etc. Actionable items like failed uploads or shares to be accepted will be shown up top. They will be separated by intermittent headers:

• Failed uploads is first cause it’s local and most important cause it can lead to data loss. Will have a »Retry« and »Clear« in the header with text+icons. Then icons for each individual item.
• Requires attention (working title) are the notifications and activities with interactivity which come from the server. For example incoming shares you need to accept. (Or in the future comments where you were mentioned with an action to reply.)
• Activities / History where all the activites go in the end, and where also the things you act upon from Failed uploads and Requires attention go to → which is a big reason why this is a single view instead of separate ones. It’s the same things.

[jancborchardt]

To also answer your remark @tobiasKaminsky:

Upload is only device specific and should stay separate: If this is all sorted by date the failed/pending uploads will vanish somehow on the bottom of the list. And if they stay on top of the list, then we have it just like the current way.

Upload is only device specific until the file is uploaded. As soon as it’s uploaded it will morph to being in the activities view, hence uploads should be in there from the beginning. As described in the spec, failed/pending uploads should of course be first and will thus never vanish on the bottom of the list.

The point is that we have all in one view, without the mental work needed to remember »was it a local upload?« or »was it in activities now?«. It’s all just a feed of actions.

[tobiasKaminsky]

Very good and detailed explanation, thank you @jancborchardt

[tobiasKaminsky]

As dicussed and agreed on, we do not plan with milestones.

[ashpieboop]

From #4788, here's my input:

• Rename Activities to Activity (unify with desktop)
• Also display downloads (e.g. resulting from simple downloads, syncs and conflict resolutions)

I agree with https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/1271#issuecomment-322036536