I got a report on Reddit that said the app would not work, and it led to a discussion involving how to troubleshoot the issue. One of the challenges with the Windows build is that all standard output is disabled so the app doesn't require a separate console window. This improves UX in the general case (i.e., when things work) but is really bad for troubleshooting because error messages are not visible anywhere.
One thing I have done in another project for error reporting on Windows is using the msgbox crate to open a simple message box window when there are any fatal errors. The UX is ok-ish; you are given some info about the problem, but the only thing you can do with it is take a screenshot. If the error is long enough, it may not fit on the screen at all! There is no scroll bar and no way to copy the text.
I propose that fatal errors should use msgbox to bring attention to the problem in a minimalistic way. Instead of printing the entire error message in the message box, it should provide a short description of the error and instruct the user to look in the Windows Event Viewer (if the platform is Windows) for any additional context. The win_etw_logger crate provides a Log implementation just for this purpose! It can spew everything with level WARN and above to the Event Tracing for Windows thingie.
That should provide a pretty good UX when things go bad (how good can it be, honestly, when the app won't even start?) At least it will be a marked improvement.
I got a report on Reddit that said the app would not work, and it led to a discussion involving how to troubleshoot the issue. One of the challenges with the Windows build is that all standard output is disabled so the app doesn't require a separate console window. This improves UX in the general case (i.e., when things work) but is really bad for troubleshooting because error messages are not visible anywhere.
One thing I have done in another project for error reporting on Windows is using the
msgboxcrate to open a simple message box window when there are any fatal errors. The UX is ok-ish; you are given some info about the problem, but the only thing you can do with it is take a screenshot. If the error is long enough, it may not fit on the screen at all! There is no scroll bar and no way to copy the text.I propose that fatal errors should use
msgboxto bring attention to the problem in a minimalistic way. Instead of printing the entire error message in the message box, it should provide a short description of the error and instruct the user to look in the Windows Event Viewer (if the platform is Windows) for any additional context. Thewin_etw_loggercrate provides aLogimplementation just for this purpose! It can spew everything with levelWARNand above to the Event Tracing for Windows thingie.That should provide a pretty good UX when things go bad (how good can it be, honestly, when the app won't even start?) At least it will be a marked improvement.