Dynamic layout for the Serial-Over-Lan window in phosphor-webui

Dynamic layout for the Serial-Over-Lan window in phosphor-webui

[Konstantin Aladyshev]

Hello!
I was working on a Serial-Over-Lan layout in a phosphor-webui. For me
it seems horribly broken
(https://github.com/openbmc/phosphor-webui/issues/125):
- it is fixed in size even in full screen
- it uses only a part of its space for output in full-window view

I came up with a solution where a terminal window resizes according to
the window changes. Example:
https://i114.fastpic.ru/big/2020/1105/44/af933bbaa02d950e6164ff68dd754044.png
https://fastpic.ru/view/114/2020/1105/_2c94432100b3c3d40cc8553768b153f4.png.html

What do you think of it?
Do we still need a fixed layout, where we control its size through the
JSON file?
The only place where it is overridden is:
./meta-intel/meta-common/recipes-phosphor/webui/phosphor-webui/config.json :
"customConsoleDisplaySize": {
  "width": 100,
  "height": 32
}

So, almost nobody seems to use it. Wouldn't it be better to get rid of
a fixed layout completely in favor of a dynamic one?
Or should this be another JSON option like "consoleDynamicDisplaySize"?

Re: Dynamic layout for the Serial-Over-Lan window in phosphor-webui

[Derick Montague]

> I was working on a Serial-Over-Lan layout in a phosphor-webui. For me
> it seems horribly broken

> I came up with a solution where a terminal window resizes according to
> the window changes.

I agree that the SOL layout in the phosphor-webui GUI does not provide a 
good experience. It was also noted by Patrick Williams that the font stack
being used also did not provide a good experience. To that extent, IBM and
Intel, working with other community members that regularly attend the OpenBMC
GUI Design  Work Group, collaborated to improve the SOL and KVM over IP
experiences in the webui-vue GUI (www.github.com/openbmc/webui-vue). The
experience of the web based terminals are consistent and significantly 
improved.

SOL: https://github.com/openbmc/webui-vue/issues/25
KVM: https://github.com/openbmc/webui-vue/issues/24

We have provide details on the reason for creating the webui-vue GUI
in the repo's README: https://github.com/openbmc/webui-vue#webui-vue
 
Thank you!  
   
Derick Montague
IBM Cognitive Systems User Experience

Re: Dynamic layout for the Serial-Over-Lan window in phosphor-webui

[Konstantin Aladyshev]

Thanks for the reply, Derick!
But it doesn't really answer any of my questions.
I understand that the 'webui-vue' is a future of OpenBMC, but
currently some systems still use 'phosphor-webui'.
Can I create a commit for a dynamic layout for a SoL window in 'phosphor-webui'?
If I can, what is preferred?
-getting rid of fixed layout completely as almost nobody seems to use it anyway
-create another JSON option like "consoleDynamicDisplaySize" for a
dynamic layout

I didn't tried 'webui-vue' myself, but from looking at the code it seems like:
1) it doesn't use any JSON for a fixed layout (one more argument, that
these JSON parameters are obsolete);
2) it doesn't re-fit terminal on window resize, so it seems like the
problem should persist here also in some way

Best regards,
Konstantin Aladyshev

On Thu, Nov 5, 2020 at 8:15 PM Derick Montague <Derick.Montague@ibm.com> wrote:
>
> > I was working on a Serial-Over-Lan layout in a phosphor-webui. For me
> > it seems horribly broken
>
> > I came up with a solution where a terminal window resizes according to
> > the window changes.
>
> I agree that the SOL layout in the phosphor-webui GUI does not provide a
> good experience. It was also noted by Patrick Williams that the font stack
> being used also did not provide a good experience. To that extent, IBM and
> Intel, working with other community members that regularly attend the OpenBMC
> GUI Design  Work Group, collaborated to improve the SOL and KVM over IP
> experiences in the webui-vue GUI (www.github.com/openbmc/webui-vue). The
> experience of the web based terminals are consistent and significantly
> improved.
>
> SOL: https://github.com/openbmc/webui-vue/issues/25
> KVM: https://github.com/openbmc/webui-vue/issues/24
>
> We have provide details on the reason for creating the webui-vue GUI
> in the repo's README: https://github.com/openbmc/webui-vue#webui-vue
>
> Thank you!
>
> Derick Montague
> IBM Cognitive Systems User Experience
>