User Interface Specification for Exception Notification on the
Main Status Bar
The status bar notification replaces the current exception
notification dialog window. Instead of showing a dialog window with
the exception message, a small icon starts flashing at the rightmost
part of the main status bar. The icon is attached.
The icon will be flashing for 5 seconds, then it will stay
visible for another 30 seconds. Positioning the mouse pointer over
the icon changes the default mouse cursor to 'hand' and stops the
flashing. Icon's tooltip provides the exception message or the
exception class name when no message is available. Single-clicking
the icon brings up the exception dialog and the icon disappers. The
exception dialog shows all exceptions encountered since the icon
started flashing. When the exception dialog is closed via the Ok
button, the exception list is cleared.
The exception dialog window 'remembers' (per IDE session) the
status of the 'Show Details' flag. So when the dialog is displayed
again, the last user's settings are reused.
When another exception is encountered while the icon is
already flashing or visible, the flashing timer and the hide icon
timer will restart.
When another exception is encountered while the exception
dialog is visible, the exception message is displayed in the current
dialog and the icon does not appear.
There's no tooltip nor any indication on status bar when the
icon is not visible. Only a part of status bar area is reserved for
the icon.
It is possible to switch the status bar notification off,
e.g. for beta releases, by enabling assertions in JVM (-ea).
