More column customizations

[Kumm-Kai]

Multiple things I've noticed that are missing (might be debatable^^) from the custom views feature:

• allow "unpinning" of namespace and/or name columns for horizontal scroll
  • namespace & name can take up lots of space, reducing the amount of space for colums for horizontal scroll -> resulting in needing to scroll more and often back and forth
• allow "pinning" of arbitrary columns for horizontal scroll
  • the name column is a great candidate for example. Some columns are helpful to be always be visible and should not disappear behind the scroll space.
• allow hiding namespace and/or name columns in custom view
  • In some (albeit very rare) cases the namespace and name columns might not be as interesting and require too much space, one example would be to get a overview of the objects status without directly needing to identify the "identity" of the object.
    • Can still be made easily visible by changing the layout

One nice example of a case where hiding namespace or name is helpful:

(Name is prefixed by namespace, and both are not required when I just want to see how many and in which states the machines are)

[nklmilojevic]

Thanks for writing this up, and for the screenshot - the namespace-prefixed names make the point really well!

Points 1 and 2 are one feature, so I'll do them together:

1. Unpinning NAMESPACE/NAME - yes. Views get a pin list, f.e. pin = ["NAME", "STATUS"]. Pinned columns move to the left in that order and stay fixed while you scroll sideways. pin = [] pins nothing, so everything scrolls. "NAMESPACE" is allowed in the list too, even though it's not a declared column. Without pin nothing changes, NAMESPACE and NAME stay fixed like today. It works per named layout as well, so you can keep one layout with nothing pinned and switch with :layout.

2. Pinning any column - yes, same pin list. Pinned columns have to move to the front, because the table can only keep a block at the left edge fixed while the rest scrolls.

3. Hiding NAME - this already works. With replace = true only the columns you declare are shown, so leave NAME out:

   [views."machine.sapcloud.io/v1alpha1/machines"]
   replace = true
   columns = [
     { name = "STATUS", path = "/status/currentStatus/phase", type = "status" },
     { name = "AGE", builtin = "AGE" },
   ]

   Hiding NAMESPACE - no. It's only added in all-namespaces or namespace-pattern mode, and there it's the only thing that tells two rows with the same name apart. Existing replace views also rely on it being added. With pin = [] it scrolls away with the rest, so you get the width back as soon as you scroll right.

I'll create an issue for this and link it here.

[Kumm-Kai]

Thanks 🙂

Regarding "It's only added in all-namespaces or namespace-pattern mode, and there it's the only thing that tells two rows with the same name apart.":
Wouldn't that also be an argument to disallow hiding NAME? So for consistency IMO we should either allow no hiding of NAME & NAMESPACE or allow hiding both.

[nklmilojevic]

Created #988 for this. Closing this one, follow along there :)