DevTools: Show numbers of children by hover or select element

[behnammodi]

For knowing numbers of children by hover or select element

[bvaughn]

Out of curiosity, what's the motivation for this feature? I think adding a hover action that changes what's displayed in a row would open up some edge cases (for DevTools automatic tab sizing) that I'd like to avoid unless there's a strong reason.

[behnammodi]

@bvaughn You're right, what about just having select instead of hover? I mean:

 {isSelected ? `[${element.children.length}]`: null}

[bvaughn]

Same concern would apply there, really. Changing the text in a row would impact the measured width, which could impact our calculated tab sizes– causing things to shift when you click. Not the end of the world, but doesn't seem like a great user experience unless there's a really compelling need for this information. I don't think this is something I've seen anyone asking for. This is why I was curious what your motivation for doing this was 😄

[behnammodi]

@bvaughn 😃, I know your concern, I'm working on a big project so that is very helpful for me to understand which node has how many children. Also, I think we can show this number inside Tooltip, do you agree?

[bvaughn]

I've never seen this feature requested before and I'm still not sure I understand how it's useful. Can you give me an example of how you would use the number of children when debugging a React app?

[behnammodi]

@bvaughn Imagine you use a package as 3rd party, and this package render a list by some behavior and interaction, you need to know how many children rendered at moment, so this feature can help you to understand it

[bvaughn]

this package render a list by some behavior and interaction, you need to know how many children rendered at moment

I think the part I have misgivings about is...whether this use case is common enough to warrant a top-level feature like this. Seems like it's not something I find myself wondering often.

[behnammodi]

@bvaughn I understood, I know this is a specific feature and may it not useful for all, but showing the length of children inside a Tooltip may not have any side effect

[bvaughn]

I think every change (even ones like this) have an effect. For example, showing a number on hover (even in a tooltip) might confuse people. That's why I'm trying to determine if a change has a common use case.

[behnammodi]

Exactly, but sometimes developers don’t ask for a new feature and try to resolve themselves problems in another way, I mean we have to release some features and analyze it that is useful or not

[bvaughn]

Some feature decisions just come down to being judgement calls.

Seems like we don't see eye to eye on this one, unfortunately, but I don't think it's a common enough use case to be added to the main Components tab UI. I may change my mind in the future if I see it come up again in issues or other feedback.

I appreciate your talking about it though, and sharing your use case and thoughts about it.

[behnammodi]

I appreciate too 👍🏻

[bvaughn]

I'm going to close this issue for now. We can re-open it later if feedback changes :)