Is there a way to prompt users to connect a non-auto-connect interface during installation?

[Mark Shuttleworth]

On 12/02/17 09:30, Aaron Hampton wrote:
> I am working on snapping a desktop application that needs access to
> hardware-observe. Is there a way to prompt the user to connect the
> interface during the installation of the snap? Or is the only way to
> have the user run snap connect?
>
> I found this comment:
>
> "
> Just to state the plan of record, we intend that store assertions can
> pre-approve some auto-connection, or cue up a prompt for interactive
> installations where the user is asked if they want to connect.
> So in your case, the experience should become something like:
>
>   $ sudo snap install handbrake
>   Allow 'handbrake' to access DVDs? (Y/N) Y
>   handbrake 1.3.2 installed
> "
> In this thread:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/snapcraft/2016-October/001281.html
> That's exactly the type of interaction I'm looking to implement, but I haven't been able to find any more information about it. 
> If that's not available yet, is there any other recommended method for connecting interfaces that might be a little easier for less knowledgeable end users? 

OK, there are three pieces you need, one of which is now in place.

We already have a way for the store to tell a device to auto-connect
some interfaces. We don't afaik yet have a way for the store to prompt
the user (i.e. offer the user a pre-defined CHOICE of connections). That
will require some thinking about UX, to define how the interfaces should
be offered, what language to use, where the appropriate descriptions of
the interfaces should be stored, how we will handle translation etc.
This is an interesting problem because we are determined to avoid
techno-choices ("connect core:db-access to flubber:funkyjohn?") that
don't mean things to end users. That means we need a way to offer the
choice which provides a reasonable basis for a correct decision by
less-than-average-insightful users. And finally, we need to design and
implement how that get expressed in the desktop GUI from a store like
GNOME Software or the KDE equivalent. That latter piece will probably
use all the hard thinking about UX from the CLI version, but obviously
it's a separate bit of work to express it in the GUI.

I would look to the core team to lead the CLI UX work, which can be done
in a shared google doc.

It would be up to the desktop GUI folks to figure out the expression in
the desktop.

Mark
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