Design: Edit Branch Rules

This issue is a design issue to discuss the design of the editing view of branch rules

• Validation
• Branch rule detail view

Questions

• How to create a new branch rule?
  • Will allow creation of a new branch rule similar to how protected branches work currently
• How are matching branches to a rule displayed?
• Is it clear to edit the entire branch rules as a big form?
  • Will move ahead with editing per section because this would align with how we would approach an iterative rollout of editing protected branches, merge request approvals, and status checks.
• Do you reset/unprotect branch protections? #369518
  • Will add an ability to delete a branch rule
• Should editing/viewing details be using the 2-column layout? gitlab-org/gitlab-services/design.gitlab.com!2869 (merged)
  • Will explore in design

added to epic &8075 (closed)

changed the description

added Category:Source Code Management UX groupsource code workflowdesign labels

added devopscreate sectiondev labels

mentioned in issue ux-research#2056 (closed)

mentioned in epic &8075 (closed)

@pedroms You brought to my attention an alternative design that looked at using radio buttons for selecting roles for protecting branches #340401 (comment 1230340413).

I explored the concept and I think using radio and checkboxes could work even with the scenario of specific users.

Current	Radio button concept	Branch rules: Radio and checkboxes

Why is "Specific users" disabled for "Allowed to Merge"? This is the scenario where "Developers + Maintainers" are selected as "Developers" and "Maintainers", is that not everybody in the project? I know there could be Guests but should people with Guest roles be pushing or merging?

Feedback requests

1. I am still refining the approach for editing specific users so that it is more of a streamlined experience. A modal popping up to add a user one by one is slow. Is there another approach that could work? I was thinking of one of these approaches dropdown (like Labels in the sidebar) or a search to add interaction. Is there one pattern here that would be worth exploring further than another?

Dropdown	Search to add

2. Do you have any concerns about the language use of eligible users as a radio option? I saw we use that kind of language elsewhere in the product.

FYI @nradina

@pedroms Let me go back to the drawing board because these checkbox options for "Developers" and "Maintainers" don't make sense because we currently only allow "Maintainers + Developers" and "Maintainers" (which is also incorrect to me) because it should be:

• No one, or
• Maintainers, or
• Maintainers + Developers

and

• specific users

The scenario for "No One" and specific user(s) is #231333

@mle thanks for this exploration, I like where you're going. You have a good point about leveraging radio buttons for the “specific users” as well, instead of a dropdown for everything.

My main point of critique is the consecutive indentation that seems overkill to me, with too much variation of alignment:

1. Could we convert the “No one” and “Eligible users” radio buttons into a button group (like a segmented control)? This may help with needing fewer levels of indentation.
2. Does the list of specific users also work if it's aligned with the “Specific users” checkbox?
3. Can we align the “Force push” option to the left, instead of being indented?

For selecting specific users, I like the “Search to add” option you shared above. I assume that the majority of protected branches that have selected specific users/groups don't have that many selections — it would be nice to get this data, if feasible.

In terms of what's possible today:

1. Only Developers+ can push or merge by default (see permissions table).
2. Both “Allowed to push” and “Allowed to merge” also support selecting specific groups besides users — the documentation incorrectly indicates that only “Allowed to push” supports selecting specific users

mentioned in issue #368138

added 1 design

Designs as of Jan 17 2023 https://www.figma.com/file/VW62kiJZvAmjJqSdmDVvhW/%23362212-Branch-rules-MVC%3A-Adding?node-id=2045%3A76476&t=M44zR7lL4VdijQX1-1

@mle Address feedback provided by @seggenberger from this comment #389058 (comment 1296797071)

mentioned in issue #389058 (closed)

mentioned in issue create-stage#13149 (closed)

marked this issue as related to #411536 (closed)

removed the relation with #411536 (closed)

marked this issue as blocked by #411536 (closed)

mentioned in issue create-stage#13156 (closed)

closed