I have some suggestions to improve the UI of entries for the code analysis results:

1. Remove arrows on the left. They don't add anything of value to the results.
2. Move error code and name to the end and make them appear in italics.
3. Move line number to be at the beginning, remove line and show it in bold.

In other words, I'd like to see something like this for each entry (this is the first one in my screenshot):

138: TODO: Once we can test that all plugins can be restarted - W0511 (fixme)

Some additional things to take into account:

1. Code analysis is able to receive a directory to analyze all Python files in it and shows the results of each one in the tree. That makes the code quite complicated and it's not easily discoverable, so we should remove it.
2. The roots of the tree (i.e. Convention, Refactor, etc) should be un-collapsed by default after an analysis finishes. That way all results would be immediately visible to users without any additional effort.
3. When the results of real code analysis are integrated in this pane, we should remove the submenu Source > Show warning/error list. It'd make make little sense to keep that menu when this functionality is available.
4. Perhaps we should change the order of the tree roots to be Error, Warning, Convention, Refactor. That way we'd show them in order of importance from top to bottom.

@CAM-Gerlach has some additional suggestions about this which we discussed in our previous UX meeting and I agreed with them.

So, I'd suggest work on this issue should be halted until he post those suggestions.

Sorry, I'd taken a look at this before, but then it fell off my radar during the craziness of PyCon and my post-PyCon mental health break and subsequent catching up with everything I'd missed.

After talking once again with @ccordoba12 , here's our current consensus for now:

• We should replace the current file selection combobox + browse button in the Code Analysis for selecting files with a dropdown identical to the "Search in" dropdown from Find pane, which is simpler, more functional and more consistant. This would have the "File" option selected by default, which would run pylint on the currently selected file (like how the pane currently works by default, and also how that option works in the Find pane. Likewise, it would include the same Project and Working directory options to run pylint on those directories, as well as Select custom directory, Clear this list and a list of the ~10 or 20 most recent selected directories.

  Screenshot

  

• The treeview dropdowns should start uncollapsed by default, down to the individual messages (including when running pylint on a directory), so users can see them more easily. However, if possible, Spyder should persist the (un)collapsed state of the top-level dropdowns between runs and when switching files rather than resetting it to open, and ideally also persist the state of the per-file downdowns (at least between consecutive runs on the same directory). This need not, however, persist between Spyder sessions (i.e. get saved to preferences).

  Screenshot

  

• To make it faster, more discoverable and more consistent to quickly collapse or uncollapse everything depending on the user's needs, we the uncollapse all and collapse all buttons should be moved from items in the hamburger menu to buttons on the second row of the toolbar, to the left of the "view output" button, using the same icons these buttons as in the Outline pane toolbar.

  Screenshot

  

• Additionally, the "collapse section" and "uncollapse section" items are not terribly useful on their own and mostly redundant, so they should just be removed.

  Screenshot

  

• Modify the message text order to put the line number first in bold, then error name in italics with the code in parenthesis (instead of the opposite currently), and finally the message, eg.:

  Line 128 unused-variable (W0612): Unused variable 'plugin_class'

• Consequent with that, change the sort order of the messages to sort on line number first, then error code, instead of the other way around, to match the line number being moved first and to be generally more useful

• Remove the arrow, as highlighted in @ccordoba12 's post above

• Change order to Error, Warning, Refactor, Convention (i.e. reverse the current order) to be in decreasing order of priority