Form buttons wishlist items

[aware_support]

Could you please be more specific as to which features you need polished?

This particular one with the buttons will take quite a bit of work for what seems to be very little benefit. 5.8 is nearly ready and we have decided not to rock the boat by adding one extra option mentioned in this thread considering the work that needs to be done (most applications do not even have the options that we already provide).

By the way, 5.8 not only has new features but also quite a lot of little changes /improvements to the existing features. However, if there is something that you think the product urgently needs please provide the specific list. We WILL listen.

[nlarson]

Could you please be more specific as to which features you need polished?

Sure. Aware is miles ahead of similar platforms but being a product manager my mind is always looking for ways to improve core strengths and eliminate weaknesses. Over the last few years I built up a big list, I tried to categorize them but do not make any attempt to prioritize. For what it's worth, this is VERY short when compared to my own products so please don't take it offense

These are not all strictly speaking reworking of existing features, but they are all focused on improving the existing core experience rather than creating entirely new functions.

Functional Inconsistencies
• Html Cells Do no support Locale
• Documents:
- Locale date strings not supported
- Read Protect is not supported, i.e. it is ignored by documents
• AwareApp link operations do not support all the same options as their menu driven counterparts. For example, ‘ newObject’, cannot show said object after creation.
• Icon/Formatting rules work in girds, not in presentations, forms, or custom data templates
• Custom Templates allow one set of operation behaviors, custom presentations an alternate method.
• Custom data templates work on double click, everything else is single click
• Different behaviors in pop-up vs. new tab vs. full screen: I tried to standardize on one, but each has drawbacks.
- New Tab: clutters the screen, but is consistent
- Main: leads to situations where the user closes the form and is left with an empty panel.
- Pop-up: gives no toolbar, and often runs off the screen without scrollbars!!
• Right click menu seems to be supported in custom forms, but nowhere else

Ideas to speed up Dev User workflows
• List_Table type function for non-reference attributes – just a list of the items which match a where (Another way to think of this is merge the query result)
• Allow Merge <<fields> > in an email when the html body is stored in an attribute instance. This allows much more efficient management of templates.
• Plug and Play SSL integration
• Modernize the Report designer
• Add a feature to BO to allow definition and naming of Query Display Results layouts. When a query is created or a table of items reference is made the dev would select which Grid Layout to use. This would have massive time when a commonly used BO needs to be retooled.
• Queries should have the number of rows displayed defined by a bo attribute (i.e. a user or system preference) instead of always being hard wired.
• Add a Layout template system, just a few changes would help a lot
- Global Default setting for outside margins on VP content panels and forms
- Global Defaults for frames (banner, left, right, etc = ‘This content’ unless specifically overwritten ina certain VP)
- Global Menu
- Global default for Toolbar Icon/Text settings (with restore to default option)
- Native means to set up a fixed width app
• Copy and paste VP tab contents (for consistency I recycle where possible)
• The configuration tool would benefit from more ‘leg room’ on several forms. The two big ones are
- Editing long rules
- Editing query grid options
• Allow users to enter a hex color value on the color picker
• Editing Access Levels can be very time consuming – perhaps radio buttons for field level access would be better than drop down list for the UI?
• Testing
- Live Test. It would really speed things up if I could edit while in test mode, then simply refresh the page rather then constantly moving in and out of test mode.
- Allow copy live data to test db
- Hot key to accept default and directly go to test without the prompt (to save, reuse data, and check integrity)
- A Query results and layout preview - so time consuming going into test every time.

Enhancements to the Aware End User experience
• Expand 3rd party login options to include LinkedIn
• Make default operations based on entire grid row, not just a link of the text value. Having to click a link in a grid row is confusing to users.
• It would be nice if we could use the HTML tag <form> with an aware link operation (allows users to hit enter to submit, rather than requiring a click)
• Add a "Close Tab" feature for the rules engine using so we can close tabs using This or by TabID. For example if TabID is = XYZ, I could write a rule like ‘Close Tab where TabID = XYZ’ or alternately ‘Close ThisTab’ if the process was started from a button in the form toolbar.
• Allow for a split a menu panel, so the frame can have other content like Message of the Day, or recent items query.


The only entirely net new item I would really like to see is Nested data views to support Hierarchical Data in a single view which supports child level data bands. This would allow for social media like applications and other very powerful data views. I would think this would have benefits to many users. Similar to this topic http://www.awareim.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ht=nlarson

[customaware]

Could you please be more specific as to which features you need polished?

- Allow copy live data to test db

Although it is not an automatic feature it is doable now.

I export data from BASDB and import into BASDBTEST on occassions just to make sure I am testing with "real" data rather than a smaller test data set.

[nlarson]

Although it is not an automatic feature it is doable now.

True, and to be honest my app creates sample data on start up so that item is not a huge issue for me, and other items above can be worked around - but that misses the point. I was just stating my preference to focus on simpler, faster, more elegant Ux in the features we have over volume of entirely new features... Even though much of the above would indeed be new

[RocketRod]

A comment....

AwareIM has a lot of great features/functionality but lacks consistency. For example placing tags in headings is not available everywhere. When a new feature is introduced I would like to know that I can use it anywhere. So I would like a release to come out that just has nothing new implemented but all existing features/functionality are made to operate across the entire product.

Cheers Rod

[Rennur]

Some Improvements / fixes:

Query Grid:

a) Ability to place operation buttons left or above the grid filters.
http://www.awareim.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24921

b) There are icon issues. The settings are available in the Config Tool but are ignored when applied.
http://www.awareim.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=26394

c) Ability to place HTML "Summary" code above the query grid not just below. Probably just below the query header.


Forms:

i) Improve the input mask settings for attributes.
http://www.awareim.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=25388

ii) Groupbox issues with the width setting (couple of forum posts + emailed)

Cheers

[aware_support]

Thank you very much, everyone! Much appreciated.

The next release after 5.8 will focus entirely on all the suggestions from various people.

[Gabbitas]

I would just like to add a few improvements to the post 5.8 wish list also!

1. I would like to see some improvements to the scheduler functionality:

-It would be great to be able to shade the background of the weekends in all views so that its easier to spot them and would make the month/6 week/year views easier to look at.It would be even better if the same could be done for public holidays.
-Would be great to be able to put a scheduler on a form in the same way that you can with a standard query list, chart or calender.
-The ability to be able to print schedulers and display them in reports.
-Be able to view a schedule in the mobile version.

2. Improvements to report designer as discussed elsewhere in the forum.

3. I would like to be able to mark certain attributes and even entire BOs as 'hidden' so that users can't see them when exporting data or building user defined queries. Users would still need to be able to work with those BOs and attributes in the application itself. See this post http://www.awareim.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6097


Thanks

[hpl123]

1. I would like to see some improvements to the scheduler functionality:

Support, there are also still some bugs in the scheduler and it would be nice to have them fixed. Thanks

[Gabbitas]

A few other improvements for the scheduler functionality wish list:

The ability to be able to open an editing form or run a process when a user clicks on a resource from a scheduler.

The ability to be able to choose which attribute is displayed within a ‘bar’ on the scheduler. Currently the appointment subject is displayed but as far as I can tell it is not possible to change this to any other attribute.

It would be great if it was possible to edit the displayed attribute ‘Inline’. So if it was the subject that was displayed then I would like to click on the subject and be able to edit it without opening the form for that item.

BUG?: There seems to be a bug with the default operation on a scheduled item. If there is a process defined as the default that is not the standard ‘edit object’ then the process doesn’t run.

BUG?: If there are say 5 appointments set with start and end times that overlap each other for a single resource, then (usually) only the first 3 items in the scheduler (for that single resource) are shown. When the refresh button is pressed then it reloads with all 5 items showing.

Thanks

Andy

[customaware]

1. I would like to see some improvements to the scheduler functionality:

Support, there are also still some bugs in the scheduler and it would be nice to have them fixed. Thanks

Also....

-Ensure ALL events within the visible time frame are displayed.
-Allow two different schedules in two different tabs to be displayed without being corrupted
-Ability to display Weekends in a developer selectable colour
-Ability to display Day Of Month rather than just Week of Date together with -the Day Letter of week
-Developer formatted (for colour and strength) vertical line for "Today"

[rocketman]

My two penneth. From a Day 1, calendars feature extensively throughout my flagship app. And I'm now introducing scheduler operations as part of a project management module.

Calendars are by far and away the most efficient way of handling time based data sets. The slicker and more robust this part of AwareIM can be - the better.

As a Mac user, I have to say, the ability to export calendar entries as iCal files is a superb feature. On Mac's (incl iPad) it opens up my calendar, gives me the option to select which of my calendars to use and the inserts the entry as I watch.

A GREAT REFINEMENT (in my opinion) would be have the same export button on the edit form that pops up when a user selects a calendar entry. This would save a few clicks whilst a user drills down from a month view to a day view, and allow the user to select just one event to transfer into their own calendars.

[RLJB]

+1 for rocketmans suggestion

We don't use that export feature for that very reason, too many clicks and potential for the user to stuff it up (you can see the support tickets already)

But the need to easily export a single calendar event is there so the user can add it to their diary.

[Rennur]

Some ExtJS 4.x improvements on the DISPLAY MESSAGE notifications.

http://www.eirik.net/Ext/ux/window/Demo.html

Cheers

[hpl123]

Some ExtJS 4.x improvements on the DISPLAY MESSAGE notifications.

http://www.eirik.net/Ext/ux/window/Demo.html

Cheers

Very nice Rennur, have you successfully integrated this solutions?