select list behavior ?

OK, so I have a list of features of an item. The list is about 30 entries and a typical selection is 10-15.

I have implemented this with a straight select list.

The issue is that if there are 12 already selected and I want to add #13 I need to remember to hold the control button down before I choose the entry or I will lose the previous 12 selections.

Is this behavior controllable at all ? I can see it becoming a big issue with the end users.

I have written something before that has 2 lists with add and remove buttons. This allows someone to add choices without messing up the current list. I am assuming I will need to do that in this case.

Andy

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kaalraa

OK, so I have a list of features of an item. The list is about 30 entries and a typical selection is 10-15.

I have implemented this with a straight select list.

The issue is that if there are 12 already selected and I want to add #13 I need to remember to hold the control button down before I choose the entry or I will lose the previous 12 selections.

Is this behavior controllable at all ? I can see it becoming a big issue with the end users.

I have written something before that has 2 lists with add and remove buttons. This allows someone to add choices without messing up the current list. I am assuming I will need to do that in this case.

Andy

Hi Andy,

I support you in this, as the same we have also implemented because of the fact we have around 100 of values within list box and users came back saying that they have to sometimes check back whether we have checked that particular or not, keeping a finger over Ctrl button.

We have gone a step further in implementation where we have given choices as Move Selected>>, << Remove Selected, Move All>>, <

Adam Stoller

OK, so I have a list of features of an item. The list is about 30 entries and a typical selection is 10-15.

I have implemented this with a straight select list.

The issue is that if there are 12 already selected and I want to add #13 I need to remember to hold the control button down before I choose the entry or I will lose the previous 12 selections.

Is this behavior controllable at all ? I can see it becoming a big issue with the end users.

I have written something before that has 2 lists with add and remove buttons. This allows someone to add choices without messing up the current list. I am assuming I will need to do that in this case.

Andy

We once implemented something a bit simpler - and it was for metadata capture, but could just as easily be implemented for a regular DCT... Instead of a select list, use a callout and have the callout read all the values and create an alphabetically arranged and indexed list of the items each with their own checkbox - when you're done, you save all the values to a (optionally hidden) field as a single string of comma or semi-colon separated values.

The add/remove stuff may be a nicer interface depending on the size of the lists (total and what you expect to have selected at any one time), but IMO, requires fancier coding which may eat up development time via debugging...

nipper

We once implemented something a bit simpler - and it was for metadata capture, but could just as easily be implemented for a regular DCT... Instead of a select list, use a callout and have the callout read all the values and create an alphabetically arranged and indexed list of the items each with their own checkbox - when you're done, you save all the values to a (optionally hidden) field as a single string of comma or semi-colon separated values.

So I would create a bunch of check boxes instead ? How many items did you use ? I can see that getting to be a pain pretty quickly.

The add/remove stuff may be a nicer interface depending on the size of the lists (total and what you expect to have selected at any one time), but IMO, requires fancier coding which may eat up development time via debugging...

Yea, having done it once already the formapi to make it work correctly was not trivial.

Adam Stoller

So I would create a bunch of check boxes instead ? How many items did you use ? I can see that getting to be a pain pretty quickly.

This is a basic CGI window - not the DCT window - it's basically like an index page - except that instead of just listing the items alphabetically with a top-alphabetic index of links to the first entry that begins with each letter - you do that and include checkboxes next to each item.

If the item was previously selected - you show it pre-checked, otherwise it is unchecked.

On Submit - you collect all the checked values, join them with a separator and stuff them into a text field (hidden or displayed)

With a bit of aesthetics it's not that bad - and it scales well to very large lists IMO.

ansari1279

Hi,

I have done the similar implementation with the use of calling CGI in callout.