User Interface Enhancements - Desginer Table-Style interfaces are awkward

[#1]

There are a number of additional button clicks required for a “power user” to add items than should be needed in the Table-style interface used for Business Objects, Roles and other objects in the BPM Designer. Most require either using the mouse or additional key-presses that should really not be needed.

Creation

For things like Business Objects and Roles that have the tabular interface in the designer, the UI can be painful to work with when creating a new item.

For Business Objects, when the window is open the first row indicates “click here to add a new row”. I position the cursor in the name field resulting in the icon to the left changing to indicate editing the row and the cursor appears here. As soon as I type something though (typically the first character of the new object I am creating) the row fills in with the name populated with something generic like “BusinessObject1” disposing of the character I typed. The next character will replace “BusinessObject1” appearing in the name field.

The expected behavior would be that anything I type in the field would contribute to the name of the new item. As a result, most of the new Business Objects I create end up missing the first character of the name and require me to go back and re-edit the line.

Updating Supporting Settings on Create - 1

After typing the name, just like in a spreadsheet I would hit tab to reach the next cell (in this case Type). Here the tab results in the row being added to the lower part of the form, and generally not selecting the item I just created. As a result I need to find the item I created and select the row so I can manipulate the other settings. Convention typically has a carriage return moving to the next row/adding the row, and tab ONLY moving to the next cell until you reach the last cell. Due to this interface, every time I enter the new name I have to then use the mouse to find the item I just created in the table so I can change the subsequent columns of information (Type, Connection, Read Only, …). This is the case for Business Objects and Roles

Updating Supporting Settings on Create – 2

If I right click in the grid I can choose to “Insert Above” or “Insert Below”. Once inserted, if I select the name of the row created and update it I can tab to the next cell to update that item. As a regular user I type in the first character of the word I want, and since there is only one with that character it selects it. I can then tab to the next field and do the same. If I don’t hit “Return” after finding the item I need in the drop down I am left with additional windows open with the drop down choices. As a result I now have to tab into the field, type the start of the word I want, hit “Return” and then tab to reach the next field. If the step of tabbing to the next cell would close the drop down window this could be a little easier.

[#2]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to encounter this and find it annoying at the least ... I don't like how starting to create a new BO in the "add" section then typing a single letter of the BO name, my "editing" row disappears and shows below with the letter I typed, thereby having to select said row (after only a single character) so I can do the actual intended edit.

[#3]

Could not agree more. I just never got up the enthusiasm to explain it all as Todd has - many thanks!