Correct behavior when adding new items

Submitted by markfoley on 2009/06/11 07:06
I saw the below item in Mantis (see pasted stuff at bottom) and it'd be good to get thoughts on this one since its so fundamental to how this tool works as an outliner/database.
 
Basically the issue yclipse raises is that when you hit enter it automatically creates a new item which you may not want.  I know I've found myself with a bunch of blanks at the end of my list because of this though its a minor prob- though I find it helpful when I'm taking meeting minutes and things.  To me the best behaviour depends what you're doing.  If you're maintaining a to do list or something you want enter just to commit the current item, but if you're doing 'outlining' you probably want it to move to the next blank line automatically. 
 
Options are:
a) Enter just commits the item as yclipse mentions.  Getting in the habit of hitting double-enter would be easy enough as you add

Drag/Drop Hierarchy Equation

Submitted by Al on 2009/06/10 19:53
I have a hierarchy equation set up to add groups of sub totals on a single grid, the sub-totals are monthly sub-totals. I would like to drag and drop between the monthly sub-totals and have the sub-totals recompute. The drag to sub-total adds correctly, but the drag from sub-total does not subtract out the amount. Is there a way to do this automatically or at least manualy, Refresh has no effect.

ItemHasHtml - not

Submitted by jan_rifkinson on 2009/06/10 16:46
In grid I have:
columns = ItemHasHtml | Item (and others)
 
Situation:
item with html data
ItemHasHtml = yes
delete data in html pane
ItemHasHtml = yes  (& cannot be deleted manually; it is read only & a system field)
 
Shouldn't this flag be gone as well as the data?
or does flag remain because there is header info in html pane?
is this related to the web clipper issue seeing html codes?
 

HTML pane

Submitted by james8games on 2009/06/10 13:31
I have come across two problems in the HTML pane:
 
1) when a few lines of text are typed in, a line is selected, and the indent button is pressed it indents the text but also drops it down about 3 lines.
 
2) if I type in a url, for example www.google.com and enter browse mode, the buttons (google buttons) don't work though I can click on the links. That is not so much the issue as when i exit the browse mode and click on other items, the HTML pane does not get updated. It just shows the same Item id in the pane title.
 
Thanks,
James.
 

use of icons - methodology

Submitted by jan_rifkinson on 2009/06/10 09:17
In outlines, I have found that graphic representations, i.e. icons, sometimes helps focusing one's attention.
 
I see that I can add an icon to the  beginning of a text field
I could probably create an icon 'text' column & add one there
 
but I started wondering about an icon field property
 
Does anyone have any thoughts about the use of icons - pro or con? 
Or ideas about the best approach to icon use?
 
Thanks.
 
--
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield CT USA

Clipping with Firefox

Submitted by james8games on 2009/06/10 06:13
1. Everytime, i clip something from firefox I need to refresh the grid to see the item. Can this be fixed ?
2. Also, if i have the IDItem field displayed, as new items are added, the IDItem field does not show a value for the new items and in this case too the grid needs to be refreshed.
3. When something is clipped, is it possible to specify where the clipping should go to ? Like to a particular highlighted item in the grid rather than at the end ?
 
Thanks,
James.
 

Help! Simple auto assign question

Submitted by markfoley on 2009/06/10 04:56
I have a grid with a text field called 'test'.  I want it to default to something whenever I add a record.  I realise I couId set a default for the field in manage fields, but I'm trying to get auto assign working and besides that change would affect all grids.  Using the below command works in Manage Fields -> Equations -> Auto assignment rules, but not in "Manage Grids -> Auto assign the following fields" :
 
A:test="this is a test"
 
I am putting this in the field I want to drive the change with (the trigger field)
 
Is that because this box is to constrain which fields in the grid are affected by the 'field driven' auto assign rules, or can this box contain rules?  I notice it mentions comma separation instead of | (pipe) separation.
 
Thanks
 

Flags for grid visibility - how to approach this?

Submitted by markfoley on 2009/06/10 03:56
When entering an outline or plan, you tend to promote/demote items in the tree as you're organising it.  The result (see right column of screenshot) is some being 'in the grid' and others being children because of which level you 'initially inserted' them at (root or as a child of another item).  Eg 'effort estimate' was inserted at root level then moved to become a subitem so it has the flag but shouldn't.

This will probably make grid based search/filter results unpredictable.  What is the best option to make this intuitive for users?  My thoughts:

- This flag could change immediately whenever you promote/demote it (probably best).
- Could have an option that runs through the current visible items, setting the flag to true for 'root' items and clearing it for 'child' items. (less reliable)

Thoughts?