InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by jimspoon on 2013/03/21 13:55

I wish the All Fields section would work a lot more like the Folders Pane in Ecco.

Ecco has an "Edit Folders" function that enables you to add / delete / rename / promote / demote / rearrange folders in place in the folders tree via the keyboard. Right now it's cumbersome in IQ to add a field and position it right where you want in the field tree. There should be right-click options in the field tree so that I can do things like "add field below at same level" or "add field below at next level right".

It should be possible to rearrange (promote / demote / move up / down) fields by keystrokes just like it is done for items in the grid.

Also I was experimenting with some journal entries I imported from Ecco via CSV. I tried to create subfields under the "Journal" field, with "2012" as the second level field, and "01" as the third level field. Tried selecting all the 2012/01 entries, and then checked the "01" subfield to check that field for all those items. Results were very unexpected. The "item text" for all the items was replaced with a "-1" !! Obviously I can't have this kind of thing happen. Will do a little bit of experimenting to replicate this. Any thoughts are welcome.

Also it could be convenient to be able to have a "parent field" checked whenever a "child field" is checked.

Comments

I agree. It should be easier to add, remove, & arrange placement of fields, ideally about as easy as editing items. Doesn't have to be the same as editing folders in Ecco, (although I'd be happy if it was), but should be as easy to edit. I'd vote for this as a feature request.

Pierre?

This is not an Ecco request but a long time IQ request / buglet (perhaps). Every time I add data & <ENTER> in an all fields property field, IQ jumps to another point in the properties pane. As a result, I have to scroll back to where i was. An example would be while entering an address; street, scroll, city, scroll, state, scroll, zip, scroll. What a PITA. Anyone else?

Jan, I agree!

Jon

I never got a response to this suggestion.

It should be easier to create child fields and arrange them in the field hierarchy.

Why not make it possible to do this directly from the "All Fields" section in the Properties Pane?

It should be possible to right-click a field in the field hierarchy, and click "Add a Child Field".

As it is - I have to add a new field in the Field Management Dialog. And then to make it a child field of another field, I have to scroll through the field list, find the Field ID of the field I want to be parent, and that enter that Field ID as the "Parent ID" of the new field I am creating. This is cumbersome to say the least.

All of this is very easy in Ecco. Please bring this functionality to IQ.

thanks

hi Jim

[quote=jimspoon]

you can move fields by drag and drop in "All Fields".

Make sure hierarchy is displaying - see the symbol to the right on the all fields header:

then,

to make a field a child field of another, drag and drop - works the same way as in the grid.

I dont think you can change the sequence. It can be a little quirky I find, but it works here.

Tom

edit:

+1 to all your other suggestions btw!

thanks for your reply Tom. Dragging and dropping is certainly good to have. I hope we get the other options too - moving fields with keystrokes (as in the grid), and also the ability to create a child field by right-clicking on the parent field. Shouldn't be a major thing eh?

I was going to post a question asking for tips on how to more easily create fields but I see the issue has been raised before and I don't see any indication that it's been addressed. It's a pain to create new fields and it shouldn't be that way. You should be able to directly create fields in the property pane or by right-clicking the column header. When you create a new grid with lots of new fields it's annoying to have to go through the present round about method.

The thing that's most troubling to me is that Pierre did not post a comment to this thread. InfoQube has many excellent features but it's more difficult to use than it should be. This is the number one reason I'm hesitant to fully commit to the program and I think it's likely the biggest barrier to gaining new users. I know this issue has been raised a number of times by others. I'm frustrated by the slow progress these issues and the seeming focus on instead adding more and more complicated features.

OK, that's enough ranting. I know there have been many improvements to make InfoQube easier to use, so I don't want to sound ungrateful. I just hope there's more coming.

And, of course, please correct me if improvements have been made to field creation that I'm not aware of.

Wayne

Hi Wayne,

You are quite right, easier field creation should be implemented. I'll add it to my To-Do list.

I guess, I was more concerned with fixing bugs and improving the Calendar. And as long as field can be created, by some means, I was always pushing back streamlining the process.

Improving the UI has been addressed quite a bit in the last year or so (and those waiting for the Google Calendar Sync may disapprove), but there is still a lot of work to do !

HTH !

Pierre_Admin

[quote=WayneK]

[/quote]

Hi Wayne,

You're describing 2 issues :

1- generating/populating a grid with a specific set of fields,

2- creating new fields.

At the moment, there are already a few ways to do #1

a- through "field properties" windows/dialog (check the show column at the right), accessible when you're already creating fields, or by right clicking on a grid column, etc.

b- through the "add/remove columns" option in the context menu, when right-clicking on a grid column,

c- by dragging/dropping fields directly on the header of the grid, from the properties pane.

And there's mostly one way of doing #2 (creating new fields)

What other solutions do you have in mind, for #1 / #2?

For #2, you seem to mention being able to create fields on the fly. This could be handy -- I think I suggested that a long time ago, for the add item dialog. It would have to allow type selection, but , obviously only that basic field configuration would be possible

One thing to keep in mind : although fast field creation can be a blessing, it can also promote mess... Nothing is harder to manage (IMO) than a DB with thousands of useless/forgotten fields.

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