[Figleaf-developer] Re: Object associations

[Greg S. <ste...@on...>]

Regarding #2. There will have to be some mechanisms added so that the object can specify to
the gui more details, such as when to use a chooser. I'll leave that for another day.

For now drag-and-drop everywhere should get us going.

Greg



Quoting Greg Steckman <steckman@on...>:
 
 > Any ideas on how to establish object associations/relationships other 
 > than using drag and drop?
 > 
 > 
 > Greg
 
 From a UI point of view, I can see three approaches which a (rich/thick client)
 UI might want to use:
 
 1. Drag and drop ala the existing NO UI. When done right can be very easy and
 intuitive to use. The only problems here are handling it consistently - the
 moment the user realises they can drag and drop one thing, they start trying to
 do it with everything.
 
 2. Drop-down combos/list choosers. Drop down combos work with a *small* number
 of options (< 10 I"d say), but in some circumstances might work better than drag
 and drop.
 
 3. Popup dialogs - the user clicks on an button next to the field in question
 and they then get a chooser dialog (could be a standrad built in dialog used for
 queries).
 
 4. Automatic associations - in some cases the system might define associations
 porgramatically.
 
 Given that we are building this from the groud up, providing consistent drag and
 drop should be an easy task and works in most circumstances, and I would prefer
 this approach, accepting that the user could drop in their own views (or
 alternates we provide) which could support other association mechanisms - I"m
 not sure what you think on the matter?