Design Advice

[rudym88]

Hi gurus,

I'm seeking some advice on the best way to accomplish a task. I have a tables with about 110 fields, and i need users to be able to insert data into three fields at a later time via a popover. To accomplish this I am considering two options. 

Option 1 - place the fields in a popover and have the users populate them with the required data, in the pop over there would be two buttons one to close the popover which would also clear the entries and the other to commit and close the popover.

Option 2 - Create global fields and place them on the popover where the users can enter the data and once a "Accept" button is pressed the data is committed and popover closed. 

 

The question would be, is using global fields to enter data on an existing record a good practice?

Thanks

Rudy

[Steve Martino]

Definitely a popover or a card window.  I'd hate to be the user trying to find 3 fields out of 110 to enter data.

If the 3 fields are from the same layout, you're just duplicating them.  You can search the forums for making a popover modal, to go that route.

Or, With a card window you can use global fields and script with buttons 'Save' and 'Cancel' like you mentioned, so the user has to use the buttons to get out of the window.  Then a script would grab the data in the fields, close the card window, and put them into the proper fields on the layout.

[bcooney]

110 fields in one table is a red flag to me. What entity has that many attributes?

That being said, if validation is required on the data entry, a card window would be the way I'd go. Yes, we use utility tables (all fields are globals) for this purpose. Cancel just closes the Card, Save updates the record with the global values.

[Ocean West]

Moving data from real fields to globals and then back to real fields may be dangerous in some business rules and use cases -

as you cannot  guarantee the time between - storing - editing and -committing  someone else may have done this quickly - then  if you are to commit afterward you would have just destroyed their changes.

In this case you may need to open the record locking it from others attempts to edit it. if you decide to cancel your changes you can revert record.

 

[JMart]

The way I approached this issue is; 

1 - placed a button on the portal, which opens a popover and exec a script that inserts the name of the user and data the entry is done

2 - placed the three fields to collect the needed data. 

also placed two buttons "Accept" and "Cancel", once the user accepts it asks the user to confirm the data is correct via "show dialog" then closes the popover and hides the button on the portal.

if canceled is press, it will clear all the fields and closed the popover. 

I am also forcing the popover to remain open, forcing the user to use one of the two buttons.

 

Thanks

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by JMart