Window Lost Behind Window

[Dr. Evil]

Hello! Q: I have in my script to select the correct window, but it does not bring it to the front. How can I bring a window to front?

THANKS FOR ANY HELP!

MORE INFO: I have a layout w/ portal. I have a script that when you click on portal line, it will open new window. In this script, user Abort is off, and ends with script pause/resume indefinitely. This keeps user from navigating to another window and or closing window. This all works fine.

But the new window also has a portal with a script that will open a detailed window of line item.

So at this point, there are three windows open.

Problem is, if user is in the "third" window and clicks on the "first" window the "second" window gets lost behind the "first" window. LOL Make sense?

Even tho if after you close the "third" window and click the first window the second window pops back in front, but not until you click. So it works, just tacky. I want to keep the "second" window in front of the "first" window.

[Vaughan]

"I want to keep the "second" window in front of the "first" window."

You might want to, but windows are generally under the control of the user. How would you feel if an application didn't let you rearrange windows the way you wanted?

It might be time to re-think the opening of so many windows. It might be more appropriate to change to another "tab" on the same window when a portal row is clicked, the tab that displays the related records.

[bcooney]

You're heading down the road of pauses within pauses. The second window opens up and the user is in a pause. To close the window, you have a close or done button, I imagine, that has an exit script behavior which ends the first pause. Having a third window open will require you to maintain the first pause, enter a second pause and back your way out, exiting pauses. It can be done.

However, consider an interface with one window popup. On it is a portal to the left, that when the user selects a row, fields to the right display the detail of the portal row (clicking the portal row populates a global field. The global is used in a relationship to display the detail). In this way, you're in one window and one pause.

[Dr. Evil]

I agree. But I have a LOT of data that gets entered into these line items. I "think" it is too much to display in portal. I will re-think tho and explore other options.

Can you point me in the direction of a sample file the orchestrates this technique nicely? I love simple and clean, and if I can clean up this to work soother I'm all for it.

P.S. I may or may not use the window to front script command, but it would still be good to know. Any idea on how to do that?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND HELP! :

[Dr. Evil]

Gottcha. Wow... this is gonna be a good deal of re-work if I decide to go the suggested route. But worth it if the result is a cleaner easier to use UI.

I have a large chain of records to manage... Projects > Assignments > Timesheets > Products > Shipments.

Thank you :

[Dr. Evil]

So is it a good rule of thumb to not exceed more then one window pop up in the design of a good UI?

[Vaughan]

"Projects > Assignments > Timesheets > Products > Shipments."

I've had systems with long "chains" of tables, but in reality there was only two or three that the user ever need to see -- the views that made the most sense to them.

So (I'm only guessing here) Projects might be able to fisplay Timesheets directly; and Products might display related shipments in a portal, so a single window with two "tabs" for Projects and Products might be a suitable user interface. A popup window might be useful for displaying some other detail, but that might not be necessary all the time.

Think about it. Reduce the complexity. Also separate the "data model" from the "user model" and design the interface around the user's needs.

[bcooney]

Well, I think so!

If you give the user the navigation buttons to "hop" around from parent to child to grandchild and back if appropriate; they should be happy. Or, as Vaughan, suggests, use tab panels. Or portals that when clicked, reveal the details of the selected portal row.

[Vaughan]

Yep, now that I'm in a cross-platform company again I'm moving away from the gratuitous use of windows. I'm only opening "detail" windows where it is necessary for the user to be able to view the details of more than one record at once.

But I'm still learning. And everything is done on a case-by-case, client-by-client basis.

[Dr. Evil]

Bravo.

What an eye opener. I have completely changed the navigation of this complex solution. I have made it navigate more like a website. Which is good considering this is the next step.

Thank you for the food for thought!

[Vaughan]

"I have made it navigate more like a website."

"Website" is definitely the current paradigm... whatever that is. In general "website" emulated typical application design, so I guess it's going around full circle.

WRT website design, two of the most important interface elements are the clickable link, and the back button. I don't believe this is true for database interfaces, and tend to shy away from "back" buttons for general navigation.

Back buttons are good when working through business processes but this is more akin to a modal "wizard" interface.