useful form data
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Data form 'required' property UI design
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Which aspects of this design do people want first?
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wiki fields should support the same features as a page that doesn't use data forms
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scottplanscottplan wrote on 16 Mar 2010 12:25

I've posted this elsewhere, but I'm thinking the question deserves its own subthread.

I've tested forms pretty thoroughly, with the hope that I can get to my holy grail: a form that takes what users give it, but reverts to a semi-sophisticated default when they don't. I've mapped it all out, with examples, and I'm just not there yet — the green cells are successes, the red ones are obstacles.

  • For one thing, I can't do much with the data I collect via %%form_data{field}%%. I can't turn it into a link, pass it as a _template parameter, or plug it into a tricky include. Is this because form fields (symbols?) are compiled later?
  • Default values are kludgy. Assuming form fields are eventually living, useful pieces of data, I'd like the resulting page to adapt when certain data is missing. For instance, if a user doesn't provide an email, let's show their username instead. If a user doesn't point to an offsite image, let's look for one attached to the page instead. I'd prefer not to show to the user any @@ (from a tricky include), or :first (even if I did, they don't work anyway). Instead the _template should be able to respond to the data and revert to the right code. Can't do that yet.
  • I think I could get there if includes recognized the data passed to them via forms. I could pass a null value, then ignore it and assign a default value instead.

I'm open to suggestion for how to work with the existing compile sequence. But if there's no way to get there, I'd surely appreciate a way to make form data more useful.

So I'm wondering. James wanted forms to be accessible via CSIs. I want form data to be available for includes. Is it possible to have it both ways?


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