Improve User Interface for RO Query Results Object Picker

Adrian_Paech

We get a number of complaints from end-users and analysts around the interface for the Query Results object picker (as shown above). They often get confused, and think they can just type in the filter field and this is enough to be able to fill in the field.

When they click submit, the form complains and says the field has not been filled in, however the field is required. Sometimes this produces unnecessary help desk calls.

We have tried to improve the instructions to get around this, however it would be great to see an improved UI for Query Results which is more intuitive for the end-user.

Regards,

Adrian

Adrian_Mataisz

I agree. These are terrible...we don't use them because of how bad they are.

Tony_Collett

It's definitely something that should be looked at. We had a similar complaint at my previous job. 

Michael_Baldry

We've had a lot of negative feedback on these too -- they're not very intuitive for end users. They usually get used to them after using them a couple of times, but it still causes us to get some extra service desk calls when they encounter them for the first time.

Benjamin_Stobbart

Would like to also raise our concern with this one. The more Request Offerings we are releasing the more we are forced to use these pickers. But we are definitely getting confused and frustrated users with very negative feedback regarding the entire form process mostly caused by the impression caused by this functionality.

Benjamin_Stobbart

Can I also add this is even more challenging when a user is presented with the Multi-Select query results that spans over multiple pages and the user is unable to see all of the selected CI's prior to submitting the form.

Adrian_Paech

Agreed. I have had similar issues with Multi-Select query result fields. very un-intuitive.

Cheers,

Adrian

Tony_Collett

Don't forget to vote up if you haven't. The higher the votes, the more visibility it gets. 

Mikhail_Scherbakov

Fully agree! A guy in this topic makes somthing similar, but didnt share the code :-)

https://community.cireson.com/discussion/961/get-every-selected-item-within-a-paginated-multiselect-grid-with-javascript

Adrian_Paech

I had a go at putting together a customisation to improve the UI.

Hope it helps people out.

https://community.cireson.com/discussion/1167/download-improve-ui-on-request-offering-grid-picker/p1?new=1

I still encourage people to vote for this customisation though

Cheers,

Adrian

Mark_Wahlert

This would be great, I only got 1 upvote for this. https://community.cireson.com/discussion/163/proper-ad-lookup-prompt-type-on-behalf-of-with-multiple-selectio-not-the-filtered-ci-list-prompt#latest

Adrian_Salone

If the Query Result control is going to get some love, may I suggest a tweak - create a Combo Query Result that maps the selected record to a relationship (same functionality as it has now), but also maps the user input text search string to a string attribute.

Oh and for the love of all that is sane, provide an option so that we can decide when record retrieval commences.  By leaving the recordset blank until AFTER some search criteria has been provided, this can speed up the perceived performance of the portal.

Marco_Westerhoff

Good point! The current view of a query is not intuitive enough for users. They do not always understand that they have to select an item.

Darryl_Munro

I also have a question on this and it is probably quite simple. I can't seem to find a way to have more that 500 results return. For example I am looking for a user I know exists in the Service Manager DB as I can see it in the console, however when I user Query Result list I can't find that user. Any ideas?????

Adrian_Paech

Under Admin Settings, Setting Items, increase the value of "GridviewRecordCap".

We have ours set to 10,000.

But its up to you what you set it to.

Darryl_Munro

Sweet thanks @Adrian_Paech I had a feeling it'd be something simple :-)

Cheers Darryl

Adrian_Salone

@Darryl_Munro - bear in mind that increasing the GridViewRecordCap is not a recommended practice.  The Service Manager database really doesn't seem to like serving out thousands of records, but YkmMV (metric dammit! ;-) )

Darryl_Munro

I will bear that in mind, however there doesn't seem to be a better way to "select" an AD user for use in an SR. Fortunately we only have 1600 users. If we had the ability to add widget like the Affected User picker then it would be way better. I have up voted it above :-)

Adrian_Salone

@Darryl_Munro - have you tried using (what I call) a pre-search filter.  It's a bit of a kludge but it gives you a way of keeping the max record count low, while at the same time delaying record retrieval until the user actually enters some criteria.  I'm having to do this myself with my portal.

The first step is to add a Text prompt to your request offering ABOVE the query result prompt:
Note that I've appended "(hide search input field)" to the Query Result prompt.  This will be explained further on.

Secondly, you configure the Query Result criteria to use the value entered in the "PC asset number" text prompt.


What this does is prevent the Query Result control from pulling down any data until after the user enters some search criteria in the Text prompt.

Unfortunately, this makes the UI look confusing, so some hacking is required to resolve this. 

Before:


The following javascript will search for any control whose label contains the "hide search input field" string:

// Hide the query result search field (this input field is redundant if we use a pre-search filter)<br>// N.B. do not reset the timer on this listener as this monitor is not to be disabled as we need to continually hide the input field as the user browses from page to page<br>var HideQueryResultFilterInput = setInterval( function()<br>{<br>	if( $( "label.control-label:contains('hide search input field')" ).length )<br>	{<br>		$( "label.control-label:contains('hide search input field')" ).each( function( index, item )<br>		{<br>			$( this ).hide();<br>			$( this ).next().children( "div[data-control-type=queryPicker]" ).children( "div[data-control-type=checkboxGridByCriteriaOld]").children( "div.searchGroup" ).attr( "hidden", "true" );<br>		});<br>	}<br>}, 100 );

After - notice now that only the records matching the user input are retrieved from the database.


I'm the first to admit this is not an ideal solution - I'm currently wrestling with the text field, trying to prevent the input of newline characters (this results in zero records being retrieved), but that's a topic for another posting.

Darryl_Munro

I like it, will have a play around with it and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the feedback and help on this one. Need to brush up on my javascript :-)

john_doyle

@Adrian_Salone I added a customization to the Cireson Uploads page which you might find useful. It allows you to add a tag to the Request Offering which transforms the text/query results controls into a single combo-box with autocomplete.

Sean_Terry

Curious to see how close this is to the road map now? It seems to be 3rd on the list and would make a big difference to the portal.

It would be ideal if certain categories like catalog items had more options like 'quantity' so you can select the same item more than once.

Sean_Terry

Think this one needs a few more votes to become the top request. May need a few more to be accepted.

Sean_Terry

Any update on this?

Julie_Johnson

This has been a pain point since we deployed this solution.  Would love to see this changed.

Sprague_Chris

This is an great idea.  I am looking at changing from the itnetX Portal to another portal and one of the main reasons (besides the slow response of the solution) is the query picker awkwardness for end users.

Luke_S

After recently moving from the vanilla MS Portal to the Cireson Portal, the default Cireson picker has (surprisingly) created a number of confused calls through to our Service Centre.  The additional of some functionality for clients to be able to visually confirm the selection would be greatly appreciated.

Sean_Terry

Luke_S said:

After recently moving from the vanilla MS Portal to the Cireson Portal, the default Cireson picker has (surprisingly) created a number of confused calls through to our Service Centre.  The additional of some functionality for clients to be able to visually confirm the selection would be greatly appreciated.

Same here. In our case users are typing in the filter box and not selecting anything from the list that remains. They then ring the helpdesk when they try to submit and get the error.

Paul_Specht

Adrian_Salone  how and where do I place your code?