Loading...
 
Skip to main content

Features / Usability

Forum List Topic List

 
Thread actions
Print this page
  • Print all pages

    • Looking for a way to construct a form for users to fill in

    Posted by hman

    There is a problem with the use of trackers for a form: The order of the fields seem somewhat "ordered" by random. Even if you meticously create tracker elements in the correct order (that is: The order of the form) the results get ordered by some other, obscure, criterion. It is not the ID of the elements. As primary keys I would have expected that all reports etc., unless specified otherwise, be ordered by ID. But they aren't.

    Since MySQL does not store creation timestamps for table rows (and tracker elements are rows) creation date/time is not relevant (this can also be ruled out by painstakingly taking care of creating all elements in the correct order, even then the results seem randomly "ordered".

    At the moment I cannot spare to time to dig that deep into Tiki's source code to find the precise SELECT that lies underneath. I consider this to be a bug, and it's a bug that renders trackers unusable for more complex forms.

    Reads: 4035
    Posted by Rick Sapir / Tiki for Smarties

    If you're using the Tracker pluginQuestion to display the form, by default the fields are listed in order of the field IDs. You can easily override this by using the sort and fields parameters.

    For even more flexibility in designing a tracker form, take a look at Pretty TrackersQuestion — you can fully customize the tracker form however you want.

    HTH,

    - RickQuestion | My Tiki Blog | My Tiki UserPage

    Why be a dummy? Get smarty! TikiForSmarties.comQuestion
    Tiki for SmartiesQuestion, your source for the best (and only) Tiki books, guides, and tutorials.
    Posted by hman
    Rick Sapir / Tiki for Smarties wrote:
    If you're using the Tracker pluginQuestion to display the form, by default the fields are listed in order of the field IDs. You can easily override this by using the sort and fields parameters.


    Thanks, Rick.

    But there are some problems. First: The default seems not to be by element ID. In fact, not even the tracker admin view does that. Sorting by element ID is set, but still tiki-admin_tracker_fields.php?trackerId=ID displays all field in a random order, which makes form design a tough job.

    I tried to analyze what exactly the order is. It is not the order of field creation time, I could reproduce this by erasing the tracker and recreating it piece by piece in strictly the correct order. Also, in theory time creation couldn't be the reason, as MySQL does not store creation timestamps for records. I could not find any other order that is used. It's not numeric, it's not alphanumeric, so in lack of a better description I have to call it "random".

    This tracker has 18 fields, so the order is of the essence. For instance, there have to be more than one field to store user consent (By law, consent to billing has to be separate from consent to membership, and consent must have date/time as entered by the user). If the order is broken, the form becomes useless.

    Also, the records created in this way cannot be viewed with built-in tools like tiki-view_tracker.php: Same problem, seemingly random ordering of fields.

    Posted by hman
    Bernard Sfez / Tiki Specialist wrote:

    I think the order the tracker fields are displayed is the same as the tracker list view (it was at some point).

    Try to move up and down (save, empty cache, force refresh browser) and check.


    Yes - but tracker list view also presents the fields of trackers in a seemingly random order! Even though default order is set to "by ID", "ascending". It just does not sort as instructed. Reproducibly. Several times I erased the entire tracker, and repopulated it one by one. This works as expected up until (if I recall correctly) the 14th field.

    When you enter tracker fields one by one, they will get incremental IDs, so tracker list view MUST display them in the order they were entered. At some point when entering them, the order breaks. Every time (and always at the same field - so the content of that field's definition obviously plays some role, but I could figure out what that role could possibly be).