Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

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10/17/2011 1:25:40 PM
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Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

Joe,

Using Form Wizard Pro on client site: is there any way to control drop-down values (Ex: states. "Alabama" display, "AL" value)?

10/17/2011 1:37:13 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

Sorry but no the display and value are the same, there is no aliasing of the items, so you would either have to use abbreviations or full state names.

Best,

Joe

10/17/2011 1:45:43 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

Mind if I add that to the Feature Request list, then? It really is a relevant need for most forms. Even if it's the ability to import an XML file containing the options (extension of "import question" functionality?), it would be helpful.

10/17/2011 1:58:58 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

I'll ponder it but I'm inclined against it because it would require making it possible and required to enter both a display and value setting from the UI (and it would require storing both in the database) and that would complicate things more than I would like. I really think the UI needs to be as simple as possible, and the answer choices are supposed to be the answer choices, what you see is what you get. I think it is perfectly reasonable to display the abbreviation and use it as the value as well or display the full name and use it as the value as well.

Best,

Joe

 

10/17/2011 2:29:19 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

I understand your perspective, but let's extend the use case further. Example: we have a list of 20 locations, and the client's internal system tracks by Store #(TX10258340021-002), but for usability, the visible label is "Main St. - Lewisville", because that's what the user knows. This is a pretty common scenario; it would really be beneficial behavior to incorporate into Form Wizard Pro. Default behavior could be designed to add a checkbox asking "use option for value?", which would address your concern for a required value entry - UI would only display "value" for option if checkbox is selected. 

10/17/2011 2:40:03 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

You could do some post processing on the form data after exporting it to handle that kind of thing or even implement a custom form submission handler to automate it.

I realize that I'm not going to make everyone happy but for now my answer is no on this and I think saying no is the right thing to do in this case for similar reasons that Steve Jobs mentions about saying no

Best,

Joe

10/17/2011 3:12:44 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

Having to write a custom form submission handler to add drop-down values would seem to diminish the value of using the form wizard; after all, it's not much more work to just create a form and have done. 

I understand that you've got to focus your time on the things that are the most sustaining. I'm not sure I agree on your thoughts, but I respect your right to make that decision. I just hate to see a great product have that sort of limitation; it really does keep it from being as usable for larger projects, and that's a shame.

10/17/2011 3:32:49 PM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

the form submission handler would not be for adding items to the dropdown list it would be for translating the displayed values into the non displayed values once the form is submitted and either pushing the data somewhere or sending a custom email with the values translated ie from the street address to the store number in your example.

To me if its a "larger" project then certainly it seems reasonable to do custom post processing of the data to meet the project goals.

 

 

10/18/2011 11:07:33 AM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

Hi Joe,

For what it's worth, I also think there would be a lot of value in separate display/value settings--I'm pretty sure I also brought this up some time ago when we had a need for it. You're absolutely right that we can work around it, and did for our case, but I also think it would be a nice extra FWP selling point if you decide to implement it someday. I completely understand about the complexity issue, and I'll keep working around it. I hope you don't think I'm nitpicking or dogpiling on you--FWP is a really fantastic product and a tremendous value with or without this enhancement.

Thanks,
Jamie

10/18/2011 11:12:03 AM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

Hi Jamie,

Actually IndigoTea emailed me with some more points in favor of it and I've decided to implement it. I think what I will do is have a setting to enable showing the extra inputs so that by default we can keep it as simple as possible, but more advanced users who need it can enable it.

Best,

Joe

10/18/2011 11:43:26 AM
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Re: Form Wizard Pro: Drop-Down Values?

That's wonderful news, Joe, thanks for the update!

Jamie

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