Posted by Tony Marston on 07/20/05 12:17

"Gordon Burditt" <gordonb.1qkk0@burditt.org> wrote in message
news:11dqf1sa7b3po49@corp.supernews.com...
> >First, always use the POST method to update the database.
> It would be nice if that were practical.

Tell me why it is NOT practical?

>>Second, do not put a separate set of buttons against each entry, use a
>>single set for the whole page.
>
> This is WAY too clumsy a user interface for what I want.
> Do you have stock in a medical corporation that treats carpal
> mouse syndrome?

It is not clumsy. I have been using a similar interface on desktop
applications for 20 years and no user has ever complained.

> On your page I can only see 10 records at a time, and there's a
> lot of space between them. I'd like to see at least 30.

That's what the "show 10 | show 25 | show 50 | show 100" hyperlinks are for,
to allow you to set your own page size.

> Without
> scrolling (on a 1024x768 display).

You cannot guarantee that everyone has a screen resolution of 1024x768

> But I don't mind scrolling if
> there's hundreds of records. The different sort orders available
> usually put the records I'm interested in at the top.

The column headings are hyperlinks which, when pressed, will cause the data
to be sorted on that column. I mean ALL the data, not just the data in the
current page.

>>Put a checkbox against each entry so that the
>>user may select one or more entries, then when a button is pressed it
>>performs that action against those selected entries. Take a look at
>>http://www.tonymarston.co.uk/sample/person_list.php for an example.
>
> Selecting more than one record at a time is rarely useful for
> my purposes. The idea is to enter updates as needed, not save
> up a whole batch of them and enter them every few days.

It may not be useful for your purposes, but other people find it VERY
useful. It is not about storing updates for several days and then applying
them in a batch.

In your method I suppose you can only select one record at a time in the
LIST screen before you can navigate down to a DETAIL screen. If you then
want to move onto another record you have to exit the DETAIL, return to the
LIST screen, make another selection, then activate the DETAIL screen again.
Using my method you can select all the records in the LIST screen (that's
what the "select all" hyperlink is for, by the way) then activate the chosen
DETAIL screen. This shows you the first record that you selected, but gives
you scrolling options so that you can scroll forwards and backwards through
all the records you selected WITHOUT having to return to the LIST screen.

How do you like THEM apples?

--
Tony Marston

http://www.tonymarston.net

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