[5.38] Make Navigator More Navigable

Completed

Zack Robison

March 22, 2023 19:43

VertiGIS Studio Workflow 5.38 removed the root node, set the initial state to collapsed and added expand/collapse buttons.

The Navigator panel is awesome, but I don't use it much because it's messy and kind of difficult for me to parse and actually navigate.

Could we at least get form elements and their subworkflows collapsed by default?  Or maybe collapse everything by default?  That would help me out a lot, at least, to navigate a Workflow more hierarchically.  It would be cool to have a collapse/expand all button for this.  These could be user preferences instead (or as well).

It would be very cool if we had the ability to collapse all navigator elements by a certain nesting level too (e.g. anything nested 3 deep), but I'm not sure that I would use that functionality often if a few of the other ideas here were implemented, might be nice as a user preference though.

Speaking of preferences... could we maintain the Navigator collapsing state in the WF itself?  So if I spent time getting it how I liked it then it would be like that for me next time I opened the WF?  Might be a lot to tie that to users, but maybe having a button in navigator to save its state to the WF itself would be a lightweight addition that works for a majority of users.

Maybe not everyone is with me on this, but I find the amount of scrolling to be a hinderance for using that navigator.  I would very much like to use it more to get around more quickly, like when I want to get from deep within a nested forEach to some form element subworkflow, but it takes me longer to use Navigator than to use the rest of the UI.  I feel like it's so close to being something that would make my job easier!

Also, a small thing: I'm not sure what making the navigator top-level workflow collapsible accomplishes.  That level is totally superfluous as far as I can tell, unless you are planning on simultaneously placing all workflows open in designer into the panel in some future release.

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  Ken Lyon

  January 22, 2024 17:06

  Hi Zack Robison,

  Thanks for your idea, or should I say ideas. There are a lot of good suggestions in here. We made a few improvements to the Navigator in VertiGIS Studio Workflow 5.37 which we released a week ago.

  1. The Navigator can now be docked to the right of the screen for a more vertical layout. This helps show more of the overall tree at a time.
  2. The designer now remembers whether the navigator was open or closed, and which location it was docked to the next time it's loaded.

  I'll see how many of these other ideas we can introduce. I'm sure we can add some enhancements.

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  Zack Robison

  January 25, 2024 04:46

  I'm stoked for the new QoL improvements, thank you Ken (and team)!  That side view is going to make writing these bigger WFs better.  I'm also excited about the compaction of forms in designer, which is a definite improvement, and the update to the tab key.  Most appreciated!

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  Ken Lyon

  February 09, 2024 22:52

  Zack Robison You're welcome. I'm glad you like them! Keep a look out for 5.38 in early March - it's going to include some of the things you've been asking for in this thread:

  • All collapsed by default.
  • Removed root node.
  • Buttons for expand/collapse one level.

  There's also a new "Show in Navigator" option on the three-dot action menu on activities/form elements to take you to where that thing is in the Navigator.

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