re: Help with pattern for reusable large chooser / select

Andrew Otwell
Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:09:26 -0000

> -User creates invoice and fills out some fields (e.g. description)
> -User clicks "select creator" link that takes them to a user
select
>  page
> -On the user select page they can type in a partial name, click
> submit, and the matches are returned. When they find the one they
> want they click a "select user" link. This link returns them to
the
> invoice page, populates the "creator" field and keeps all of
their
> previous edits (e.g. description).

Why the extra step?
1. create invoice
2. On the invoice, the user enters a name in the "creator" field.
3. On submit, if the name doesn''t match one from the db (it might),
show
nearest matches and ask them to choose. No point in even asking them to
choose unless you know there''s a failure.

If you book airline reservations online, you see this a lot: I type
"Austin" as an airport and it asks if I mean "Austin, TX" or
"Austin,
OR", or "Austin, NY".

But consider using Ajax, even an -based solution. There
aren''t
as many client limitations as you might think.