Rails - Aug 2007 - "Choose from These Options, or Create a New Option"

Let''s say I have a dropdown selection list of existing teachers. The
user can (1) select any one teacher, or (2) create a new one.

How would you tackle something like that?

I''m thinking what I could do is check if there''s any data
inputted into
the "new teacher" field -- and if there is, create a new teacher. But,
the issue with that is the user might also have an existing teacher
highlighted, so that creates confusion -- (not to mention bad
usability!)

Based on your supreme knowledge, how would you approach something like
this?
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Bob Sanders wrote:
> Let''s say I have a dropdown selection list of existing teachers.
The
> user can (1) select any one teacher, or (2) create a new one.
>
> How would you tackle something like that?
>
> I''m thinking what I could do is check if there''s any data
inputted into
> the "new teacher" field -- and if there is, create a new teacher.
But,
> the issue with that is the user might also have an existing teacher
> highlighted, so that creates confusion -- (not to mention bad
> usability!)
>
> Based on your supreme knowledge, how would you approach something like
> this?
>   
I don''t think you should allow people to create new teachers this way -
you need to control the quality of people who teach the future!!  :-)

But seriously, I''ve given the same thing some thought for one of my 
applications (and haven''t yet implemented anything for it) but in my 
opinion, there are a couple of main ways to do it:
1. Have an option for ''Other (enter below):'' and the person
has to
select that option and enter a name in the new teacher box.

2. Use Javascript & AJAX that if such an option is selected, it darkens 
out some of the screen and shows a div that allows you to create a new 
teacher record and then updates the select box.

3. Have a checkbox that allows you to create a new teacher.  When the 
user checks it, the drop down select list is hidden and a new field is 
shown for creating a teacher.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Mohit.
8/24/2007 | 6:01 PM.



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> Let''s say I have a dropdown selection list of existing teachers.
The
> user can (1) select any one teacher, or (2) create a new one.
>
> How would you tackle something like that?
>
> I''m thinking what I could do is check if there''s any data
inputted into
> the "new teacher" field -- and if there is, create a new teacher.
But,
> the issue with that is the user might also have an existing teacher
> highlighted, so that creates confusion -- (not to mention bad
> usability!)
You could use auto_complete_field to have a simple text field.  They type 
in the name, it pulls up a list.  If they don''t like one of those
options,
they finish typing and (assuming you only need the teacher''s name) you 
create a new teacher record when they submit the form.

If you need more information, I''d have a "Other/New" option
in the select
box, and have it overlay a div asking for that info like the other poster 
suggested.

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Philip and Mohit,

Thank you for the replies! I''m going to try all of your various ideas 
and see which works best. The AJAX one sounds really cool, and I think 
would be very use-friendly if done right.

Of course, relying on my skills isn''t the best, so we''ll see
what
happens :)

Thanks again!
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Bob Sanders wrote:
> Philip and Mohit,
>
> Thank you for the replies! I''m going to try all of your various
ideas
> and see which works best. The AJAX one sounds really cool, and I think 
> would be very use-friendly if done right.
>
> Of course, relying on my skills isn''t the best, so we''ll
see what
> happens :)
>
> Thanks again!
>   
Bob,

If you do get the AJAX one done, do consider sharing :)

Cheers,
Mohit.
8/26/2007 | 5:03 PM.




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On 8/26/07, Mohit Sindhwani
<mo_mail-RxrYI66vbj0AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
>
> Bob Sanders wrote:
> > Philip and Mohit,
> >
> > Thank you for the replies! I''m going to try all of your
various ideas
> > and see which works best. The AJAX one sounds really cool, and I think
> > would be very use-friendly if done right.
> >
> > Of course, relying on my skills isn''t the best, so
we''ll see what
> > happens :)
> >
> > Thanks again!
> >
>
> Bob,
>
> If you do get the AJAX one done, do consider sharing :)

I do this in quite a few different places in my app..  In one
instance, an Event belongs_to a venue, so I give the user the option
to select any venue from a list, or they can create a new one by
clicking on the "Create new venue..." option in the dropdown (I use a
javascript onclick handler to detect when they select the appropriate
option).  I then display a hidden div which contains a form for
creating a new venue.

An event can also be associated with an artist, so I use an ajax
autocomplete field to display a list of artists.  I then use something
like @event.artist
Artist.find_or_initialize_by_artist_name(params[:artist_name]) which
will either retrieve the Artist with the given name, or it''ll create a
new instance, which will then be saved when I call @event.save.

So the Ajax code isn''t necessarily very complicated,  it''s
just a
standard autocomplete field and uses find_or_initialize_by_*.

Adam

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