Customize visible reporter fields in experiment explorer

[Nicklas Nordborg]

The reporter annotation information display (Reporter View tab) should be customizable like the 'columns' selection in list views. The selection should be setting field order and visibility (cf columns selection). The displayed table should still be two columns.

Replaces 1a from #1375.

[Nicklas Nordborg]

Should this be synchronized with the columns in the "Reporter search" tab? Or does it make sense to have different settings?

[Johan Vallon-Christersson]

Replying to nicklas:

Should this be synchronized with the columns in the "Reporter search" tab? Or does it make sense to have different settings?

To have it synchronized makes a lot of sense since there would be no need for extra interface to customize the view. However, I envision that in most cases one would want more fields in "Reporter search" than in the reporter annotation information display. In the main display the main focus is on assays values rather than reporter annotations, whereas in the Reporter search tab the focus is on reporter annotations. Synchronized fields in combination with a simple +/- option in the reporter annotation information display section to show/hide the entire section (just as for, e.g., Raw bioassays table and Experimental factors table in Experiment properties tab) could perhaps be a good combination?

[Nicklas Nordborg]

To have it synchronized makes a lot of sense since there would be no need for extra interface to customize the view. However, I envision that in most cases one would want more fields in "Reporter search" than in the reporter annotation information display.

With synchronized I mean that the columns in the "Reporter search" list are exactly the same as in the "Reporter view" page. And if the user changes the visibility/order in one place it is automatically updated in the other.

It seems what you want is that the columns are not synchronized.

[Johan Vallon-Christersson]

Replying to nicklas:

To have it synchronized makes a lot of sense since there would be no need for extra interface to customize the view. However, I envision that in most cases one would want more fields in "Reporter search" than in the reporter annotation information display.

With synchronized I mean that the columns in the "Reporter search" list are exactly the same as in the "Reporter view" page. And if the user changes the visibility/order in one place it is automatically updated in the other.

It seems what you want is that the columns are not synchronized.

I meant the following:

Having it synchronized (synchronized as by your definition above) has its advantages: there will be no need for an extra interface to customize the view and perhaps this also simplifies implementation.

Since I envision that in most cases one would want more fields in "Reporter search" than in the reporter annotation information display I was wondering if this could somehow be combined. A solution or suggestion could be to have a +/- option to hide the reporter annotation information display section. That is, the selected fields are synchronized but can easily be collapsed out of view; combining advantages of a synchronized- and a non-synchronized solution.

To summarize my opinion:

• A completely synchronized view is not recommendable.

• If implementation is simplified by going for the combination solution (with +/- option) then do this.

• If implementation is NOT simplified by going for the combination solution (with +/- option) then completely independent customization of the views is the preferred solution.

[Nicklas Nordborg]

I don't think it matters implementation-wise. The current column selection dialog can only be used with table listings. We need a different implementation of the dialog for the "Reporter view" page. The only benefit with a synchronized solution is that we can skip the possibility to change the columns from the "Reporter view" if users are willing to three-step procedure to change the columns.

1. Switch to the "Reporter search" tab
2. Open the columns dialog and make changes as desired.
3. Save and switch back to "Reporter view" tab.

The possibility to hide the section +/- has nothing to do with the this. It can be implemented independently even if this ticket is solved or not.

[Johan Vallon-Christersson]

Replying to nicklas:

I don't think it matters implementation-wise.

The possibility to hide the section +/- has nothing to do with the this. It can be implemented independently even if this ticket is solved or not.

I that case I would favor a non-synchronized solution with the possibility to hide the section.

[Nicklas Nordborg]

(In [5111]) Fixes #1380 and #1381: Customize visible reporter fields in experiment explorer

This was implemented by extending the 'table' taglib with a 'form'-like layout. This means that we can use the existing 'Configure columns' dialog box with almost no modifications. As a side-effect ticket #1381 is also fixed because the string "truncation" is built into the table taglib.