[Javascript] Dirty Button

[Paul Novitski]

At 1/25/2009 12:37 PM, Claude Schneegans wrote:
>Solution looks fine, but where is the problem?
>Why do you need to show the user what he selected?
>If you really need it, just update the "You Selected" innerHTML on a 
>onchange event.


I assume that Tedd's fundamental goal was to ensure (without using 
XMLHttpRequest) a match between the client-side display and the 
server-side data, as set by the previous submit, not simply to 
duplicate the form control settings in the client-side display.

At the risk of being overly obvious, though, I'll point out that the 
principal problem Tedd is trying to solve exists only when the input 
form and the calculated result of form submission coexist on the same 
page.  Another model for the user interface, in which the form and 
its result each resides on its own page, bypasses this problem 
completely.  For instance, the results page might have a 'run again' 
link or button to return to the form which is always populated by the 
current server-side data.  What such a two-page model may lack in 
sexiness it certainly makes up for in unambiguous clarity and a 
guaranteed match between form state and stored data.


>At 1:23 PM -0500 1/25/09, Gene Berger wrote:
>>I like the concept!  The only thing is that if the EU clicks one of the
>>dropdowns but does NOT change the selection, the color of the buttons still
>>changes.  Perhaps if the selection doesn't change the color of the button
>>shouldn't change.

At 1/25/2009 11:03 AM, tedd wrote:
>I thought about that as well, but I wanted to keep the solution 
>simple. I'll give that some thought though.

At 1/25/2009 01:32 PM, Matt Warden wrote:
>It doesn't seem to work if you use the keyboard to alter the select
>values rather than the mouse.

Tedd, these criticisms are radical.  To create a signal that the 
value has changed and allow it to indicate a situation in which the 
value hasn't changed, or fail to signal an actual change, means that 
you haven't finished writing it.  Misleading assistance is worse than 
no assistance at all.

It would be simple enough to download the form with the current value 
duplicated -- say as an element in the control's own class -- so that 
your algorithm can know when it's truly dirty and when it's not.

Regards,

Paul
__________________________

Paul Novitski
Juniper Webcraft Ltd.
http://juniperwebcraft.com