Element selection in the titles area of a view

[Wim Gielis]

"Must select a single element"...

We all know that in the titles area of a cube view, we should highlight only 1 element in the subset.

[rant mode on]
Can't we just get rid of this behavior / message? For example, have a message box with a check to "not display this message again".
Or delete the message alltogether.
TM1 could use the first element in the subset if no selection is made.
[/rant mode off]

Thanks.

[jim wood]

I would say it's like getting the warning message when you go to delete a file. It's needed. For example if you go to the first element of a subset selection a user may be confused by the numbers in the view. They could even snap shot it and send it somebody without noticing they hadn't selected the right element. By forcing users to select at least and not presume to default to to an item you are making sure that the basic users a) adopt the right behaviour and b) don't get unexpected results.

While I understand as advanced user it can be a pain, it isn't just an advanced users tool. It had to be built and aimed at all levels.

[lotsaram]

Nah I'm with Wim, I think it would be a small but good enhancement if for title dims if no element was selected in the subset editor then it should just default to the first element. Seems like sensible design to eliminate an annoying and non value adding prompt and I think all users would understand and agree with the logic of defaulting to the first element if no explicit selection was made.

After all for a row or column dimension where an element(s) is selected as in highlighted when the subset editor is closed there is no warning message that the set will be reduced to only the selection which is not necessarily intuitive to most users until they have done it a few times since normally to set the selection the "keep" tick needs to be clicked. Same concept, different context.

[Alan Kirk]

I can see both sides of this, though when I first read it my thoughts ran along the same line as Jim's. That having been said I'm not sure that I'd compare it to the File Delete warning; a closer example would be that sodding annoying "If you change a file name extension..." one. I have long since wanted to pummel the idiot at Microsoft who forced that one on us about the head with a large, wet haddock.

In other words both are a reasonable warning for newbies (agree with Jim on that), but at some point they both just get bloody annoying (agree with Wim on that). Consequently there should be a "do not show this warning again" option for both.

(But don't get me started on my long held belief that such warnings should be resettable through an options panel, and not by having to hack an .ini file "Windows 3.1 style".)

[Alan Kirk]

Nah I'm with Wim, I think it would be a small but good enhancement if for title dims if no element was selected in the subset editor then it should just default to the first element. Seems like sensible design to eliminate an annoying and non value adding prompt and I think all users would understand and agree with the logic of defaulting to the first element if no explicit selection was made.

That's not when it's at its most annoying though. It's at its most annoying not when you have no selection, but when you have a multiple selection that you want to use as the new dropdown subset. In the row and column selection example that you went on to mention, these would be kept as the selected subset and the editor would just close. As things currently stand you get the warning, then have to keep the elements, then select only one of them and then you can finally close the dialog. In those circumstances closing it immediately and selecting the first element makes a lot of sense.

It's not a major issue but it certainly comes under the heading of "Perspectives Annoyances".

[jim wood]

Your right Alan. File delete is a little extreme, but it was more for illustrating the point of the need rather than being a direct comparison. I'm more coming at it from a software developers point of view. Consider this, when creating a testing script for UAT you have to keep in mind every possible stupid step a user can make, this is nothing different. The software developer has to lean towards a more cautious approach.

To Alan's point about switching off the warning, having one element selected within the subset is essential for the cube viewer to work. If you're going to switch the warning off then what happens when a user clicks ok in the subset editor and nothing happens? The cube viewer won't work without an elements selected. Will users get more frustrated when they don't realise why they can't get out of the subset editor?

Jim.