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I'm working on an application which helps user to create XML from UI and below is the UI screen shot.

Problem statement: User can create field groups and fields attached to it, there will be 20+ fields per field group, user can add/delete/edit any field group, fields after adding anytime.

User can also annotate each fields with cleaning and dedup operation, which will be processed via system later on, and I'm showing this feature through checkboxs

Questions:

  1. Apart from cleansing, dedup there would be three more options like display on UI, ordering of fields through down/up arrow. How do I show it, shall I put 1 more check box and up/down arrow on the right most.

  2. As there would be 20 + fields showing and generating lots more plus, minus, checkboxes, up/down arrow will create mess.

  3. Is there any available UI matching with this use case?

FYI: I have a tree structure on the right of the form which shows tree view of XML.[Not attached]

enter image description here

UXbychoice
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1 Answers1

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Specific answers, with assumption that you have reasonably savvy users

  1. Consider supporting drag & drop to reorder items rather than arrows.

  2. The important data entry states (in this case the check-boxes for "Visible, Cleansing, DeDup") should always be shown. An option is to only show the manipulation controls (in this case "delete; add below; move up/down") when user hovers over the item. However do note discussion at UI: Hover/focus to reveal controls?

  3. Restricted XML editing was a common problem, few I have seen do it well. Altova have worked hard at this Normally a better approach is to let the user enter data as suitable for the logical domain (i.e. conceptual template they want to express) - and let the XML be a background process. To be explicit, in you case can just let users edit a tree of objects with fields.

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Jason A.
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