#5628 - Change forms with many tick boxes to multiselects to reduce POST size

By PDStig
Added 27th Feb 2024, 3:06 PM
4 views

Identifier	#5628
Issue type	Minor issue (breaks specific functionality)
Title	Change forms with many tick boxes to multiselects to reduce POST size
Status	Completed
Tags	Roadmap: Over the horizon (custom) Roadmap: v11 partial implementation (custom)
Handling member	PDStig
Addon	core_form_interfaces
Description	In v11, there are some forms that use form_input_tick, but could have many ticks. This could cause issues on servers limiting the number of POST parameters that can be submitted. Ticks add 3-4 POST parameters per tick. I had this issue on a server which hard-cut parameters off after 500. Update the following screens to use multiselects instead of ticks to reduce POST parameter counts: * admin_modularisation * cns_warnings hooks (needs done for the karma non-bundled addon as well) - Actually for "content deletion" (not posts) we could use all_and_not to make it easier to mass-delete spam content. We don't want to do this for points and karma though because we want staff to more carefully review those items. * Ideally the profile data tab, but we do need the descriptions * Anything else you can find
Steps to reproduce
Additional information	You may wish to add an "estimated POST parameter count" calculation within catalogues and to give an attach_message warning if a catalogue has so many fields the POST count could exceed a certain value (let's say 250). Or, just document this potential problem and include the estimated number of POST parameters for each field type. Additional optimisation: Add a hidden field in cns_warnings hook for deleting content containing all of the content that were offered for deletion. That way, it'll be easier to use all_and_not.
Funded?	No

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Rating

Unrated

Comments

By Guest posted 24th Mar 2024, 2:34 PM

We already have a workaround for this. See modsecurity_workaround.

By Guest posted 25th Mar 2024, 12:55 PM

Ack, I already did this change for modularisation and cns_warnings. Part of me wishes to keep the change for another reason... multiselect takes up less space on the screen. This is especially important for cns_warnings as it loads content / points ledger records from the last 7 days. Even though there is a max, that's still a lot of tick boxes especially on mobile. And it makes the screen very long.

But then again multiselect is also not as mobile friendly. Hmm... I may need to think this one over.

By Guest posted 27th Mar 2024, 9:38 AM

I would say if there is a good native solution that isn't hacky, that doesn't require our hack (modsecurity_workaround), that's better. Less hacks is better.
If multi-select doesn't work well on mobile that's interesting, but I think fundamentally there's no reason that shouldn't work well - so maybe mobile browsers need to be better.
Or maybe down the line we need to have some kind of abstraction over multiselects.
I think multiselects are good.

By Guest posted 27th Mar 2024, 9:56 AM

I'll check into it. I still need to replace my phone. I'll hold this issue. Once I have my new phone in, I'll see how easy multiselects are. If they're acceptable on mobile, I'll resolve the issue. I would test it in my desktop browser but I want to understand the UX ease of use as well... e.g. the physical interaction on the phone screen of selecting stuff.

By Guest posted 28th Mar 2024, 10:05 AM

I just kind of think on some level the wider development community shouldn't jump through hoops if Apple/Google etc haven't made a proper web UI for multi-selects. There's no fundamental reason why that should be hard. If everyone just doesn't use a part of the web standards base because the big companies can't be bothered to support it properly, it enables that behavior.

That's me putting principles about practical UX though.

By Guest posted 31st Jul 2024, 4:57 PM

I think we've done enough on this issue for 11.0 for now. Modularisation and cns_warnings has multiselects. Those were the big areas.

By Guest posted 17th Oct 2024, 1:08 PM

Actually, we also need this on addon install screen and on file integrity scan. (Problem with file integrity scan is it's part of installer which uses a minimal interface).

By Guest posted 17th Oct 2024, 2:04 PM

Added ModSecurity workaround for modularisation page and addon install page.

Issue rejected for file integrity scan. It cannot be implemented reliably.