Better interface for showing and editing automated fields

[MmmMaarten]

After inserting fields it seems impossible to see in the viewer what fields are inserted. We can use 'Highlight fields', but it only shows THAT there are fields in use and where they are. They don't show WHAT fields. Also there doesn't seem to be a way to change or remove automatic fields from a text instead of removing the text and inserting another field.

There are <fieldname> texts in layer names, but:
- This is not a visual representation of the fields in the actual view, which is what I'm after and is important to locate/debug fields without guessing
Next to that:
- We want to give layers names, so than this isn't visible anymore AFAIK
- Fields can also be used inside other (larger) texts, so that makes it impossible to show and locate these fields
- We use a visual editor to edit visually, not guessing from a layers name where the field might be in the visual viewer

Also:
- There seem to be an issue in the view of both pagenumber and pagecount fields in the viewer. Sometimes these are shown as an hashtag (#) and sometimes these show the real value. Both cases these don't show what fields are being used in the viewer: the # can be a pagenumber, but also stand for pagecount for example. The same goes with values if these are shown instead; we can't see by a value what field it stands for.
- How can we now remove fields without removing the text? It doesn't seem to be possible

Concerning fields the interface looks a little primitive and needs some improvement IMHO.

I would suggest something like this quick draft (see image):
When 'Highlight Fields' is enabled in the menu..
- You get to see the field-names in the view next to the fields (see blue texts in the image) (if these names overlap we can always zoom in to show them fully)
- You can rightclick-contextmenu --> edit field on a field to show the 'Field Chooser' for that field in order to change or remove the field-filling from the text (remove the field by setting the dropdown to 'None')

 

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, wigglepixel said:

the # can be a pagenumber, but also stand for pagecount for example.

Do you have an example where pagecount shows as a #? I've never seen that one.

4 hours ago, wigglepixel said:

How can we now remove fields without removing the text? It doesn't seem to be possible

If you've added, for example, the Page Number field, and you don't want that field, just select it and delete it. Or select it and replace it with another field or some static text.

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Overall, a good set of suggestions for making fields more visible and understandable.

 

[Joachim_L]

5 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Do you have an example where pagecount shows as a #? I've never seen that one.

On a Master Page current page shows up as #, total pages appear as a figure.