Experience Builder woes

[JoshWhite]

I am really struggling here.  I am a Web App Builder hold out because the Experience Builder still lacks the functionality that I need.  I need a search widget that gives me more options on what to do.  The current search widget gives me a result but doesn't actually do anything, it won't pan to the result.  It does add something to the url which when submitted will redirect.  That is certainly less than ideal.  There is also still no way to print a map which my users still want.  I would love to be able to move to EB because I really need the grouping functionality that WAB does not offer, but I cannot make the move without these widgets.  Its been several years now since the EB was developed and widgets are always promised.  What ends up happening is these advanced widgets end up getting updated like Elevation Profile, Suitability Modeler which are great features if you need them but still not very helpful if the basic widgets are not working.  Why are features like WAB that actually work not getting updated instead of developing new features like EB?  

[ahargreaves_FW]

Thanks @jcarlson. That's my issue - I have a beautifully styled "new" web map that now I need to throw out as it won't work in WAB. And every time I open a web map in "classic" mode I get told that the new map viewer is "out of beta!". Awesome, but those maps aren't backwards compatible.

Rant over.

[JoshWhite]

That is my biggest gripe about this whole thing.  If you are not going to make something backward compatible at least make it capable of doing (or at least comparable with) what the previous software did.  

[jcarlson]

I'm sure it'll get there eventually. EB is miles beyond what it was when it first released. I'm not exactly holding my breath for the more niche WAB widgets (Parcel Drafter!), but the rate of development has been pretty good so far.

[JohnSasso2]

@JoshWhite I empathize.  Herein lies the problem w/ Esri, in that they are pushing new platforms which are supposed to supersede existing platforms, which are NOT ready for primetime.  In this case, Experience Builder w/r/t Web Appbuilder.  Esri should never have pushed out EB until they made available at least what is available in WAB, and provided good, clear, thorough documentation for EB (having been an IT tech writer, the EB docs often leave me shaking my head).   It is the same thing with the AGOL MapViewer, which is replacing MapViewer Classic.

I wish Esri would stop with the Force It Out Today, Fix Tomorrow (FIOTFIT) approach to their software.  For a GIS developer like me, it is very, very frustrating.   Sorry, but I had to vent!

[DavidForbuss1]

I feel ya, having some pretty big issues myself with the url formatting.  It went from a simple straightforward design that works, to a complicated "what in the heck does that even do?" approach.  I really really need  my map to be able to zoom to a feature from a url link in another software package (billing software in this case). Doesn't look like I'm able to do that in EB.