Limitations of Refining Layout For All Devices

[DaveFullerton]

I have reviewed the documentation (Version 1.0) here: https://developers.arcgis.com/experience-builder/guide/refine-layouts-for-all-devices/ but want more clarification about current and future limitations. 

I start a test project by adding a Text Widget to the layout for large screen devices.  Then I switch to the layout for medium screen devices and set the layout to "Custom."  I move the Text Widget to a different area on the medium size page and set the font size of the Text Widget to a smaller font.  I go back to the layout for large screen devices and see that the Text Widget has not moved but the font size has been reduced to that which I had intended only for medium sized devices.  Therefore, not all changes you make to a widget within a specific layout size are isolated.

My questions are: 

1.  I have found that I can, for example, move the Text Widget in the medium sized layout to the "Pending List" and replace it with another.  Should that currently be the standard practice, or are there other ways of achieving what I am looking for?

2.  Is there a clear delineation about which properties of all widgets can be isolated from one layout size to another (e.g., only widget placement and top level dimensions)? 

3.  Is there a plan for a future release to allow full isolation of widgets?

[DanJiang · Accepted solution]

Hi Dave, 

Thanks for your questions. Here are the replies.

1. What you did is the standard practice. 

2. Only the size and position settings are isolated.

3. You can use the process you did in question1 to achieve the "full isolation" (which means two widgets). We will provide copy/paste function in the upcoming release. You can copy a widget with its original settings and make some changes. Since it generates a new widget, the changes won't affect the original one.

[DaveFullerton]

Thanks, Dan.  It helps to know the plan.  I had imagined copy/paste the widget (and widgets within the widget, I assume) would be a likely plan.  I also envisioned it as being an extension of or additional option for the "Move to the pending list" function.  I have also imagined that the pending list could get a little hard to navigate in a larger project.  It might be helpful to be able filter out widgets that have been duplicated vs segregated.  And it does make me think that there could be some suggested best practices for naming widgets that might help too.

[DaveFullerton]

I think the correct answer to number 2 is actually that all of the settings on the Style panel/tab are isolated in ExB version 1.  I cannot be certain of that, but that is what I have found generally.