Enhanced Search Widget Version 2.23.1 - 11/22/22
Robert J, yes you can do that and Robert S has done it in his preview too, only he is using an icon as the link. We use the link function similar to the way you describe. It sounds like you want to use text so under the Search Links you just select the Link Type as Text. Give it an alias, and enter the hyperlink field in the Link content. It works great.
Hi Robert,
Your Enhanced Search Widget and Identify Widget is now almost perfect. It is amazing how well it performs on all Desktops and Laptops with a pointing device such as a mouse or trackpad.
I was wondering if you could add a few minor enhancements to improve the usability on some Tablets.
I will run through a few examples with screenshots using the following devices:
- Apple iPhone 6
- Apple iPad Air 2
- Google Nexus 9
- Microsoft Surface Pro 3
I am testing them against your Enhanced Search Widget 1.1.6 and Identify Widget 1.1.2
http://www.TapasDas.com/Maps/Phones/app31
First, let's test the behavior of the Enhanced Search Widget on an Apple iPhone 6 where it rocks!!
When I open the Enhanced Search Widget, I get the By Attribute Pane which fills up the whole screen. Wonderful!
I can tap the X icon which closes the widget.
I can tap the Search button which returns my results.
The Results Pane displays my Search Results.
I can tap on the down arrow to go back to the main Map.
If I want to close this In-Panel Widget, I have two choices.
I can tap on the eSearch icon.
or,
I can tap the X button on the bottom bar.
Both work as expected on an iPhone 6.
This is perfect.
Now let's repeat this process on an Apple iPad Air 2
Open the Enhanced Search Widget
Tap Search
The results pane displays the results.
I can tap on the header and drag the results pane to a different location.
However, I cannot close this pane by tapping the X button on the header!
The only way I can close this In-Panel widget is to open another In-Panel widget.
In this example, when I open your Identify Widget, it closes the Enhanced Search Widget.
Now I am stuck with the Identify Widget. I cannot close it.
I can open your Enhanced Basemap Gallery to close the Identify Widget.
Can the Life Cycle of In-Panel Widgets be modified to fix this issue on Tablets?
Here is another usability issue I am facing. When I activate a Selection Tool by tapping it once, it turns gray. This is perfect.
However, when I tap it the second time, it still remains gray.
Unless the gray background is toggled back to white, I have not visual clue as to what state this is in.
Let's try the same steps on a Google Nexus 9 Tablet.
Open the Enhanced Search Widget and tap Search on the By Attribute Pane.
Here again, I cannot close the Results Pane. I can move the widget, but I cannot tap X on the header to close the widget.
Just like on the iPad Air 2, the Search Tool does not display the deactivated state when I tap on it again.
I can chose a different tool, which deactivates the previous one.
But now, I cannot deactivate this new tool.
Visually, it keeps showing the gray background, although in practice, the tool is really deactivated.
Finally, let's run these steps on a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 which is a hybrid device.
I am using Firefox version 37.
I can tap the X icon on the screen and it closes the Enhanced Search Widget as expected.
Works perfectly!
Once an In-Panel Widget is closed, it is grayed out, showing that it is closed.
There are no issues closing a Widget on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
These leads me to these 3 enhancement requests to make the user experience better on Tablets.
Add a Minimize button on the header of the Widget
When you close the Widget, it also removes the selection graphics.
A minimize button will allow me to keep the selection graphics on the screen, while preserving the screen real estate.
All your Flex Widgets had this minimize option.
Make the Close button work on Tablets
Add a None Section Tool
This will remove the ambiguity. You can tell that no Selection Tool is active, when this Null Tool is gray.
I need to deactivate the selection tools when I am trying to Pan the map.
Thanks again for the wonderful tools you are creating for us. I hope you get a special recognition for all your hard work on the Web AppBuilder at the ESRI User Conference!
Tapas
Stan,
Yes, that works!!
Now you have established yourself as the master of workarounds 
Another solution would be to add a Pan Tool on the map itself right below the Zoom In/Out Tools.
This way the user can switch modes.
Thanks,
Tapas
Hi Stan,
That is an awesome tool!
You have developed the perfect solution.
I will be using your Widget that includes the Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Pan controls.
This is the best part of this discussion list. There is always a helpful expert willing to share their solutions
Hi Robert,
Your Multi-part graphics option is an excellent feature where one can define more that one graphical selection area before hitting the Search button.
Further, one can set a buffer distance to buffer these selection graphics prior to running the Search operation.
Could you tweak this a little bit to make it possible to mix and match the selection tools within one session?
To illustrate what I am trying to do, let's examine 6 test cases:
http://www.tapasdas.com/Maps/Phones/app31
In the By Shape Pane, I am enabling multi-part graphics.
I am setting the buffer distance to 1 mile.
Case-1:
I am adding 2 points on the map
When I press Search, a 1-mile buffer is drawn around these two points, and all the Schools within these buffer zones are returned.
The is perfect.
Case-2:
I am adding a Line on the map.
Next, I am adding a PolyLine on the map
When I press Search, I get a 1-mile buffer around the Line and PolyLine, and it finds all the Schools within these buffers.
Perfect!
Case-3:
I am adding a Rectangle, a Circle, and a Polygon on the map.
When I press Search, it draws the buffer around these shapes and returns the Schools.
Marvelous!!
I am amazed that your tool can handle this.
However, let's push this a little further.
Case-4:
I am adding a Point followed by a Line
When I press Search, nothing happens.
I have to restart the application.
Case-5:
I am adding a Line followed by a Rectangle.
When I press Search, nothing happens again.
Case-6:
I am adding a Point followed by a Rectangle.
When I press Search, nothing happens.
Will it be possible to enhance this Widget so that users can freely mix and match selection tools during a multi-part graphics session?
Thanks,
Tapas
Question -- I'm attempting to replicate the "Select" widget functionality from Flex viewer, by using your eSearch widget. I have one map server with over a dozen layers, and I want to create a search for several fields in each layer. While it will take some time to set up, it is not actually that complicated and will be useful once done. Basically, I want users to be able to search by Name, Address, Parcel Number, Property value (greater than and less than) and a few other things. But, we have a parcel layer for every year going back more than a decade. So for each single field in each layer I am creating a query that allows user input. I have no use for pre-set inputs so I just put a 0 in. I wish that was not a required value actually. Is that a limit of the API or WAB? I notice the same thing, it's required value, in ESRI's Query widget. Minor quibble.
But I do have a feature request that I think would be extremely useful to me and many others. Allow us to select which attributes to show in the Results pane. You allow this for Identify, thankfully. Because, if there are 50 results (and there will be at times), and each result has 20 attributes, that means a user can only see one result at a time since the result takes up the entire vertical space in the eSearch widget Results pane. Instead of being able to see about 10 at a time, if I elected to only display Name and Address. Do you know what I mean? Screenshots below demonstrate this. Again, Identify allows this perfectly. The way it accomplishes this is with the Checkbox in the setup options "PopUp Only" under the Included Fields section. So, you can display only Name and Address for each result in the Results pane in the Widget panel, yet display all attributes in the Popup. Perfect! I'd like this in eSearch widget. Except instead of the Popup it would apply to the Attribute Table where the results are added. In other words, I'd like to see only two or three attributes per result in the Results panel of the Widget (Name, Address) but I would still like to see ALL attributes in the Attribute table. The reason being, if you go to export to CSV you'll probably want all Attribs. Would this be possible as a future feature enhancement? Would anyone else find this useful? And if so Thank you!!!
The example below shows how useful this concept is in your Identify widget. Notice how I have opted to only display 3 attributes for Tax parcels. Yet the full complement of attributes are present in the Popup. If this could be mirrored in the eSearch widget, with Attribute Table retaining the full set of attributes but with the widget allowing us to only display certain attributes in the Results pane that would be great.
Aha!
I agree with you Raviteja that it would be a nice feature to have on the Enhanced Search Widget, just so that you can limit the search layers that show up in the drop down list.
We have Web Apps with 76 layers.
With the current implementation of the Enhanced Search Widget, you get a drop down list with 76 layers.
It can be daunting to scroll through to get to the one you want.
If there was a Visible Option, I would see only the search layers in the list that are within the scale threshold.
This would greatly reduce the number of layers I see in my drop down list, and improve usability.
Hmm...one more enhancement request for Robert...
Tapas
Thanks, Robert. I'm trying to reply to you in that discussion but I get the following error message. I've logged out of geonet, cleared my cache and even tried in a new browser and get the message each time I try to reply.
