User picker with "Other" option

RE: User picker with "Other" option

Robert Shankin — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 18:46:12 GMT

I had the same thought as - if you're committed to using a picker here, and it must include "~~other~~" or some such, you'll need to configure a custom picker, not a user picker.

Agree with Stewart Burchell as well, here.
Prioritize your objective over the implementation details. There more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.

RE: User picker with "Other" option

Mike Schmitt — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:47:19 GMT

I agree with Stewart - in particular, the way I would consider approaching this is by adding a side-by-side control next to the user picker field, something like a checkbox labelled "other" or "user not yet in system", etc. Upon checking this box, the original user picker field would gray out and another field could appear allowing free-text entry. Or if you feel like slightly more juggling within the SAIL code, you could make the user picker field itself "switch" to a text field when that checkbox is checked (in the background you'd just have both components shown/hid conditionally on the value of the checkbox).

Secondarily - will you not be keeping a database table with information on your current users? If you did, you would have an easier time with the custom picker field, but more importantly, you'd have other options like showing a filterable grid of users that the person filling out the form can select from, as this would provide easier visibility into when the details they attempt to enter don't match a current user (and AFAIK there is no 10,000 item limit when dealing with filtered&paged queries like this).

RE: User picker with "Other" option

Stewart Burchell — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 11:24:08 GMT

Well, since you're reliant on the end User to decide whether to pick 'Other' (when they can't find the User in the picker) why not have a separate component that they can simply fill out the details of the User they can't find.

RE: User picker with "Other" option

nikin — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 10:59:16 GMT

We have a mandatory question in a form which asks for a name. This name should come from the list of users, however, in some cases that user may not have accessed the environment yet and so an account would not have been created yet for them. In this scenario we need an 'other' option for them to select so that they can populate a text field the name of the person.

RE: User picker with "Other" option

Stewart Burchell — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 10:32:29 GMT

What is the overall objective here? (I ask because it's possible you may be trying to solve the wrong problem). The big picture will help the community understand what you're trying to achieve and possibly offer up other solutions that don't even involve the user picker...