First let me start this off with some good news. The left-hand object bar has been further tweaked and reorganized. I previously commented that "process model / interface search results" being at the top of the list (as they are in 22.3 and lower) makes it harder to access the Smart Service Nodes we're after when that's what we're actually searching for. It looks like they listened! Yay!
But for the main point of this post: i've noticed that Grid Lines are now turned off by default and there is no way to undo this except by turning them on manually every single time you load a process model.
At first I was hoping this was a bug in my Community Edition instance, or some incomplete feature or temporary break. But other users are now posting screenshots from 22.4 versions around community and it seems like it may have been "intentional".
Hey Appian folks? This may have been intended to "look cleaner" or something - but to me, psychologically, it makes me think something hasn't loaded correctly. As far as I know, with as long as I've been looking at process models with grid lines, I anticipate this effect will last a long time.
I see they're still there. They're redesigned but I guess I don't have any major qualms with the newer, simplified grid lines (i'll paste an example below for everyone's reference). Can we just have them turned back on by default? Could it at least be given as an override in designer user-level preferences or something?
I know the product backlog is huge, lots of higher-priority stuff, etc. But I think this is something that wasn't necessary to change.
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If anyone from Appian sees this anytime soon, here's a non-exhasutive list of Process Modeler quality-of-life features that I've been tracking for a long time now (not 22.4-specific of course), but all of which would improve designers' experience anywhere between "small but frequently helpful upgrade" to "dramatically better" (imho).
If anyone else agrees or has suggestions on any of the above, please upvote / comment / let me know otherwise somehow. Or should each of these just be submitted as individual support cases?
Agree with pretty much all the suggestions here!
Mike Schmitt said:Variables in Expression Editor: welcome (re-)Addition, however they leave a little bit to be desired. What is the data type of this CDT field? Is this PV a single or array item? Currently there's no way to tell, and these should be available at-a-glance.
In my little 21.1 instance I have mouse-overs for data types in the expression editor, that is gone in 22.4?
Dave Lewis said:Also, restart gateways.
Yes! Not sure why we have never gotten the ability to restart gateways. I find myself having to edit process instances to put dummy script tasks in front of them to restart at that point.
Mike Schmitt said:Right-clicking on Flow Lines should show standard functionality (chaining, labels, etc) FIRST, and then "suggested nodes" after that.
Definitely annoying to have Activity Chaining at the bottom, when it's basically the only thing I ever right click on the lines for. I'm fine if they remove the Suggestions all together. I don't know of anyone who would right click a flow line thinking, "Should I put something random here?"
A few more adds from my perspective:
1.) Default End Nodes to Terminate. 90% of my end nodes Terminate, and it's 5 extra clicks each time to configure one as such.
2.) I would prefer removing the auto-connect which occurs when dropping a node on a flow line. This has caused me more hassle than it's worth, when moving nodes around in a tightly organized process and you don't realize something has changed flow, a debugging nightmare ensues. Seems backwards as well to build a flow and then add services instead of adding your functionality/services then connecting them in order.
3.) Differentiate Smart Services in the left panel by Plugin or Appian/OOTB. This could help developers realize which plugins they are using, and look for OOTB solutions that might fit the bill first.
I'm sure I'll come up with more
Chris said:In my little 21.1 instance
oh sweet summer child.Wait until you get the Appian version with "New! Improved! Expression Editor boxes!" - these match more closely the interface / expression rule editors. It *was* an improvement, to be fair - but they totally removed the left-hand panel of PVs / rules / etc. Look at some old threads from the later half of 2021 to see us griping about this. As Stefan mentioned in another thread I saw just yesterday, they re-added a brand new, revamped left panel in 22.3. But the granularity of detail there, as I noted, is not super great (much better than nothing of course, but leaves a bit to be desired).
We'll be up there enjoying all of the new "features" very shortly..
Chris said:Default End Nodes to Terminate
That's one I've mentioned myself in the past, somewhere around here. Not sure why I didn't think to include it in my list above.
Chris said:the auto-connect which occurs when dropping a node on a flow line
I dunno there. I use that one a *lot*, personally. There's nothing quite as satisfying as connecting (and chaining) a start and end node, then laying out a skeleton-process of other nodes between them and not having to re-draw the connection lines every.single.time.
I do think it could be tweaked and, perhaps, give us a hotkey to temporarily disable it or something. Though IMHO if it's causing you constant issues with tightly packed processes or multiple overlapping flow lines, that indicates maybe a misdesign in the way your flow lines are currently setup. I'm constantly cleaning up old nightmare-fuel process models where you can't trace any flows since they *all overlap*... but that's on those original devs.
Chris said:Differentiate Smart Services in the left panel by Plugin or Appian/OOTB.
And, identify what plug-in something is FROM, at least maybe on the node configuration screen. The fact that this is (still) so opaque is really unbelievable.
Mike Schmitt said:I dunno there. I use that one a *lot*, personally. There's nothing quite as satisfying as connecting (and chaining) a start and end node, then laying out a skeleton-process of other nodes between them and not having to re-draw the connection lines every.single.time. I do think it could be tweaked and, perhaps, give us a hotkey to temporarily disable it or something. Though IMHO if it's causing you constant issues with tightly packed processes or multiple overlapping flow lines, that indicates maybe a misdesign in the way your flow lines are currently setup. I'm constantly cleaning up old nightmare-fuel process models where you can't trace any flows since they *all overlap*... but that's on those original devs.
I can see how this could could go either way, maybe a checkbox/control to turn auto-connect on/off. I guess most of my work since this became a feature has been in enhancing older processes, vs creating new.
..and in many cases, the developer is Old Chris which built a massive process in 2012 with what features were available at the time . Ones you show to newer developers, and they say things like "Sweet heavens!!"
Chris said:Ones you show to newer developers, and they say things like "Sweet heavens!!"
LOL, same here usually.
Though when enhancing old processes, usually the "drop-a-node" is a lifesaver to me - if I don't feel like dealing with it, I'll just go around and clear out some of the surrounding flow lines first and re-draw them afterwards. But things that used to require like 15 steps, like adding a new dummy node to be a "merge" between flows, is super swift now that you can just drop nodes on lines, especially if you understand how they work (like, drop a script task on the main flow line, then drag and re-drop it on the line where you want the "merge" to happen, and by magic, you now have a Y-merge, instead of having to manually re-draw everything).
Chris said:turn auto-connect on/off
To clarify on my understanding somewhat, though, what exactly would you hope the new behavior to be, and what would this accomplish / allow you to accomplish that you're currently prevented from doing (or by dropping nodes just-slightly-off the current flow lines, for instance)? I'm struggling to envision how i'd use this feature if it were added, TBH.
Mike Schmitt said:To clarify on my understanding somewhat, though, what exactly would you hope the new behavior to be, and what would this accomplish / allow you to accomplish that you're currently prevented from doing (or by dropping nodes just-slightly-off the current flow lines, for instance)? I'm struggling to envision how i'd use this feature if it were added, TBH.
The more I think on this, the less of a big deal it seems. It has been just a few times I've been bit by not noticing an accidentally-connected node, which became much easier to debug on the second round . With the improvements to Appian over the years, we are able to make much more efficient (less nodes) processes, where the older, bigger models have been where I've run into this.
The initial thought however would be to have an option similar to changing connector styles, with auto-connect defaulted to On, and the ability to turn Off, but I don't think I would prioritize this over anything else mentioned in the thread so far.
Novel thought though - how about giving us the ability to change the style of already-placed flow lines?
For example/fun, working in an older PM such as below. Can't touch any of these nodes without causing a headache!
I'm so sorry you did this to yourself (assuming from past conversation, and how long I've been developing too, that this is what happened).