22.4 Feedback - major overhaul to process modeler has removed Grid Lines by default

Certified Lead Developer

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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  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer

    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).

    • The very continued existence of Single-Line expression boxes (where a multi-line expression can be written, but which will be collapsed to one upon saving) is ... flabbergasting.  I can't even accurately put into words how frustrating this is.
    • The modeler Title Bar (the dark-blue area next to the "Appian Process Modeler" label) continues to be a large, empty, waste of screen space, which could be repurposed to show some helpful information about the Currently-Open Model / Instance, which is quickly obscured in the Tab header once a lot of tabs are open.  Instead, when monitoring many open process instances, I'm forced to mouse-over the tab and read the pop-up-text, even to tell which instance i'm CURRENTLY on.
    • Right-clicking on Flow Lines should show standard functionality (chaining, labels, etc) FIRST, and then "suggested nodes" after that.
    • The Right-Click Menu itself can easily be obscured by the Messages Panel for objects at or near the bottom of the process model.
    • 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.
    • Process Model [Generated] Documentation: there is no way to see values configured as interface inputs on the Forms tab of User Input Tasks.  Particularly when passing PV values or expression-calculated values into interfaces for read-only purposes.  That means if a PV is used only in a Form input (directly), it will not be seen at all in the generated documentation.
    • For the Process Instance Editor: there's no reason the "CTRL+S" hotkey shouldn't save the instance edits (like it already works in the model editor).

    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?

  • Another question, process model related - have they moved the Process Details paging to the bottom as well yet?  Currently in 21.1, when I'm reviewing process history (in an opened process instance), scrolling down 100 rows, there is no paging at the bottom - you have to scroll all the way back up to then move to the next page..

    ...

    Otherwise this would be on my list for modeler enhancements Grinning

    If I review the history from /design monitor mode without opening the instance, I can page only at the bottom (which is where I would expect it if I only had one option), but, it is restricted to 25 items..

  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer
    in reply to Chris
    have they moved the Process Details paging to the bottom as well yet? 

    Nope, still at the top, same as previous versions.  That's a good point - other than the fact that this UI uses the same legacy portal report configuration (which might have lots of hardcoded stuff we don't know about), it seems as if there's no good reason to have the paging controls only at the top.  Or if they have to be at the top, the scrolling could be adjusted such that the columns and paging controls stay in place and only the data scrolls.

    But again, I assume this is most likely baked into ancient legacy code and will be a big mess to unpack and update (maybe i'm wrong?)

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  • 0
    Certified Lead Developer
    in reply to Chris
    have they moved the Process Details paging to the bottom as well yet? 

    Nope, still at the top, same as previous versions.  That's a good point - other than the fact that this UI uses the same legacy portal report configuration (which might have lots of hardcoded stuff we don't know about), it seems as if there's no good reason to have the paging controls only at the top.  Or if they have to be at the top, the scrolling could be adjusted such that the columns and paging controls stay in place and only the data scrolls.

    But again, I assume this is most likely baked into ancient legacy code and will be a big mess to unpack and update (maybe i'm wrong?)

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