[Feature Request] Actor endpoint configurations similar to the interact->request element?

[olw-medcom]

Hey there @costas80!

I was wondering whether it would be possible to align the actor endpoint configurations with the interact request element somehow? I'm currently in need of a MULTI_LINE text input as an endpoint config, and could also foresee down the line to need CODE. That got me thinking whether it would be posisble to actually just have the same API as the request element? You've also just added the dependsOn attribute which came from the config element.

Regardless whether they should be the same element, my feature request is that the MULTILINE text input type and CODE would also be possible in the endpoint config element ^^

[costas80]

Hi @olw-medcom!

Regardless whether they should be the same element, my feature request is that the MULTILINE text input type and CODE would also be possible in the endpoint config element ^^

Haha I struggled to follow until you said this but now I get it. Indeed I don't see a reason why not to support this - the underlying model remains unchanged and we just need to allow the possibility for different input types. This will mean new options on the UI (for managing properties from there) plus a TDL update to bring some of the interact features to the actor configuration element (currently input via multiline textarea and code editor).

Note that I'm not going currently for a full API alignment as you suggested, because some things are a bit more tricky (I'm thinking about supporting multiple inputs). I'll check to see however how much we can align without too much complexity (before its actually needed).

I'll add this to the backlog for development once the upcoming release (1.30.0) has been published.

[olw-medcom]

Sounds good @costas80 thank you ^^ In that regards I was also wondering how much documentation for an endpoint config I can set? In an interact element it's possible for me to do some fancy stuff with the <instruct> element, but I don't think I can do something equivalent for the endpoint config can I?

[costas80]

Hi @olw-medcom!

As it stands the only extra documentation you can set for such parameters is via the desc attribute which gets rendered as a tooltip for the resulting input. Adding more elaborate documentation per configuration parameter is a troublesome fit for three reasons I can see currently:

• The TDL XSD specification on this point would make supporting rich text documentation a bit of an odd fit and would look like something that was mashed in.
• If we extend the (inherently more flexible) interact element and try to match it fully for config properties, we may be receiving requests to support things that would really feel out of place (e.g. tuning displayed buttons).
• The resulting input form is displayed as part of the ITB's "core" screens and affording too much flexibility could end up with a UX result that feels inconsistent compared to other screens. This would be up to each project of course but in the end giving too much flexibility is something that has made the ITB look odd to end users in certain cases, outside our control. An easy example is the welcome page customisation through which I have seen results in a few self-hosted instances that look frankly horrific (not referring to your instance of course 😄).

But I think I have a solution that fits UI-wise, covers (hopefully) your core request, and also feels at home in the TDL XSD. Instead of supporting documentation-related controls per configuration parameter, we support a configurable rich text documentation element for the entire configuration (under the endpoint element). This matches the documentation support found elsewhere in the TDL (test suites, cases and steps) and does not get too much tied into it's eventual presentation. Practically we would display this as a blue info-bubble above the entire set of configuration properties with rich text content (like what you get with the rich text instruct elements).

Beyond actor configuration properties, we can then also replicate this to custom organisation and system properties by supporting the definition of rich text documentation which similarly is displayed above the relevant form controls. This would be only UI-driven but the result would be the same. We could also foresee variants for use on the self-registration screen and also in internal screens.

Would this approach sound interesting? If (hopefully) yes, then ideally you could create a separate issue for this to track it independently.

[olw-medcom]

Would this approach sound interesting? If (hopefully) yes, then ideally you could create a separate issue for this to track it independently.

Absolutely your idea sounds perfect in fact. I will create another issue for this ^^