`xml-editor`: Creating a new form definition based on a default form is unintuitive

[grantfitzsimmons]

I am in a fish collection, I want to create a new form based on the fish collection form definition. I am greeted with a giant list of all discipline's forms, and it is really unclear which I should choose.

Expected Behavior I should see my discipline's forms show up first (Fish)

Here are my options at this time:

Fish
Fish > Fishbase
Fish > Manager > Fish
Fish > Guest > Fish

This is very strange, as a user, since I do not have a concept of what these things mean.

Maybe we could represent this under a header for each discipline, shown like this:

Ichthyology

• Fish Default
• Manager User
• Guest User
• Fishbase

Herpetology

• Herpetology Default
• Manager User
• Guest User

[grantfitzsimmons]

Another note– the names need to be resolved to the proper discipline names.

Fish --> Ichthyology Vertpaleo --> Vertebrate Paleontology Invertpaleo --> Invertebrate Paleontology Bird --> Ornithology Mammal --> Mammalogy Vascplant --> Vascular Plants Invertebrate --> Invertebrates

[maxpatiiuk]

Another idea: it is possible that most of these form definitions are duplicates of each other (i.e same form definition copied for each discipline). in that case, perhaps present an alternative UI:

you have a previous of the form, and below the preview list of places in which it is defined. below that another preview, and list of places in which it is defined

Pros:

• List would be way shorter if most views are the same
• User has better idea of what form they need to pick because they will see a side by side preview of different view definitions

Cons:

• Displaying a preview of each form rather than just name may make this dialog much longer in the worst case
• It may be hard to notice the differences between forms (or there might not even be any noticeable differences - just a whitespace or comment difference between view definitions)