I'm actually starting to re-think the whole grouping process. Using name-based groups works great for quickly organizing your variables and on-the-fly group creating, but in some cases it might not be that practical.
Maybe I should add proper Variable Groups, like EE's native Field, Category and Status groups. That would mean a big-ish upgrade, but a more scalable approach on the whole. Also, group sorting would be easier then, as well as variable sorting per group.
I've wondered for some time if you'd start to think about doing things this way, Low. :)
There are a couple of things I've thought about, if such an interface would come to pass. It would be great if it were drag and drop (whichh is already going on in the ordering part of Low Variables), but even better would be able to assign a variable to a number of groups, because sometimes a variable applies to or affects more than one section.
I really dislike "layered control panel" syndrome where you have to drill down to the one location where you can find something. It's nice to be able to access things in more intuitive ways.
On the other hand, if it was too arduous or complicated to create this assign-to-multiple-group functionality, I guess it isn't that hard for us to create a variable group called "All (something or other)" for variables that affect multiple sections... for example, on my largest site I work with, I have a variable group called "All" and variables are things like "All story preview word count limit," and its description explains that it affects the word count limit of story previews on all landing pages across the site.
Version 1.3.2 brings better group management. Although a variable can only be assigned to one group, you can add notes to groups, as well as order them by drag and drop.
Replies
Low 22 Jan 2010 10:49
I'm actually starting to re-think the whole grouping process. Using name-based groups works great for quickly organizing your variables and on-the-fly group creating, but in some cases it might not be that practical.
Maybe I should add proper Variable Groups, like EE's native Field, Category and Status groups. That would mean a big-ish upgrade, but a more scalable approach on the whole. Also, group sorting would be easier then, as well as variable sorting per group.
robin 23 Jan 2010 20:23
Sounds like a good idea to me. Option groups often need more then one word to describe their function. Also the sorting improvements would be great.
brettgullan 29 Jul 2010 02:49
Can I add my support for something like this! The ability to expand on group names would be a great addition.
oxygensmith 29 Jul 2010 23:05
I've wondered for some time if you'd start to think about doing things this way, Low. :)
There are a couple of things I've thought about, if such an interface would come to pass. It would be great if it were drag and drop (whichh is already going on in the ordering part of Low Variables), but even better would be able to assign a variable to a number of groups, because sometimes a variable applies to or affects more than one section.
I really dislike "layered control panel" syndrome where you have to drill down to the one location where you can find something. It's nice to be able to access things in more intuitive ways.
On the other hand, if it was too arduous or complicated to create this assign-to-multiple-group functionality, I guess it isn't that hard for us to create a variable group called "All (something or other)" for variables that affect multiple sections... for example, on my largest site I work with, I have a variable group called "All" and variables are things like "All story preview word count limit," and its description explains that it affects the word count limit of story previews on all landing pages across the site.
Low 1 Nov 2010 07:58
Version 1.3.2 brings better group management. Although a variable can only be assigned to one group, you can add notes to groups, as well as order them by drag and drop.