Problems with Selectable List

[brenton.strine]

SL = SelectableList

Ranked by how bad the problems are.

1. On a multi select, there’s no way to get all the selected items from the item itself.
   • Therefore, workflows triggered from the item can’t (directly) know which items are selected by the SL and can’t be passed as parameters in the workflow.
     • Therefore workflows must directly access the Selectable List element.
       • This creates a race condition where workflows get the values of the SL just prior to the selection.
         • Therefore all workflows must be scheduled with a slight delay, which causes problems and looks bad. disabled" even though they’re totally clickable.
2. SL doesn’t have an “Initial value” value.
   • Therefore it can only be used for values which start out empty. It can’t modify settings or display a previously selected value.
     • Therefore workarounds using Unselect All and Set List Values actions must be used.
3. The Unselect All action puts a required SL into an error state.
   • Therefore Unselect All can’t be used to reset a SL to “initial” values (even a required field isn’t in an error state when empty, when you first load it).
4. The Set List Values action does not allow passing an empty list.
   • Therefore Set List Values can’t be used to reset a SL to an initial empty state.
5. Clicking on a SL item does not trigger a click on the SL itself.
   • Therefore problem #1 can’t be avoided.
6. Items which are not currently selected have the value “is disabled”. There’s a difference between not selected and disabled. Apps will be built in a way that depends on this being wrong if it isn’t fixed now.
7. No autobinding option.
   • Therefore all of the above problems related to workflows, race conditions and displaying current values are unavoidable in an autobinding situation.