Create multiple Entity Views

Description

Previously:

Why?

Most entity pages do not need tabs, but the ones that do need it, really need it.
Cameron Collins

See the feedback linked to this Feature: some key Entity Views (e.g. Project, Contact, Employee) gradually get overwhelming with too many Fields. This leads to two major problems:

complexity & usability: finding relevant information in the sea of Fields is hard;
performance: Entity View takes a long time to load;

Use cases

It shouldn’t be intimidating to open up entity views. Someone new to Fibery doing a specific workflow (ex. adding a new contact) should be able to open the entity view and easily see what they should and shouldn’t edit with minimal training.
Dimitri

Here the ways to slice information into multiple Entity Views:

per workflow
🦄 Specify which Entity View to open from a certain View
- product manager + Feature: feedback analysis vs. release announcement preparation
- customer success + Workspace: call preparation vs. granting startup trial
per role
🦄 Specify default Entity View when sharing a Database or Entity
- Employee: HR (legal) vs. engineering manager (1:1s, peer reviews)
- Client: sales representative (contracts, notes) vs. developer (server, monitoring)
insiders vs. outsiders
🦄 Specify Entity Views for a publicly shared Entity
- Feature: team vs. public roadmap
- Task: manager vs. freelancer
🦄 per field type (single select)
- Specify which Entity View to open based on some field value
per Fibery group?
- To me it seems the most common use case. QAs want to see QA view, Clients want to see Client view, etc. The question is Fibery has no Roles by default…
- Specify which Entity View to open for a user or a group

Special cases

Make User Entity View(s) useful: User's Entity View is almost always overcrowded, so it makes sense to slice it by default: Profile, Assignments, Access, etc.
Rarely used and auxiliary Fields are only releveant to Creators on Entity View: perhaps, Creators will create Archive Entity Views and that would be a good enough solution.

How

Starting point

All Databases start with a single Entity View. Moreover, most Databases won't ever need multiple Entity Views , so we should keep the UI clean by default even for those who can manage a DB (mind ).

Thus, there is no Entity Views switcher by default. Instead, we utilize the existing Manage Fields & Layout control to enable it.

Entity Page - 2C - Manage Fields Menu.png

This control is used by the right people in the right context, so it only makes sense to enable multiple Entity Views from here.

We can also proactively Suggest multiple Entity Views when too many Fields are displayed. Only mature and complex DBs need multiple Entity Views so we Require Pro plan to create multiple Entity Views. Note, that we show Pro badge near the title. On Pro Plan, we show the Pro ✓ badge.

Entity Page - 2C - Suggesting to Toggle EVs.png

Switcher

Once Multiple Views are enabled, the switcher appears for everyone showing one View:

Entity Page - 2C - Switching Views - Opened.png

By default, we name Views in View N+1 format: View 1, View 2, View 10. User is free to rename a View from (…) menu
User can Add new Views via + Add View button, rename, duplicate and delete a view via (…) menu. A link to user guide on Multiple Views should also be provided (and created)
The list of Entity Views is the same for everyone for now.

The first Entity View opens by default (for now)
When a user switches between Entity Views, we remember the selection per User per Database [per device].
If user creates N views and turns Multiple Views off = we are reverting to first View (default)
If user creates N views and turns Multiple Views off = we don't delete them. We store keep them hidden until he turns on Views again
🦄 Allow undo of deleted views. Show toast <View name> deleted [Undo]
These settings are saved per Entity View per DB
- Layout (1 or 2 Column)
- Positioning of Field units
- Hidden or Visible Field units
- Visualisation option for Field units
- "Hidden when empty" setting for Field units
- Pinned units, their order & "Display as" (for 2 Column layout)
These settings are saved per user per DB. If user changes it on one Entity View, it won't affect other Views
- Expanded or collapsed state of compact section
- Expanded or collapsed state of Field unit

Personalized and conditional defaults are out of scope of the first release:

In the future, we might specify a default Entity View per User/Group
Or introduce conditional defaults, when first Entity View is defined via other Field value (or Formula?)
Personal Entity Views (similar to My Filters) might be added later, so people don't have to rely on Creators.

Depending on the feedback, we might Pin Entity Views.

New Entity View defaults

Name: View N+1
❓ Layout: 2 columns (for now)
Fields according to the default visualizations table.

Managing Entity Views

Switcher:

There is always at least one Entity View, the last one can't be deleted.
Every Entity View has a name, it doesn't have to be unique to simplify the development.
Entity Views can be reordered via drag'n'drop.
Context menu:
- Rename
- 🦄 Duplicate Entity View
- Delete

Fields and layouts:

Entity Views are configured independently of each other.
Any Field can be present on any number of Entity Views, from zero to ∞.
Entity Views of the same DB can have different layouts.

update(Type) capability is required to create, update, and delete Entity Views.

Navigation

❓ How do I display two Entity Views for the same Entity side by side? For example [Feature #32] Feedback + [Feature #32] Planning.

Navigate to correct Entity View from search results: rich text (Field or comment) which satisfies the query might be on any of the Entity Views.

Notes

Support multiple Entity Views in export/import via Space templates + we might consider adding multiple Entity Views to some existing gallery templates.
Entity Views are restored on DB/Space restore.
Mention units are stored per-db and are universal on all Entity Views (for now) Discussion

Figma

https://www.figma.com/design/PNuydKoOLiNlszgQOI2hyr/PA---Entity-View?node-id=16249-30117&t=41tChLSoaf6hiWTl-1

🦄 Next

Avoid unnecessary switching:

Add functionality: