2

is there a userfriendly way of adding an entry to a selectlist with predefined options? besides being able of selecting a value from a select list i want the option to add a value of my own but am not sure how this would work/look. I know it's possible to foresee a free text field within the select list but what is the behaviour after i enter a value in this field.

Personally, I would simply foresee a free inputfield (instead of a select dropdown list) where a user can enter a free text value but where he also has the possibility of selecting from a list of predefined options that shows up when he enters text. Is this generally feasible as validation towards backend? The underlying technology would be Oracle APEX mobile by the way.

Was looking for examples to share but can't seem to find exactly what i need.

thx

Improve this question
2
  • This sort of functionality often used by eCommerce websites when saving the users address - for selecting quicker the next time. Check out some checkout sections of sites and see how they do it. Your question also sounds like you want the workflow for this, which is not really a UX question.
    – stradled
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 14:07
  • Alright i'll look out for it, thx. I'm looking for some kind of task flow here so why would it not be a UX question? It's related to the user experience best practices
    – continuous
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 14:52

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

A standard way of solving this is autocomplete. For instance, here is how it works in Jira.

User starts editing a field. There are options to accept/cancel the input:

enter image description here

User may click the down arrow and see a list of existing items:

enter image description here

Or they can start typing in the field and then it offers a list to autocomplete:

enter image description here

Finally, user may add their own value:

enter image description here

Improve this answer
1
  • That's exactly what i had in mind! I found that JIRA really has a lot of useful ux patterns. On the other hand, it seems that APEX does not use this pattern out of the box. It allows to select a value from the list but when you want to add a new value, you should click a separate button which brings up a dialog box. After filling in a value it inserts it in the lis. At least that's what our developer tells me.
    – continuous
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 20:47
1

On an Apex implementation (not mobile) we are currently developing, we use the Select2 jquery plugin on the front-end.

This awesome extended select-box allows for all kinds of customized implementations, including autocomplete, multi-select, and adding new entries.

I can really recommend looking at Select2.

Improve this answer
1
  • Hi wintvelt, thx! I did indeed find about this jquery plugin but it did not directly give me what i looked for. I did find some other useful functionalities i used in my prototype though ;)
    – continuous
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 20:45

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.