Meta Table enhancements (And lots of bugs)

Feature Requests
1

Hi there,

We’d like to include a simple Bill of Materials (BoM) for every step listing all of the needed hardware. The current Meta table offers a lot of potential towards achieving this.

However there are a few things missing that would make it almost perfect.

  • Allow us to add a default configuration to the toolbox or have it remember the last config. Setting up all the columns every step feels unnecessary and tedious.
  • If possible it would be really nice to have an option that automatically detects which parts are unhidden compared to the next/previous step. This would be amazingly useful for us.
  • Editing column names seems buggy, I’m not always able to change the name.
  • The table can’t have less than 3 columns, trying to delete the 3rd doesn’t work.
  • Minor but worth mentioning: If the table has more/less rows after updating it’s size should increase/reduce with it. Now it just remains the same with a light-grey background requiring manual adjustment. If there is already a scroll bar it should remain the same regardless of row count.

I hope my explanations and requests are clear enough.

Edit:

Tables are almost impossible to work with when using device properties, scaling of text and column width in the designer preview does not match what the tablet shows upon upload (% setting). This makes it very difficult to have consistent columns across steps.

I’ve also tried using 1 table across multiple steps with different selections of parts, This kind of works and is consistent but breaks tooltips whenever a table is shown…

2

Another addition,

Column width is problematic at best, we can’t set it to any specific value nor does it scale to fit text. On top of that it’s also inconsistent across resolutions, column proportions change when viewed on a tablet compared to the tabled preview.
This results in an endless cycle of trial and error to get one table to work, let alone a few dozen.

  • We should be able to have it auto adjust to fit text or set it to a specific value.
  • Designer and published versions of the same resolutions don’t match, column widths change and it’s not consistent across column number.

We also seem to have no control over row height or when it’s scrollable, probably due to the mismatch between columns causing text to require 2 rows in designer and only one in the published version or the other way around.
Even setting the table to pagination doesn’t work, it still makes the table scrollable instead of moving items to the second page…

3

I’m giving up for now. There is simply too many things broken to actually use these tables at all… Guess we’re back to typing out tables by hand until there is some improvement.

4

Hi @user7196 ,

Firstly thank you for the detailed feedback, we always appricaite it.

I think its fair to say that whilst our tables can generally get something out, they need looking at, and we do want to completley redo them at some point to meet and hopefully exceed our users expectations.

Due to how they work, redoing them from scratch is a huge undertaking for us, but we would like to fix some of the smaller issues where possible to make them easier to work with.

  • Allow us to add a default configuration to the toolbox or have it remember the last config. Setting up all the columns every step feels unnecessary and tedious.

This is already logged as an enhancement request I will add you too it.

  • If possible it would be really nice to have an option that automatically detects which parts are unhidden compared to the next/previous step. This would be amazingly useful for us.

This is interesting, but Im not sure I fully understand what you are trying to achieve. Could you give me any more detail?

  • Editing column names seems buggy, I’m not always able to change the name.

The popup menu (delete/edit) seems like it breaks after the first time you do it. This is being investigated and so far should be fixed in the next update due in a couple of weeks.

  • The table can’t have less than 3 columns, trying to delete the 3rd doesn’t work.

I couldnt reproduce this - though it could be related to the above so may come out of the wash with the upgrade

Tables are almost impossible to work with when using device properties, scaling of text and column width in the designer preview does not match what the tablet shows upon upload (% setting);

At the moment I would receommend sticking with PX sizing for tables. We are investigating this with the other (text etc) isues other issues.

We should be able to have it auto adjust to fit text or set it to a specific value…We also seem to have no control over row height

Unfortunatley this a limitation of the tables at the moment and would require a full overhaul so is not a quick fix for us to implement.

Designer and published versions of the same resolutions don’t match, column widths change and it’s not consistent across column number.

Could you privately send me a published project that demonstrates this, it will make it easier for the team to investigate and hopefully find the root issue.

Whilst it is not a solution, one thing you could do is use a picture of the table (e.g. screenshot from excel/CAD system). I appriciate this is not ideal and not what you want, but it would mean you get exactly what you want whilst we look into these issues further.

.

5

Hi,

Thanks for the response!
I understand that some changes require an overhaul and therefore have low priority.
But any small improvements in the meantime would be great!

To clarify a few things:

  • If possible it would be really nice to have an option that automatically detects which parts are unhidden compared to the next/previous step. This would be amazingly useful for us.

As the assembly of an instruction progresses there will always be parts added (or taken away) let’s say 21 screws of a few different sizes along with rings. It would be awesome if the table could pick that up and automatically list them according to meta-data.

This would allow us to easily add a bill of materials for each step quickly and in a way that updates automatically. (kind-of like lego-instructions)

  • The table can’t have less than 3 columns, trying to delete the 3rd doesn’t work.

I couldnt reproduce this - though it could be related to the above so may come out of the wash with the upgrade

It’s probably related to the same issue, i had luck adding temporary columns which kind-of reset it allowing me to delete them.

Could you privately send me a published project that demonstrates this, it will make it easier for the team to investigate and hopefully find the root issue.

i will send you a link and few pictures to illustrate, it seems the problem gets worse when designing on a higher resolution (and 21:9) monitor.

Whilst it is not a solution, one thing you could do is use a picture of the table (e.g. screenshot from excel/CAD system). I appriciate this is not ideal and not what you want, but it would mean you get exactly what you want whilst we look into these issues further.

The best alternative I’ve found is to add a single textbox and create a table in there. It’s completely manual and still tends to break when copy-pasting text but it works ok.

In the meantime I’ve discovered another bug, when using selected objects with the meta table it loses the selection and selects anything visible whenever i try to update the table using the toolbar button.

Thanks again for the extensive reply. I’m looking forward to see any improvements.