iRise Online by OneSpring

Linking Processes/Flows

One thing that has come up recently which I think would really improve iRise is the ability to create common processes/flows/scenarios that can be linked to from pages.

My thought is that these processes or flows would be a new category of chapters within the simulation (on the same level as pages, decisions, etc.) and can be used repeatedly, just as chapters can now.

I can't think of the specific example at the moment, but as soon as I remember the project I was working on where I thought this would be useful, I'll post it - maybe there is already a way to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish with this kind of functionality.

Scenario Page Links

I think this has been discussed on this blog before, but it would be really nice if iRise provided the capability to create scenarios, with pages included in the scenario, and allowed you to show linking between pages or page/process/screen flow, without actually creating the links on the pages within the scenario.

The grey text links that it creates at the bottom of the scenario pages are annoying and not necessary - often times those same links have been accomplished using navigation/menus that are handled in masters (and the links/nav in masters are not represented at the scenario level).

It would be nice if iRise gave you the ability to determine if you wanted links created at the scenario-level to be displayed on the page-level or not.

Highlighted Data/Nav Connections

It would be very helpful for iRise to automatically highlight the data or nav connections for a selected widget or field/record name.

If you are dealing with many fields/records being past back and forth between page and canvas, it can be confusing as to whether or not all connections are made - especially if you are using alternate views and need to make those connections for each view.

If the product would automatically highlight the corresponding connections for every widget or field/record that was highlighted, you'd be able to quickly identify if there were connection issues or not.

Categorizing/Outlining Pages/Chapter

For the sake of organizing pages in the studio view, it would be nice if the same kind of outline numbering was available to allow you to organize and number the pages of the simulation, without having to change the name of the page.

For instance, if I have 10 pages - 5 main pages and then 5 subpages (1 beneath each main page), it would be nice if I could number them and organize them (like the Doc view does) accordingly:

1. Main Page 1

     1.1 Subpage 1

2. Main Page 2

     2.1 Subpage 2

etc.

If I could do that without having to change the name of the pages, it would be ideal and would help the organization of the simulation tremendously.

Widgets Triggering Page Submits/Refreshes

It would be great if iRise would allow any widget where a click occurs (select box, checkbox, etc.) to trigger a page submit/refresh upon click.

Lots of workarounds necessary to make a select box (Jumpnav select) trigger a page refresh to display a new page.  Impossible at this point to make a checkbox trigger a page refresh.

It would be nice if that functionality was built-in so pages could be dynamic based upon those clicks.

Importing Data

It would be great if iRise allowed you to import existing data into datasheets.  This could either be from an XLS, CSV, or other format.

Auto Sizing of Widgets

I recently was working on a project that involved simulating very small sections of a portal page - with several of these small portlets on each page and each portlet containing several nested sections.

Working in small spaces in iRise is pretty tedious - there are enough little "glitches" in how iRise handles borders and section outlines that it is difficult to get pixel perfect (which is sometimes necessary, especially when working with small spaces like I was).

One feature that would make it a little easier to manage is if you were able to lock down the dimensions and X/Y placement of widgets so they couldn't be automatically changed by other widgets that you are placing within a parent widget.

How many times have you had a small section and placed an image widget inside of it, which automatically causes the parent section to expand to accommodate the default size of the image widget.

That issue can become a real time-consuming pain in the butt if you are doing that and have 4-5 sections nested inside of one another and they all expand to accommodate the widget being added to the inside.

I could see this type of feature being added just as a checkbox to the widget properties area - "Constrain Size" or something to that effect.

Deleting Private Projects

Do you really have to go to Check-in/Check-out in order to delete projects?  That's not exactly intuitive - it would be really nice if the Open/New Project interface included the normal functions - delete, copy, paste, rename, etc.

Spell Check

They have to get a Spell Checker in iRise.  Currently you have to export to Word then bounce back and forward between the two.  Kind of a pain.  This should be a standard function.

Scenarios

It would be nice to have more notations in the scenario view.  The problem I'm coming across is that I'm trying to document a lot of process that don't really have pages, they're more business process.  I use clouds for these but it could be nice to have things like a database image or different types of arrows. 

The scenario pages are good for easy processes but are not robust enough for complex business processes. 

Wish List:
1) Add more notation (i.e. database, arrows, actor, etc)
2) Make clicking and changing text a little easier.  The tool is kind of clunky when it comes to changing text quickly and switching between Doc and Sim views.
3) When I export to MS Word, each image takes up about the entire page even though the scenario is small.  The tool needs to size the images accordingly.

That's it for now.