Advanced grid (multiple choice, conditionals, non-homogeneous options)

Having further thoughts. I tried an implementation where grid has two variants (advanced and basic). It was awkward because a) you couldn't change your mind after creating it and b) all the static component info (e.g. webform_component_feature(), _invoke, _info) functions had to be modified to take a component rather than a component type, and to allow callbacks to return the information based upon the component. I abandoned it because it got too messy.

But now I'm thinking it should be AND rather than OR. A grid can have its own questions AND it can have nested components. I think this is promising. We will still have to tweak some features, such as suppressing analysis if there are not internal (basic) questions.

Hi Nate. Thanks for the feedback. I think your confusion over the grid children derives from your extensive knowledge of the "old" codebase more than an inherent oddity of the feature. I think users and future maintainers will understand and expect this. I'd go so far as to say that I think it is confusing to have the questions within the old-style grid, and it certainly complicates the code base and table schema. I think we should consider dropping old-style questions in the D8 version.

Also, implementing both checkboxes and conditionals in the existing grid architecture is very, very difficult. I have a patch which I posted in the related issue with a partial implementation. I stopped when the code just got too complicated.

In the longer term, I also plan to roll other grouping-type components into core. One would be a simple div container, which will allow components to be grouped for CSS and conditional show/hide. Another would be the Webform Layout module, which lets you put components into a table.

I have reworked the code, combining grid and grid2. In this way, you don't have to decide which type of grid you want. A grid can contain either or both types of questions.

It is possible and desirable to nest components under than Select under the grid. These are displayed in a colspan, with the title in the first (and last if using left/right titles) column. This enables very power new forms. For example, if you need to add comments or additional information after one of the grid questions, you can put it right there in the grid. And you can use conditionals to show it only when needed.

It is also very powerful to have non-homogeneous options. Sometimes an option doesn't apply to a question. Consider a table of fruits by fruit color. With checkboxes!

I'll post a revised patch later today.

Here's the patch. This version has only one grid component, but it is capable of displaying both its own questions, merging in any additional nested (indented) Select components, and any other nested components of other types.

To help the user understand the features and possibilities, I added this collapsible help table. It is initially expanded when creating the grid, but collapsed when editing it:

I also have the Options Element some love in it's help. It had fallen a bit behind (e.g. was missing the token browser and some informative text).

To show a variety of features, (but not a realistic use case), here's a quick screenshot:

It is remarkable to me how small the changes are for such a huge leap in functionality.

This patch implements #6 above, plus:

1. Fixed a minor regression with right-side internal grid titles.
2. Adds grid table even/odd re-striping when rows are conditionally hidden/shown via nested Select components.

Committed to 7.x-4.x.

@joelpittet -- thanks. That's a BOM (byte order mark, not bill of materials). I had some trouble merging, so maybe my external diff tool added this. I believe it's harmless, but also not desired.

I saw that line in the diff but couldn't see it in the editor, so I figured it was removing an extra space. Next time I see the first line as a diff, I'll look for a BOM!

Committed to 7.x-4.x. D8 folks should check to ensure this doesn't creep into that branch. I'm not changing the issue status for this trivial commit.

@Liam -
Consider a grid that asks a series of ratings. If a particular one is, say, less than "good" then a conditional displays (right after the question) a reason for the poor rating.

This is exactly the use case I need. In my situation, I want to provide a "Do you really mean this?" checkbox.

Sometimes the order in which you would like to ask information from the user doesn't fall neatly into the rigid semantics of the original grid component.

Does the randomization of questions and options still work after these changes?

Yes.