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what is context scouting |
| Context Scouting tries to keep track of the end users concept of location on a site and the way he went there. |
Since version 1.2 alpha 1
Context Scouting is required becuase the user expects to go 'back' after deleting the currently edited object in an EditDetailsPage. But 'back' according to the user is not allways the same as the previously viewed page. For example if the user first tried to save an object, but a compulsory field was not filled out, he was returned to 'the same page', with an error message about the empty field. In the eyes of the browser the page showing the error message is not the same page, so the back button will bring the user back to what he will call 'the same page without the error message'. Here the context is the page the user was on before he started editing the object.
What is the context is psychology rather then informatics. It depends on how the user drilled down into the directed graph of pages. Therefore the main concepts of navigation are (drilling) down, (moving back) up, and moving around on the same level (in the same context). After drilling down the system should store the previous position as the context. In this concept the default interpretation of the users actions is moving around. If the user clicks in an itemTable he drills down. If he presses the context button or if he is returned to the context automatically (this happens when he deletes the currently edited object in an ObjectDetailsPage) he moves up.
Older version of phpPeanuts stored data about a single context in the url (in the pntContext parameter). But contexts can be nested. In other words, the user kan drill deeper and deeper into the application, then later move back out several times. For this reason it is better to keep track of many nested context. Furthermore, the older versions of phpPeanuts did only store pntType, id and pntProperty parameters of the context. Search parameters and on which page in a search result the user was, was left out. Context scouting stores the entire request of each step a large number of steps deep. This gives a much better end user experience.
Also see how to improve context scouting. |
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