v16.3 - Links to SmartFields

[Acorn]

Dear Xara...

I have tried the new Links to SmartFields as follows:

1. Open Utilities > SmartFields > Personal SmartFields.
2. Create duckduckgo:link as htpps://www.duckduckgo.com.
3. Create duckduckgo:text as DuckDuckGo.
4. Open the Text Tool as a text column.
5. Insert > SmartField: duckduckgo:text > Insert. // Highlight "DuckDuckGo" and check popup shows "Link to SmartField: duckduckgo:link.
6. Bug - Open Web Properties > Link. // Link to SmartField option is selected but there is no shown value and the dropdown is empty.
7. Bug - Change and save Link as "Do nothing". // SmartField text is retained without its twinned association. Restoration is not possible in Web Properties dialog.
8. Restore the SmartField link association. // Redo Step 5.
9. Bug - Select web Properties > Website > Website link colours: untick and save Underline Text links. // Link is reset to "Do nothing".
10. Restore the SmartField link association. // Redo Step 5.
11. Bug - Preview the web page. // The duckduckgo:link value is not substituted.
12. Bug - Examine the source code. // The incorrect link is being applied letter by letter for the SmartField.
    

    <h1 class="xr_tl Heading_1 xr_s0" style="top: 0px; margin: 0px;">
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">D</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">u</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">c</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">k</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">D</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">u</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">c</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">k</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">G</a>
    <a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">o</a></h1>

Gosh.

Acorn

[Acorn]

Dear Xara...

I have found my mistake - I mistyped the URL HTTP protocol htpps://www.duckduckgo.com instead of https://www.duckduckgo.com.
Bug - Link values require protocol validation

The right URL also populates the Link > Link to SmartField.
This also allows a link to be restored.

The final Bug is still there!

I changed the value of duckduckgo:text to "Sint aliqua anim irure ut dolore pariatur tempor. Est ad sed anim in sunt id ut do. Pariatur duis lorem in mollit. Dolore sed do adipisicing, enim culpa cillum lorem anim id cupidatat eiusmod nisi adipisicing excepteur duis."
Each and every letter ended up with its own link line:

<a href="[username]:duckduckgo:link" target="_self" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)">S</a>

Acorn

[Acorn]

Dear Xara...

... this serious Bug is still here at XDPXv18.5/XPro+v21.6.

How can you ponder over this for more than two years?

Once in a while, I think I'll have another goes of trying to make this useful in a document.
Here's what I noted today:

Bug - you cannot put any link other than a fully qualified URL. javascript: ; fails.
Bug - you cannot change the target from _self. If you modify the Web Properties > Link, when there is a SmartField entry, the Open link in will always revert to Same frame (_self).
Bug - custom text with a SmartField Link will not change the Open link in away from Not specified.
Bug - the one difference using a separating SmartField:text from a different SmartField:link and linking, is the _self parameter is lost.
Bug - https://helpandsupport.xara.com/xara.../link_tab.html fails to mention SmartField linking.
Bug - there is still no indication that some phrase is a SmartField until you try to click into it with the Text Tool.
Bug - one might expert a double-click on a SmartField would open its Dialog.
Bug - no SmartField Name (label) is presented in the Name Gallery.
Bug - the SmartFields Dialog does not have a Cancel/Close button.
Bug - Web Properties > Link > SmartField dropdown should have an entry "Open SmartFields" or an enabled Button for the same to allow the Dialog to be accessed.
Bug - the multi-line text entry window is too small, fails to allow spell-checking (a disaster in waiting), has no means to include Character Text Styling (bold, italic, ...), does not allow SmartField nesting.,
Bug - the Dialog has no means of searching out a SmartField from part of its Value.

In a nutshell, if you have more than a handful of SmartFields, you would be better binning them and using some other marker system to allow you to check a document for parts that have variations.

I despair.

Acorn

[ss-kalm]

I does make you wonder how professional coders can apply such sloppy coding, and NOT notice that it doesn't work, but still put it out in a "Professional" product.

[Acorn]

I does make you wonder how professional coders can apply such sloppy coding, and NOT notice that it doesn't work, but still put it out in a "Professional" product.

Over 10 years ago, I used MS Word to convert a weighty rulebook into a set of Word Templates using Template Styles, MacroButtons values and AutoTextList entries that changed with the applied Style. It was smart enough to handle the full range of personal pronouns; at the time the list was simple: he/him, she/her, they/their, ...
It took six weeks and about 20 templates and a tyro simply right-clicked on a paragraph to change it from a simple thing like Yours sincerely to Yours faithfully, salutations based on the correspondent's title and large sections that were automatically updated on the gender change. The former formulaic responses were transformed into something that looked as if there was a caring replier; it actually did change the writer's perceptions and healthy dialogues ensured. Nowadays, there'll be an AI doing it all.

With Xara, we are still at the tablets of stone stage.

Acorn

[Acorn]

Dear Xara...

...I can only beg with a very sad face, but can this please be fixed?

Here is the simplest test file that I can think of for you to check the inanity of using Smart Fields with any form of Link: Xara - Smart Field Link Explosion.xar: every character in a Linked Smart Field is being wrapped needlessly in the HTML to set up the required link address - each and every character.

Smart Fields could have been so much better.

Acorn