Autosave rule/data element changes periodically

[#1]

While a user is making changes to any rule or data element, autosave the changes periodically (e.g. every minute). If the user is logged out automatically – which erases all unsaved changes, the user can have the option of recovering from his last auto-saved state and pick up his work from there.

The autosave does not need to create a new revision automatically. New revisions should still be made when the user saves manually.

[#2]

At bare minimum, auto-save before log out!

[#3]

Agree.

[#4]

Yes please!!

[#5]

I'm interested to know if viable option would be to notify the user, say, a minute before the auto-logout and allow them to continue their session if they would like. A sudden auto-logout is no good.

[#6]

@aahardy That would be slightly better, but the problem is that users are often on another tab (or off grabbing some coffee or something)- if they're inactive for long enough to auto-logout, they're probably not going to be there for the warning either.

[#7]

Agree with @jenn9 that auto-logout wouldn't be the ideal solution here. Also because it still requires human intervention, which defeats the purpose of doing something automatically.

I'm thinking of something like Medium's interface where, as you type an article, it saves the draft periodically on its own.

[#8]

We're thinking about the UX on this. I'd love any feedback y'all have. Here's what I have so far...

• Save temporary code every time you stop typing for more than 1 second
• When coming back to the view after unintentionally leaving, it will prompt you to restore your unsaved code
• If you modify the code, save, or cancel we consider it intentional code lock-in and throw away the old temporary saved code
• Temporary code is saved based on the current URL so it's different for every view

Questions...

• How long should autosaved code last? 1 day? 1 week? forever?
• If you edit a new action, and lose your code, then create another new action on the rule a day later, should we allow you to restore from the previous new action?

If you have other thoughts on how this should work, please let us know!

[#9]

@markhicken , my responses:

• Save temporary code every time you stop typing for more than 1 second

Yes.

• When coming back to the view after unintentionally leaving, it will prompt you to restore your unsaved code

Yes.

• If you modify the code, save, or cancel we consider it intentional code lock-in and throw away the old temporary saved code

Yes, correct. User actions should take precedence.

• Temporary code is saved based on the current URL so it’s different for every view

Yes.

• How long should autosaved code last? 1 day? 1 week? forever?

I prefer "Forever" personally.

• If you edit a new action, and lose your code, then create another new action on the rule a day later, should we allow you to restore from the previous new action?

Ideally, the auto-save should take effect at the Rule / Data Element level. So any changes made to the Rule, including adding a new Action or even other component like Condition or Event, should be auto-saved. Then in your scenario, the new action would be restored from auto-save when the Rule is opened.

[#10]

@analytics_union Thanks for the feedback!

I love the idea of doing this at the base resource level (rule, data element, extension). Do you think it still makes sense to do this at code editor level even if we do it at the base resource level?