Add an option to the Wizards to only see (not push) changes?

[DracoFelis]

Perhaps it is too many years diagonosing computer issues (not to mention spending loads of time undoing undesirable changes made by helpful "Configuration Wizards" that modified one too many settings on a system I was responsible for "supporting"), but I really like to see what a Wizard is about to do (before submitting the changes) because: A) The Wizard might want to reset an option I have a good reason not to overwrite, and I therefore need to manually "tweak" the Wizard's settings/suggestions. and B) By seeing what changes a Wizard "recommends" for a given situation, I often learn a fair amount about what the settings really mean!

While I'm sure many "beginners" actually prefer that a Wizard just "do its thing", many of us more technically inclined very much like to see what is going on first. But the "good news" is that there is no reason it has to be either/or, when we can have the best of both worlds.

So I was thinking. The Voxilla Wizards already have the "submit" option (to push the Wizard's settings to our adapters), but maybe the helpful people at Voxilla would be willing to add a "Preview" button to their Wizards? As I see it, the only function of the "Preview" button, would be to print out (display on a web page) a list of adapter fields that the Wizard would have changed (had the "Submit" been done), along with the values that the Wizard would have set for those fields. With this info, someone could (in theory) manually apply the changes that the Wizard is "recommending", but I suspect most people will continue to just "Submit" those changes. However, even if the user chooses to let the Wizard "Submit" the changes (i.e. push those changes to the adapter directly), I think many of the more technically inclined among us would like the "peace of mind" that comes from knowing (before hitting the "Submit" button) what the Wizard is about to do.

So what do you think of the idea/suggestion? I for one would find it handy, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one. Does a "Preview" button/option sound like something you might be willing to add to the abilities of your site's Wizards?

[PhoneBoy]

When you fill in the details on the wizard (e.g. userid, password), the page that gets generated after that first submit is a list of ALL parameters that are about to be modified. Only when that second Submit button is clicked does it actually push the changes to the device.

The only thing we don't do right now is allow modification of the values that are about to be pushed. It would actually be a fairly trivial change to make those changes "editable," though there are plenty of reasons for not doing that.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by PhoneBoy

When you fill in the details on the wizard (e.g. userid, password), the page that gets generated after that first submit is a list of ALL parameters that are about to be modified. Only when that second Submit button is clicked does it actually push the changes to the device.

My mistake then. Thanks for the info/update.

I guess I was confused because it is not obvious that you will be seeing the changes before pressing the first submit button, and the only Wizard on this site I have been "brave enough" to press the submit button for is the "secure call" certificate Wizard (and that Wizard does NOT give you the option of seeing your public/private keys before just pushing them to your device). So I (incorrectly) assumed that all your Wizards were "push only", whereas it appears (from your note) that many of the Wizards already show you the settings they plan to change.

Any chance of adding a short note to the 1st page of your Wizards, letting people know that no changes will be "pushed" until the end user has had a chance to see (and approve) of the changes "suggested" by the Wizard? At the moment it looks like you already do what I was suggesting (let the user review the entries before pushing them to the adapter), but that fact isn't real obvious from the 1st screen of the Wizard (no doubt "scaring off" some users that might be interested in using the Wizards to help them setup the adapters they have bought from you).

Again, sorry for the confusion, and thanks for the "heads up".

[PhoneBoy]

I think it already says that on the second page: "The following settings will be changed on your device." I'll add something to the first page of the other Wizards, though, as it could be made clearer.