Advanced Linking in a Picker Item using Buttons

There is a new advanced feature in Version 3 of MiraCheck that allows each item in a Picker to link somewhere. This is a little techy where you need to paste a little JSON snippet in the Properties field.

The syntax of the JSON snippet is:

{"linking":"Link URL goes here"}

Examples:

{"linking":"goto:#go-around"}
{"linking":"resetRangeAndGoto:#takeoff"}
{"linking":"goto:#after-landing"}

See the post on linking to learn more about the syntax…

There are many commands that can be used for linking. Here is the Linking Command Reference.

Here is an example I setup to show how this works…

First I will add ID’s to the places I will link…

ID for Takeoff

ID for Go Around

ID for Postflight / After Landing

Then I create a Picker Item Type and select Buttons for the View Type.

In the Properties (optional) field is where you add the JSON snippets.

I have added the following for the Label, Value and Properties (optional):

Go Around, go-around, {"linking":"goto:#go-around"}
Touch and Go, touch-and-go, {"linking":"resetRangeAndGoto:#takeoff"}
Postflight, postflight, {"linking":"goto:#after-landing"}

This is the result…

This example demonstrates advanced linking in a Picker item. It shows a final decision on landing where you decide if doing a Go Around, Touch and Go or upon a successful landing going to Postflight.

This is terrific! I used to handle this through multiple Yes/No items with different GoTo links. But I have now incorporated these into a single Picker List using your post as an example. You continue to expand the lead between your checklist product and your nearest competitors. Nice Job!!!

I must be missing something but I keep getting the following error “The properties must be valid JSON.” This happens even when I copy your example into the Properties field.

Try copying again. The forum was putting “fancy quotes” around each item instead of basic quotes. I have edited the content above.

It was driving me crazy…but that did the trick, thanks!

Hello,

I am new here. I am trying to use the “Picker Button” feature to link from one Item in a checklist to another checklist from a different list all together. I have an Engine Troubleshooting Section and when i am done with that i want to be able to press a button to go back to the “Normal” checklist i would have been on. I have read all the forum info but nothing seems to be working. Any assistance here would be great.

Randy

If you use the following, it will present a button at the top of the screen to go back to where you jumped from.

{"linking":"gotoAndReturn:#engine-troubleshooting"}

Hello Jeff,

I’m trying to incorporate the picker option in my emergency checklist. I see the potentiel to navigate with more freedom with in the checklist or between checklists. I’ve read the above tread and I’m obviously missing something.

From the example you give above, it seems to me that “Propreties” is a combination of “Link on select” + “Link action” from the “Advance on select” section. If that is the case, I do not understand the purpose of the “Value” field.

In other words, what is the diffrence between the fields “Value” and “Propreties”.

  • Is “Value” similar to “Link on select”;
  • Is “Propreties” equivalent to “Link action”.

If these fields have the same function as the ones in the “Advance on select” section then why not present the picker fields in the same way : “Label”; “Link on select”; “Link action”?

Also, what is the purpose of the field “Placeholder” and “Default value”? Nothing is mentioned about those two fields in your example.

Is it possible to have a glossary for the picker functions with a description and purpose for each one?

Thank you in advance for your help,
Martin

The Placeholder is used as instructional content…e.g. (Select an item). If you put that in, then when there is no item selected it shows this content to give instruction.

The Default Value is used if you want one of the items selected by default. You would type in the value of the item e.g. touch-and-go for the item you would want selected as default.

Both the Placeholder and Default Value are optional and only apply if using the View Type of Picker. For the View Type of Buttons, they are ignored.

The Value item is an id that goes with each item. The Label is what is displayed to the user, but the id is the value collected. This is standard stuff for dealing with list items. If you are creating a set of buttons to link to other areas of the checklist, you don’t have to worry about the Value fields. Just keep the defaults.

The Properties field is for properties that can be associated with an item. In this case the linking property allows you to perform a linking action when the item is selected. The syntax of the linking action is the same as if you were inlining a link in an item. With linking you need to make sure to put an ID on the items where you want to jump to in the Advanced section of that item as I show above.

I’m not getting the linking in picker to work. Screen shot below. Instead of linking to appropriate section, it just always goes I guess to the top of “Decent” List and starts the first section there. I’d also like to know how to link to a section and have it present birdseye view. For that same “Descent” List, if it linked to birdseye view of that i could do that instead of picker in this particular case.

I see you are using the View Type of Picker. With that View Type it does seem like there is an issue with linking. That is not the most ideal type to use for linking. There is one called Buttons which give large buttons to click on and you don’t have to scroll them to select one. See image below. There is no issue linking with Buttons.

Also, linking and Birdseye view would fight each other and you should really decide to use one or the other. If you want to present these sections in Birdseye View, just check the Start in Birdseye View on the Descent List. With that, when you click the Descent tab in the app it will show Birdseye View with large buttons for all of these options. If you use that you wouldn’t have to setup any linking. One caveat is right now the Birdseye View only comes up when you click the tab. It doesn’t show when you navigate to the List or link to it. That is something we would look at in the future.