Best way to highlight (fully) federated data in grids and views?

Hi community,

does anyone has some ideas how to highlight federated data? I have some ItemTypes that show data from other data sources. The data is not mixed with Innovator data, it´s complete external content.

I added a few customizations so also paging and search bar works like for regular items. This work so well that users right no often cannot tell that the data doesn´t come from Innovator.

Isn´t that a good thing? Yes! But no! Cause people expect they can work with the data like with any other. But federated data has some limitations:
- Federated views are sometimes slower regarding loading time (often due to query complexity)
- While most UI elements work, some still doesn´t (like the calculate max pages button) -- EDIT: Max page works now, but not stuff like "sort across pages" 
- Users cannot query for all data at once cause of hard max page restrictions
- The data cannot be edited inside Innovator
- Sometimes it´s not live data, but a few hours old

My idea is to use add something that indicates that data comes from an external data source. This way we wouldn´t mess up with user expectation which result in better game play (this is how a game designer would describe it). 

But I right now not sure what's the best way to highlight Federated ItemTypes. There are three scenarios:

- Federated Search Grid
- Federated Form
- Federated Relationship Grid

Do you have some ideas how or where to add some hint that the data is not from Innovator? I use the "Federated" flag in the ItemType. But it´s not big help. 

Thanks for any input!

Angela

  • I think I found a solution.

    Admire my wonderful creation that brings Federation to a new level:

    I use a few reusable CUI elements to provide information about the external data source and the absolute max amount of items that can be requested. Right now the text is static, but dynamic content would be possible.

    If you still have any other ideas, please let me know!

    Angela