Bug: Empty cards are created when no changes are made

[hmhealey]

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Click on the "+ New" button to make a new card
2. Immediately close the modal without making any changes

Expected behavior

A card isn't created automatically unless the user enters some text or makes some changes. It feels too easy to accidentally create cards that you didn't mean to.

Screenshots (optional)

Edition and Platform

• Edition: Mattermost Boards on community.mattermost.com
• Version: v7.2.1

[wuwinson]

@hmhealey This is the current behavior, but agreed we should improve this experience. cc @asaadmahmood

[michkrej]

I could take a look at this if you still think it should be improved :)

[wuwinson]

That would be awesome, thanks @michkrej! Added some high level requirements below to help. Let us know if you have any questions! cc @asaadmahmood for any additional input.

Requirements

1. Creating a new card on a board does not automatically save unless the user adds content or makes changes to the card
2. "Untitled" cards can still be created as long as something on the card was changed or added, such as a property, comment, description, or icon.
3. When creating a new card from a column on a board view, a value from the respective SELECT property is automatically added to the empty card - do not save the card unless the user makes any changes to the card.
4. Same for all other views, including Table, Calendar, and Gallery views, as well as card templates - when a card is added to any of those views, do not save the card unless content was changed.

[michkrej]

@asaadmahmood does for example adding an empty text block count as added content or does the user need to also write something for the card to save?

[wuwinson]

@michkrej I think we should save it in your case. We're trying to minimize accidental card creations, so if a user manually makes a change to a card, including adding an empty text block, then we can assume that the card was not accidentally created. Hope that clears things up, but let us know if you have any other questions. Thanks!

[kamre]

@wuwinson what should happen when user clicks to create a new card, types some characters in title, then erase all of the characters and closes the card dialog?

[wuwinson]

Great question @kamre! That also brings up other use cases where a user can make a change to a property on the card, or add text to the description, then undo the changes. We need a better definition of what is considered a "change" in those cases.

Option A:

• Consider any manual keyboard input and adjusting of properties from the user as a "change" to the card and save the card even if the card does not look any different from when it was first opened.

Option B:

• Check the difference between when the card is first opened and when the user closes the card - if there is no difference, do not save the card.

Open to other ideas as well. Would like to keep this simple from a user experience and technical implementation standpoint. I think either of these options would reduce accidental card creations, but also want to make sure we don't prevent users from saving a card when they're actually trying to do so.

[michkrej]

From the user interactions I have had at my job I definitely think that option A will cause less confusion. Option B could work if it comes with some type of warning text that the card won't be saved. What do you think @kamre

[kamre]

@michkrej @wuwinson I also think that option A will have less confusion, i.e. if there was any interaction then the card should be preserved.

[wuwinson]

Thanks for your input @michkrej @kamre! Let's move forward with Option A then!