Advanced list view? Assistant page lacking grid view?

Thank you for your observations and for your question. The current relationship between the Media/Assistant screen and the WordPress Media/Library screen was developed back in the days of WordPress v3.3, before the new Media Manager was introduced. I made the decision very early on not to add any enhancements to the Media/Library submenu page. When WordPress v3.5 introduced the “Media Manager Modal (popup) Window” (MMMW) I undertook the effort to add enhancements like advanced filtering to it. The Media/Library Grid was added in WP 4.0, and it uses the same code base as the MMMW; I carried the enhancements over to the Grid view.

The Media/Assistant lacks a “grid view” because I (like other plugin developers) have found the MMMW code base very difficult to work with. I have long hoped for better documentation and more thought for extensions to come out, but have not seen anything along those lines yet. I regret that MLA is unlikely to have a grid view in the foreseeable future.

I understand your point about the confusion caused by the current situation and you make a good point. I might be able to add a list/grid toggle to the Media/Assistant submenu page that gives an easy way to switch between Media/Assistant list view and Media/Library grid view while suppressing Media/Library list view. If that would be of interest to you, let me know.

I will leave this topic unresolved until I have completed my investigation and made a decision. Thanks for your understanding, your patience and for your interest in the plugin.

Thanks a lot for your quick and clear reply.

I might be able to add a list/grid toggle to the Media/Assistant submenu

This solution could be helpful. But if you navigate from Media/Assistant list to Media/Library grid, how would you navigate back to the Media/Assistant view? The Media/Library ‘toggle to list’ button would take you back to the Media/Library list view, which would be even more confusing.

I understand re?mplementing the grid view in Media/Assistant would be hard, but wouldn’t expanding the MMMW in the Media/Library list view, like you did with the Media/Library grid view be a solution? You could make it an option just like you did with the grid view.

Thanks for your update and interest in my suggestion. I have added the “list/grid” switcher to the Media/Assistant submenu screen.

You asked “how would you navigate back to the Media/Assistant view?” You can configure the answer to this question in the “Admin Menu Options” section of the Settings/Media library Assistant General tab:

1. If you change the “Submenu Order” to a value from 1 – 4, the “Assistant” submenu becomes the default choice. You can click on either “Media” or “Media/Assistant” to go to the Media/Assistant view. The “list” icon on the Media/Library grid view will return to the Media/Library submenu screen (in list mode).
2. If you uncheck the “Display Media/Library” box clicking on “list view” will automatically return to the Media/Assistant submenu screen. You can also change the “Page Title” and “Menu Title” if you prefer the “Media Library” and “Library” labels.
3. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the Settings screen and click “Save Changes” to record any new settings.

I have uploaded a new Development Version dated 20160225 that contains the new feature. To get the Development Version, follow the instructions in this earlier topic:

Shortcode not working in (special) widget

It would be great if you can install the Development Version and let me know if it works for you. Of course, if any other problems emerge I want to know about them as well.

Thanks! It’s good to see this plugin is so actively maintained.

I’ve just tested the new switch, but unfortunately the url’s seem to be wrong.

For example for the grid view the url is:

https://localhost/wp-admin/upload.php?mode=grid

while it should be (in my case):

https://localhost/(sitename)/wp-admin/upload.php?mode=grid

Thanks for your positive feedback and for taking the time to install and test the Development Version.

I have made a change in the way the URLs are generated and uploaded a new Development Version dated 20160302. It would be great if you can give the latest update a try and let me know if it fixes the problem you found. Thanks for your help with this new feature.

Thanks. The url’s are generated right now. For me this is a viable solution, but i can imagine it isn’t for general users. If users don’t disable the default media view, the navigation (Assistant->media/grid->media/list) is still a bit confusing in my opinion.

Another small issue is that the Assistant menu item isn’t highlighted when the grid view is selected and the default media view is disabled.

Thanks for testing and confirming the fix I made.

I agree that the navigation is a bit confusing when the default media view isn’t disabled. Perhaps it would be better to add the Media/Assistant “list/grid” switcher only if the default Media/Library screen is disabled. What do you think?

I have fixed the Assistant highlighting but haven’t yet uploaded it. Thanks for pointing the problem out.

Yes I think that would be an improvement. The only problem is that the possibility for a switch is then hidden for most users. A way to make it non-hidden is to add an option to the plugin settings:
– add toggle to grid view in media assistant (only works when disabling the default media library).

Now the user is informed, and will know the consequence of enabling the default view + enabling the toggle button in media assistant.

I have uploaded a new Development Version dated 20160306 that includes a new option to control the display of the “list/grid” switcher on the Media/Assistant screen. Look for “Display Media/Assistant list/grid view switcher” just below the existing “Display Media/Library” option on the Settings/Media library Assistant General tab.

That makes any combination of the two settings possible; thanks for your feedback on the matter.

I have released MLA version 2.25, which includes the list/grid switcher features developed for this topic.

I am marking this topic resolved, but please update it if you have any problems or further questions regarding the list/grid switcher enhancements. Thanks for working with me on the new feature.