Enum type base type Ref will have a difference in behavior when desktop mode is on and off

[イルカのえっちゃん]

The Enum type with base type Ref can prevent the automatic generation of virtual columns for [Related xx] in the referenced table.
Therefore, this technique is sometimes used when you want to display the keys of the referenced table in the form drop-down, but still keep good performance of the application.

When I used this recently, I noticed the following behavioral differences.

There are two tables shown below.

First shown is the behavior of the dashboard when desktop mode is off.
With the Enum type base type Ref, there is no interactive behavior in the view in the dashboard because there is no real relationship.
This is expected behavior.

Next, I turned on desktop mode and tried the same thing.

As you can see, when desktop mode is turned on, interactive behavior is achieved despite the lack of substantial relationships.
While this may seem gratifying at first glance, it seems to be a source of confusion in that the behavior in mobile and browser mode is different and inconsistent.
Is this intended behavior?
What do you all think? I would like to hear your opinions.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

@Arthur_Rallu @wabrian @Adam-google 

I also noticed to the change of this behavior.   With the enum base type ref, the dashboard with interactive mode was not responsive, however it is currently working with new desktop mode while it does not work with the legacy UX.

Could you guide us how this change in behavior was brought in ?   

Ideally the behavior on both new desktop / legacy UX should be consistent.   No doubt, the currently observed behavior (dashboard can be interactive with Enum/Base Type Ref settings) is pretty much useful and what we need. Can you introduce the exactly same behavior for the legacy UX ?

[amyplin]

Hi do you have an app with some repro steps I can look at to check the behavior? 

Thanks!

[イルカのえっちゃん]

The text I posted is the exact “reproduction procedure”, so please follow it to create your application.

[イルカのえっちゃん]

@amyplin 

I shared the app with Case ID 4-9428000036464.
Please check here.

[Adam-google · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately most of the differences between Ref and Enum-base-Ref are more historical accidents than design choices - places where something is checking specifically for "Ref" type columns in a way that overlooks Enum-base-Ref even though they should behave the same in most respects. I'm not sure what specifically changed here in Desktop, but generally we try to treat both kinds of Ref similarly and make the Enum behave more like the Ref when support issues involve these discrepancies, unless we know of a significant use case for the difference in behavior (e.g. suppressing the REF_ROWS column). In this case the inconsistency will probably be resolved in favor of the desktop behavior in some future mobile update.

[イルカのえっちゃん]

Thank you for your response.
I hope the behavior of Enum-base-Ref will be closer to Ref.

[Koichi_Tsuji]

@Adam-google 

Thanks for the detailed clarity, I fully understood how the observed behaviors have been introduced.

No doubt, the existing new desktop UX behavior is preferred.  Hope the legacy mobile UX will follow the same path with the future updates, thanks.

@takuya_miyai 

[amyplin]

@イルカのえっちゃん @Koichi_Tsuji We are working on a new mobile mode that will have consistent behavior in this use case with desktop mode, so we will not be going back to fix the legacy mobile ui. We'll hopefully be announcing the new mobile mode (public preview) in a couple of weeks so sit tight! 

[イルカのえっちゃん]

Thank you!
We look forward to seeing the new mobile mode (public preview)!

[Koichi_Tsuji]

@amyplin 

thank you for following up with our request!  Glad to see the change to the right direction. 

Thank you for your works.