User:BrianSchweitzer/sandbox1

This proposal, if passed, is only effective for the NGS release; it entails sufficient server updating that implementing it under the current mason code wouldn't make sense.

Currently, URL ARs have a URL field and a Description textarea. The Description textarea is useless; it displays nearly nowhere and serves no purpose. Any time it is populated at the moment, whatever text is in there normally shouldn't be.

This proposal changes that field, and URL ARs in general, to allow for more URL AR flexibility, and to remove a the Description field whenever it is useless.

1) Make the Description field a text input field, not a textarea.

2) Make the Description field an optional attribute for any URL AR. The default for any URL AR, unless it is defined to use the field, would be that the field is not shown in the AR entry form and any text that somehow still got into the field would be invalid (and thrown away by the server upon edit submission).

3) Make the text "Description" itself definable by the AR.

The above would allow the field to only be shown when there's a reason to show it, and for the field's label to make sense for whatever ARs would use it.

4) In the definition for a URL-foo AR type, the following additional options (or the equivalent of these) would be presented to the Relationship Editor:

   a) Show description field. default: false
   b) Label for description field.  default: (blank)
   c) Each AR displayed on a new line.  default: false

5) Any URL AR type which is defined to use the description field would now, when ARs of that type are displayed, display the description text as the link text, rather than the URL. So <a href="http://foo.com">Description text</a> and not the current <a href="http://foo.com">http://foo.com</a>.

6) Existing URL ARs would be updated as follows: