JSS: Rationalize the behavior of the Policy 'Logs' view

[sw_g]

When I open a policy and click the 'Logs' button at the bottom, I get a listing of computers. Clicking the 'Status' header causes a sorting arrow to appear, grouping by that field. Clicking it again causes the arrow to flip. However, the items are not re-sorted. There is no way to sort with 'Pending' first. Worse, sorting by another header, such as 'Computer Name', does not really sort by that row; rather items are always primarily sorted by 'Status', and secondarily sorted by the selected header. This is confusing and misleading when one is trying to review the results of a policy for successful deployment, and is not in line with the interface conventions one expects with this type of sort-able table.

[RobertHammen]

Did you want this to be a Feature Request? I'm 100% with you, this behavior is very, very annoying.

[Taylor_Armstron]

Not a feature request, a good old-fashioned BUG. Sorting is basic, not an advanced "feature". This should work as expected.

[RobertHammen]

Feature Request Here
- seems JAMF may disagree that the changed way the log displays is a bug, but instead a design decision that I'll bet 90% of users disagree with.

[were_wulff]

@Taylor.Armstrong

This is not a bug, unfortunately, and is something that was changed by design. Currently, it is working as expected and designed.

As @RobertHammen mentioned, there is already a Feature Request to change it back.

They did link the older thread in which I'd replied in the FR, but the key bit is:

We did originally have this filed as a Product Issue (PI-002113), as mentioned earlier on in this thread, and the feedback that we received was that is that this was an intentional change made to the code for performance reasons. There is not currently a way to save sorting by Date/Time as the default or to save a default to showing more than 10 at once; it must be done each time you go in to view the policy logs.

I do apologize that it's an inconvenience, and that is certainly consistent with the feedback that's been received on the change overall, however, the change itself was implemented on purpose and is not a bug.

I'd encourage you to upvote the Feature Request @RobertHammen linked as well as add your own comments to it; our Product Owners and Developers do read through the Feature Requests and the comments on them, so the more information they have as to why something is a pain point for customers the better.

Thanks!
Amanda Wulff
JAMF Software Support

[Taylor_Armstron]

Intentional or not, if the columns do not sort when you click on them, this SHOULD be considered a bug and dealt with accordingly.

I don't even really care that the preference be saved or not, I'm just frustrated that sorting simply does not work for me. Eg: I pull up logs. I click on "Status". I see the completed jobs at the top. I click on status again. The arrow changes direction. "Completed" jobs are still at the top. I have to scroll to the bottom of the window to see anything with status of "Pending". Clicking on the arrow to reverse sort direction does nothing. That's a bug, not a performance enhancement.

[sw_g]

I'd have to agree that always sorting primarily by 'Status' may be a feature/anti-feature, but using standard interface conventions which appear to indicate it works differently is a BUG. Will add my comments to the existing FR, but I'll suggest this: if it is desirable or necessary to always sort 'Pending' and 'Completed' separately, then make them two separate tables, with tabs to switch between the views.

[sw_g]

@RobertHammen Yes, this was supposed to be a feature request, I didn't realize it's not until just now. Thought I remembered filling out the 'Feature Request' form...is there some way I can move it?

[RobertHammen]

@sw_g It might be considered a duplicate of:

Preference to set date/time sort on log page

But that talks about defaulting to date/time sort, and this thread points out the sorting behavior that works differently than anywhere else in the JSS.

Wouldn't hurt to repost this, I'd happily upvote this FR as it's something that drives me crazy (admittedly, it may be a short ride ;-)

[bpavlov]

The issue discussed here and discussed in that other Feature Request are two different issues (although slightly related). Sorting should work always on all column headers.

[analog_kid]

This was also very annoying for me. However, since upgrading to 9.99.0, my sorting prefs for logs are now being saved between login sessions. However, the feature request linked above is still 'planned' and the PI wasn't mentioned as resolved in the release notes for 9.99.

So was this reimplemented without being acknowledged or is my JSS playing tricks on me? :)

[analog_kid]

I guess this is only logging into the same browser on the same device.

[Cornoir]

Based upon my email to JAMF support today regarding non standard (logical) sorting in Casper Remote I was told to make it a Feature Request:

https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/feature-requests/6230/casper-remote-sorting-ip-address-based-upon-the-standard-convention-of-ascending-descending-numerical-order

Seems to me that JAMF tends to do little to fix things if they can get away with it. In Composer trying to Update Package Manifests gives you an error "Downloading latest Package Manifests failed" since version 9.82 (we are now on version 9.98). When I opened a support ticket with JAMF I was told this error was because the URL was hard coded into Composer. Come on now JAMF has not fixed this since 9.82, yet still releases new versions with this broken issue for existing and new customers.