A great question came up today, and I knew this was the perfect place to bring it: How often are your projects or clients asking for Field Groups and Repeating Views to be collapsible?
In the past, I have implemented a mortgage application for one of the leading banks in the UK. The application needed to capture multiple details (person, loan, employment, salary, and outgoing, etc.). If it was a joint application, the details needed to be captured twice.
Based on my experience, please find my answers below.
Do your end-users want to collapse sections to tidy up their workspace?
Yes, definitely. End-users prefer the ability to collapse sections so they can focus only on the relevant information, reduce screen clutter, and improve overall usability while working on complex screens.
Have you heard requests for a “Collapse All” button for ultimate screen management? Yes, in some situations this is required.
Are you being asked to configure certain sections to be collapsed by default when a screen loads? Yes, that’s right. We have implemented this as well. Certain sections were configured to be collapsed by default to improve performance and user experience
Hey Marc, Based on my experience. Added the below points:
Do your end-users want to collapse sections to tidy up their workspace?
ANS: Yes, end users prefer collapse so that they can focus on their current workspace. It would be really great if there would be an option to collapse the repeating views, where it would help users to avoid scrolling when there is more data.
2.Have you heard requests for a “Collapse All” button for ultimate screen management?
ANS: Collapse all would be great fit, which would tidy up the screen and avoid unnecessary scrolling. I have personally experience when there is more data, collapse all is a best fit as same as the option in data transforms.
3.Are you being asked to configure certain sections to be collapsed by default when a screen loads?
ANS: Yes, the current behavior in repeating views opens up as soon as screen loads for the first time, we have been asked by clients to collapse it at least on the initial screen loads when no data is entered.
@MarcCheong Based on my experience, yes collapsible functionality is needed.
Especially, the field groups in constellation are by default expanded. We should have an option to control the collapsible functionality with a when rule and/or custom condition.
For repeating views as well, its better we have a collapsible functionality.
This would lead to a cleaner UI experience and more focused way of entering the data or viewing the data.
@MarcCheong Yes, collapsible config topic is common. We solved the collapsible repeating layout by using a field group in the view that the repeating view references. This gives you effectively the same experience as collapsing each line.
A “collapse all” feature would be nice indeed.
We’ve also heard the wish for collapsing things by default and expand when needed.
Our application heavily relies on a collapsible feature due to its extensive and data-rich UI. This functionality allows users to expand or collapse sections as needed, ensuring a more organized and manageable interface. Since a large amount of data needs to be displayed, loading everything at once could impact performance. By enabling on-demand expansion and collapse, we optimize responsiveness and enhance the overall user experience.
Yes,few sections get collapsed by default when the case gets loaded,
We’re getting these kind of requirements(Collapse by default) more often from many customers.
What’s the story from your side? It would be great if we can have collapsilble by default and this avoids lot of scrolling especailly when we are’ building cascading pagelist with 3 to 5 levels deep.
Do your end-users want to collapse sections to tidy up their workspace? YES
Have you heard requests for a “Collapse All” button for ultimate screen management?
Are you being asked to configure certain sections to be collapsed by default when a screen loads? YES
Whenever we display a repeating list but not as a table(in traditional UI terms repeating dynamic layout) we need to display few information but hide the majority and allow users to review them only if they need them.
Requirement 2:
Accordion (Traditional UI term). One of the lists I designed in traditional UI had 150 items (divided between 8 headings). Implementing them in an Accordion was an easy solution.
I think collapsible repeating views or in general collapsible views for grouped information are often use case. I was working on topic where a lot of information were collected during case processing steps then summary screen was used to display all of that information.
For sure one of the purpose to have collapsible sections is to tidy up workspace when a lot of details needs to be displayed.
I was investigating for quite some time how to make sections to be collapsed by default when a screen loads and after some time could figure out currently there is no such option in Constellation, so that ‘s definitely something what customers are wishing for.
I could see also “Collapse All” button as something really useful, assuming having big screen, working already on it then wishing to move to other part of that screen collapse all and afterwards expand what user is interested in would be great.
I think there is a general need to better structure interfaces in Pega, one way is to have collapsible sections. Hiding/showing information is a primary function in application development and a collapsible would work for this without any additional configuration. Being able to hide secondary content and saving space on smaller screens are other use cases.
Other views I’m missing are tabular forms and accordion view to structure large forms
For this use case (lots of repeating views with lots of information to display/capture) we have edits in modal windows from an embedded data table view right? I dont know what the added benefit is of collapsible items in repeating views. It just seems to me that if there are too many repeating views or these views are too big… one should go for a table with a modal edit.
I am not an expert in UX and accessibility but what are the accessibility implications of collapsible repeating views? I know clients/users ask for it and have this sometimes as a preference, but what does the factual UX science tell us about this?
Customers increasingly need collapsible repeating views to manage dense, hierarchical data and reduce excessive scrolling. The key driver is progressive disclosure. Showing essential information first, with details on demand.
Current gaps:
No collapse by default
No accordion pattern
No Collapse All / Expand All
Value: Improves usability, scanability, and workspace efficiency. Especially for large summary screens.
Risks:
Hidden content may reduce discoverability
Overuse or deep nesting can hurt usability
Accessibility issues if not properly implemented (e.g., poor keyboard or screen reader support)
Yes, we have encountered this request from clients multiple times, particularly on data‑intensive screens. In several implementations, users have asked for the ability to keep certain sections expanded for quick reference while keeping others collapsed to reduce clutter. Providing an out‑of‑the‑box capability to define default expand and collapse behavior for repeating views would significantly improve usability and support complex UI requirements
