Please. Please. PLEASE. Creating dependencies is pretty clunky at the moment. It would be super neat if we could enable automatic dependency mapping for specific nodes, instead of having to choose between all or nothing. Improved dependency creation has huge potential for SolarWinds. Right now I already have over 400 500 manually created dependencies, but in all honesty I could use another 100 in order to make things really work smoothly. I don't want to dive in and enable automatic dependency mapping globally, risking miscalculations that destroy the countless hours of work I've put into my current mapping. Introducing the new auto mapping feature is only beneficial for new customers, and potentially disastrous for anyone with existing dependencies. Additionally, if we decide to create our dependencies manually, it should not be as difficult as it currently is.
Right now the process to create a single dependency is time consuming since each step is a new screen and the search is terrible. When searching for a parent node, the default display is whatever node belongs to the vendor who's name is alphabetically first. When a node name is typed into the search box, the window shows nothing. You have to manually change the filter in order to find the node or group you are looking for. Occasionally, the page throws an error that says "you need to choose a parent node before continuing", even though you've already selected one. The page reloads and you have to start over. This process needs to be repeated for the child node as well. The whole thing has tons of room for improvement. I'm sure you've all created dependencies before, but I want you to go and try it again right now to understand my point. Here's my mock-up of what the "Add a dependency" screen should look like:
With this screen you could easily add multiple dependencies at once. Notice how choosing more than one parent or child is also possible. Using groups is nice and all, but then you have to create those groups for no other reason than to create your dependencies... it doubles the required work. No bueno. Also note that when searching for a parent/child those drop down boxes show up based on what you've typed in. This feature is already implemented in other parts of NPM.
Help me, SolarWinds community. You're my only hope.