Auto-Save

[blakeelias]

Upon every keystroke, automatically "save" the user's input.

At first, this can just be a front-end change: call the Save function as it currently stands, saving in-memory, until the user clicks Publish. This eliminates the need for the user to remember to click "Save".

Once we have a database in place this can automatically be writing to the backend, updating some latest "live" copy. Then pressing Publish can result in this live copy getting saved with a date to be viewable later.

[blakeelias]

More insight into why this is complicated in the current interface.

The "Save" button does more than just save the currently edited text into memory.

It also switches the interface from being in "edit" mode (which restricts the user to staying in the section being edited) to being in "read" mode (where the user can browse all the sections, click to edit another section, etc.).

[blakeelias]

So the true resolution here might be to eliminate the distinction between viewing and editing.

I.e. have a single mode where the user can scroll through the entire report and edit any piece of it. They can scroll all the way through, editing several sections one after the other, and any keystrokes they make get auto-saved to the database.

Then when they click Publish (after having entered a Description of their changes), the latest version will be saved in the database, marked with the timestamp of that button push, and will download a file to their local machine.