Pre-PR Discussion: Configurable user name order – "Lastname Firstname" (fully implemented)

[R2D2]

Hi everyone,

I was already annoyed by the “Firstname Lastname” order, so I finally implemented it myself.

There have been several requests for this in the past:

Change place Firstname/Lastname to Lastname/ Firstname

Hi! It will be greate if in Zammad it will be possible to change position of the “last name” “first name” in dropwon field. For now it is so inconvenient to find somebody from the list. Because of what you want to find somebody in the list of 1000 people you start typing the first letters of the person name. And for now first name is the first. And when we start typing first letters Zammad find the names starts from those letters. But it doesn’t make sense becouse the names are not unique. I can…

Chang Name Order from Firstname/Lastname to Lastname/ Firstname

While creating a new Ticket I’m able to search for a customer. At moment I see First-name and in a second column the Last-name of a customer. Please allow to change to a more formal design where the Last-name appear first and the First-name in the second column. The minimum Requirement would be to sort the Customer drop-down list by the first character in the Last-name. We know our Customer only by Last-Name

Customer - lastname / firstname

there are different places in zammad where customer names are listed eg. company overview customer drop down in ticket … The fullname format should be configurable “lastname firstname” or “firstname lastname” Sorting should also take care of this. see also Chang Name Order from Firstname/Lastname to Lastname/ Firstname

Important: Nothing changes for anyone who leaves the new option at the default (false).

I only had to touch 4 files and made sure the change is UI-only (email recipient lines always stay “Firstname Lastname” – this is intentional and follows common email conventions).

1. New setting (db/seeds/settings.rb)

New option as string gives us the opportunity in the future to expand it for a format like “Smith, John”.

#Insert after the block pretty_date_format
Setting.create_or_update(
  title:       __('User Name Format'),
  name:        'ui_user_name_format',
  area:        'System::Branding',
  description: __('Defines how user names are displayed in dropdowns, overviews and selection fields.'),
  options:     {
    form: [
      {
        display: '',
        null:    false,
        name:    'ui_user_name_format',
        tag:     'select',
        options: {
          first_last: __('John Smith'),
          last_first: __('Smith John'),
        },
		translate: true,
      },
    ],
  },
  preferences: {
    render:     true,
    prio:       11,
    permission: ['admin.branding'],
  },
  state:        'first_last',
  frontend:     true
)

2. app/models/user.rb

Used in the new desktop view and for formatting of the e-mail recipient. However, the usual format “First Name Last Name” is retained when sending emails.

Change this line:

#Old code
    name = "#{firstname} #{lastname}".strip

to this:

#New code
    format = Setting.get('ui_user_name_format')
	
    if recipient_line
      # Email sending: always first name last name (regardless of setting)
      name = "#{firstname} #{lastname}".strip
    elsif format == 'last_first'
      # UI display: Lastname Firstname
      name = "#{lastname} #{firstname}".strip
    else
	  # UI display: Firstname Lastname
      name = "#{firstname} #{lastname}".strip
    end

3. app/assets/javascripts/app/models/user.coffee

This code is used in the current desktop view. I replaced the following block, which is primarily for the dropdown menu and general name displays…

#Old code
  displayName: ->
    if !_.isEmpty(@firstname)
      name = @firstname
    if !_.isEmpty(@lastname)
      if _.isEmpty(name)
        name = ''
      else
        name = name + ' '
      name = name + @lastname
    return name if !_.isEmpty(name)
    if @email
      return @email
    if @phone
      return @phone
    if @mobile
      return @mobile
    if @login
      return @login
    return '-'

to this:

#New code
  displayName: ->
    format = App.Config.get('ui_user_name_format') or 'first_last'
    parts =
      if format == 'last_first'
        [@lastname, @firstname]
      else
        [@firstname, @lastname]
    name = _.compact(parts).join(' ')
    return name   if name
    return @email if @email
    return @phone if @phone
    return @mobile if @mobile
    return @login if @login
    '-'

The next section is primarily used for overviews. I replaced the following block…

#Old code
  displayNameLong: ->
    if !_.isEmpty(@firstname)
      name = @firstname
    if !_.isEmpty(@lastname)
      if _.isEmpty(name)
        name = ''
      else
        name = name + ' '
      name = name + @lastname
    if !_.isEmpty(name)
      if !_.isEmpty(@organization)
        if typeof @organization is 'object'
          name = "#{name} (#{@organization.name})"
        else
          name = "#{name} (#{@organization})"
      else if !_.isEmpty(@department)
        name = "#{name} (#{@department})"
    return name if !_.isEmpty(name)
    if @email
      return @email
    if @phone
      return @phone
    if @mobile
      return @mobile
    if @login
      return @login
    return '-'

with this:

#New code
  displayName: ->
    format = App.Config.get('ui_user_name_format') or 'first_last'
    parts =
      if format == 'last_first'
        [@lastname, @firstname]
      else
        [@firstname, @lastname]
    name = _.compact(parts).join(' ')
    return name   if name
    return @email if @email
    return @phone if @phone
    return @mobile if @mobile
    return @login if @login
    '-'

4. app/assets/javascripts/app/controllers/_ui_element/_application_action.coffee

This is for the list of e-mail recipients, a.e., in triggers. Here I changed it to use the function instead, which also resolves the problem of displaying “null” if firstname or lastname is null.

After the change:

Changed this line

#Old code
      columnSelectRecipientUserOptions.push({ value: key, name: "#{user.firstname} #{user.lastname}", selected: selected })

to this

#New code
      u = if user instanceof App.User then user else new App.User(user)
      columnSelectRecipientUserOptions.push
        value: key
        name: u.displayName()
        selected: selected
    columnSelectRecipientUserOptions = _.sortBy(columnSelectRecipientUserOptions, 'name')

After making these changes, I executed the following commands:

sudo rm -rf /opt/zammad/tmp/cache/webpacker
sudo zammad run rake assets:precompile
sudo systemctl restart zammad
sudo zammad run rake db:seed

Go to Settings, Settings, Branding and change the setting to “Smith John”:

Now the owner dropdown looks like this:

Question to the team:
Is the approach OK (one setting + explicit email exception in fullname)? Or would you prefer a second setting for email recipient lines?
Would love to hear your thoughts before I open a PR.

PS for the devs of the new desktop view: In the current desktop view, the “Organization” or “Department” is displayed next to the name in the overviews. This is not yet present in the new desktop view.