Design of programming toolsets (was: Re: FW: Browse lookup - odd behavior)

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Fri, Jul 16, 2004 at 12:19:08PM -0400, GCC Consulting wrote:
> Just to add my 2 cents into this discussion.

Well, they were your two cents in the first place.  ;-)

> Jay, remember, I have set pkeep for this browse.  I will assume that if I
> didn't, and let the browse close, delete the record and then re-execute the
> browse, The browse would function as you indicate it should. 

Ok so far.

> With pkeep set, the browse stays open and allows for the fast
> redisplay of the data. Keep in mind what the speed of the computers
> was when the browse lookup was added. With the slow machines at the
> time, the display of the information could take a significant time.
> With pkeep, the redisplay of the data was quick. With the speed of
> today's computers, it is possible that other design choices may have
> been made.

And that sometimes happens.  But it does *not* alter my assertion that
the current behavior of the browse does *not* actually support the
semantics the user is led to expect.

When you do that -- particuarly <violence action="beat" target="dead horse">
when your product is a programming environment sold as a toolset to
developers </violence> -- you friggin' document it, so that you don't
waste your customers' expensive time.   I don't have a factory manual
around: does the documentation for browse/pkeep warn you that file
modifications may invalidate the browse?

> As John said, adding a drop to the browse will solve the problem.

Will it?  I assumed you actually *needed* the records deleted.

> This does not entail jumping through programming hoops and acts as
> insurance against an errant detail line being displayed.

If it works for you, fine.  Glad to hear it.

It *doesn't* take fpTech off this particular hook, however.  ;-)

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

	"You know: I'm a fan of photosynthesis as much as the next guy,
	but if God merely wanted us to smell the flowers, he wouldn't 
	have invented a 3GHz microprocessor and a 3D graphics board."
					-- Luke Girardi