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Bug discussion / Re: Auto revert?
« on: August 30, 2009, 07:30:18 PM »
As a new script writer I just downloaded SUO and went at it, I didn't browse the forum for bugs to know what I might have to watch out for. So a couple suggestions:
1) Distribute a summary of known bugs with the program
2) Disable any disabling of the toolbar save button - it gives a false impression that the document has been saved. (When I ran the auto-indent and syntax checker the button greyed, I thought cool! it saved for me!)
3) Enable shortcuts! CTRL+S is save in every program in existence!
4) I did see that when you save a file a backup is also created, ok that's useful I guess, how about expanding that into automatic periodic document saves that save your work no matter what with datestamped filenames. Either do it automatically and have the end user manage the saved data, or include built in options for management. Number of saves, frequency, etc.
And, more important than the rest
5) A better-than-nothing way of detecting changes in the document, if you can't come up with something more efficient and accurate, is to go along these lines.. ill go with an existing script file as the example
a) existing document is opened and loaded as normal..... but also loaded into and kept in memory in a variable
b) variable is then stripped of all line breaks and space characters
c) in a timer the existing document that is being worked on is run through the same process as the variable holding the original document.. and all line breaks and spaces are removed
d) current document is then compared to original document .. if they match no changes.. no save button, etc. if they dont match then there are changes and activate the save button (and/or autosave to temp file)
it's dirty, but it works. and off the top of my head the only two problems i could see ever arising out of this method is if/when someone actually changes a string from having one space character to two or more space characters.. for display formatting or whatever. since all spaces are removed the function will not know the difference and the save will not be activated for changes to spaces within senteces. and also for the script layout it self, if someone writes an unformatted script then uses the auto indent feature those changes will not be recognized, but thats where manual saving comes in
aside from that line breaks and spaces have no bearing on the actual content of the script, which really is more important than anything else..
1) Distribute a summary of known bugs with the program
2) Disable any disabling of the toolbar save button - it gives a false impression that the document has been saved. (When I ran the auto-indent and syntax checker the button greyed, I thought cool! it saved for me!)
3) Enable shortcuts! CTRL+S is save in every program in existence!
4) I did see that when you save a file a backup is also created, ok that's useful I guess, how about expanding that into automatic periodic document saves that save your work no matter what with datestamped filenames. Either do it automatically and have the end user manage the saved data, or include built in options for management. Number of saves, frequency, etc.
And, more important than the rest
5) A better-than-nothing way of detecting changes in the document, if you can't come up with something more efficient and accurate, is to go along these lines.. ill go with an existing script file as the example
a) existing document is opened and loaded as normal..... but also loaded into and kept in memory in a variable
b) variable is then stripped of all line breaks and space characters
c) in a timer the existing document that is being worked on is run through the same process as the variable holding the original document.. and all line breaks and spaces are removed
d) current document is then compared to original document .. if they match no changes.. no save button, etc. if they dont match then there are changes and activate the save button (and/or autosave to temp file)
it's dirty, but it works. and off the top of my head the only two problems i could see ever arising out of this method is if/when someone actually changes a string from having one space character to two or more space characters.. for display formatting or whatever. since all spaces are removed the function will not know the difference and the save will not be activated for changes to spaces within senteces. and also for the script layout it self, if someone writes an unformatted script then uses the auto indent feature those changes will not be recognized, but thats where manual saving comes in
aside from that line breaks and spaces have no bearing on the actual content of the script, which really is more important than anything else..