I am currently developing a desktop application based on eclipse.
Currently the user needs to perform many redundant actions like doing step A in View 1 then doing step B in View 2 then repeat. I am wondering if anybody knows a solution that records/recommends user actions in eclipse based applications.
Maybe based on the history much like the web based solutions.
Any help would be good.
Thanks.
1)
Do you want to record the user clicks (actions)?
If so eclipse provides a Location tracker, so you can analyse the use cases from the field.
OperationHistoryActionHandler
2)
Do you want to have a smarter way the user uses your tool?
Think about using Wizards. in a Wizard you can have a defined number of execution steps. The user does not need to search some button in a view.
With a Wizard a specific execution flow is very clean and good to understand.
3)
As Jonah mentioned you can use cheatsheets as well.
We once did something similar, where we had a rather big user interface that had heaps and heaps and heaps of different functionalities. Our solution was this:
We abstracted all actions into commands. They were all implemented in a way that they can be cascaded, undone, redone etc. See for example IUndoableOperation
The commands had conditions that made it easy to decide if one could combine these commands.
All commands have an ID and can be easily identified
We then continued to integrate our own run configurations. We added a UI that gave the user the option to cascade multiple commands into one big one. For example, A user wanted to create a new file, apply a template, generate some graphs, export them into a given location etc, the user would create a run configuration adding those commands together.
That way we kept the UI comprehensive but gave the expert user the ability to create their own workflow based on what they do every day.
Our users liked that quite a bit.
Related
When programming i usually do everything myself and recycle code when needed so for once i decided to try out a development platform to speed up the process so i picked oracle apex- only to find myself suffering with overchoice
Normally if wanted the user to give me some data id just make a form and the data just ends up on my database, not hard.
this isnt what i want to make, this is just for the sake of an example of the way one usually goes about this
another example
But now in oracle apex i dont even know if this is even the right way of asking end user to input data into a table, what should i do if -for example- i just want to make the user run some calculations and then store the results? Is there something specific that apex already has for this or do i do it myself normally
Any tutorials or the names of the functions i need to use would be helpful
I think maybe what you might want is Report with Form.
Its a setup the Page Wizard can make for you which is essentially exactly what you want. You select the table and columns, then it makes one page with a table of all entries, and you can click on an entry or click to make a new entry, and it opens up a form with the relevant page items which you input or edit, and then save.
Maybe a general APEX guide would be best for you since you are so new to it. Because if you know what is possible, then you might find different solutions to problems you have. I dont have a guide to recommend unfortunatelly, but I am sure you can find plenty on google, just make sure the version is correct, it doesent have to be for your exact version(there is a big difference pre 18 and post 18, less so with 19 and 20)
Yes, APEX can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning. Your question is very generic so it is hard to give you a detailed answer. In general, if you have the data in a single record, then a form is the way to go (easiest is to start with report and from). If you need to modify certain column data after user submit, you can do that in processes or computations before submit.
Feel free to ask a question with your specific business requirement - you're pretty sure to get an answer here.
Im building a toolbox for a certain branch of biology. One of the reasons Julia was chosen is its simplicity, as biologists wont be assumed to be able to write complex C-code
What I'd like to add is a way for users to share their own custom methods for others to review/verify/use, both to promote collaboration and to add a bit of sense of community
What Im sure of is that this specific demography of (mostly) biologist wont be able or have patience to fork a github project or anything that could be considered remotely complex, especially when it wont benefit them explicitly to do so
So, what I'd like to do is provide the simplest of interfaces, with the add/view options to either add a routine or view routines (along with descriptions, ratings etc)
I can only think of two ways to accomplish storing the scripts pushed by users, by having them on a server, or, more simply, using SQL
tl;dr can postgresql store scripts or is that a terrible idea
I ask, mainly because there will be 'raw data' available on a postgresql server, and I'd like to be able to keep that and the 'community methods' both in the same place for convenience sake
To summarize the discussion in the comments to this question:
Version control is an excellent solution to sharing control, but from a scientist's perspective, it can be difficult and complicated. Luckily, GitHub now offers a GUI that is easy to learn and yet retains a lot of the power of Git. For instance, GitHub allows one to edit files directly from the web UI.
I am an Epicor and Crystal Reports Newbie. I have started working with these programs a month ago, when I was hired. I am still trying to figure out how you know whether you are trying to customize a BAQ, Dashboard, etc. How to know where/when to make a new BOM report and such. If anyone out there has some tips, I would greatly appreciate it. I feel slightly intimidated by the program but am also determined to learn my way through it.
Thanks!
Toohey! Welcome to the world of Epicor!
Although I'm sure in the past couple of months you have learned the ropes, here are some extra tips to keep you moving forward:
That is not part of the system functionality
In order to keep costs under control, err on the side of not making system customizations to meet all user requests. You will quickly see that adding a quick field as a customization to a form isn't just the 5 minute change it seems like. You will soon be creating several custom reports and dashboards to report off of this field, and the cost of the change soon outweighs the benefit in many situations. As you become more familiar with this, try to balance ROI against the high cost of Epicor system customizations. It is best to lead with "that is not part of the system functionality", and when they push the issue, treat even small changes as controlled projects.
BAQ and Report Changes
Inevitably, you will need to customize the system's BAQs and Reports to meet your business needs because the standard system isn't designed exactly for your business.
Epicor has standard BAQs that start with 'z' and many reports. You should avoid editing the stock BAQs and reports, because they will be overwritten with each patch of Epicor. Instead, copy the standard distribution BAQs and rename the copies using your company initials as a prefix. Similarly, you want to create a custom reports folder separate (or within) the standard reports folder where you place all of your modified reports. You can then link the menu to the BAQ Report or Report Data Definition, and link the report style to the location of your new custom report on the server.
Customizations
Maintenance of customizations has a high long-term cost if you do not have in-house developers. A critical piece of advice here is to make sure all of the code, be it in C# or VB, is thoroughly commented. Even if you're generating code with a wizard, do yourself a favor and put a standard header into the script of every customization that includes the first date of the customization, when it was modified, and detail everything that was changed (especially if the change was a property change or a field addition that does not clearly appear in the script). Customizations have been known to fail for unexplained reasons, or create bad script that is not editable through the standard Epicor interface, and there may come a time when you have to rebuild the customization from scratch using only this change log and things you can clearly see in the form. You should save your customizations with some obvious standard naming convention (something like ORDER_ENTRY_CSR_YYMMDD), and make sure you update all menus to reflect the newest customization for the purpose you're using it. We also export our customizations for archival, just in case something should happen. Another note here is if you do not increment the customization name on a change and then update the menu items, users will still be use locally cached versions of the page until they clear their client cache. So, I always recommend incrementing. Another note on customizations and every custom exportable object in Epicor is to do yourself a favor and export them to either a source control system or a file repository so that after you deploy a faulty customization, rolling back to the previous version is quick and painless.
BPM Directives
As you're probably aware by now, BPM directives are powerful tools which can be used to update tables and prevent users from making terrible business decisions. A note on these is similar to customizations - comment comment comment!
Consultant Use
If you are using external consultants to create BPMs or Customizations, mandate distribution of commented source code that can be understood internally by one of your team members.
I hope this helps!
Source: 4 yrs experience as an Epicor ERP programmer
I would like to add that you should develop any Customization, BPM or Baq/Dashboard in the test system because any error on a solution can stop users from perform their job. Also, you can use a powerful tool called tracing options that helps you to recognize where to place the BPM directives. Further more there is a huge Epicor forum where you can post questions and a comunity of consultants , developers and users will answer your questions, and advise you about best Epicor practices, and it is completely free. You need to register on it; this is the link www.e10help.com.
Any tips on getting started using the "Workflow for XPages" on OpentNTF? The documentation is pretty high-level, and mostly about the sample app. Page 24 is the only one with info about using the simple workflow engine. I'm digging into the EmployeeReview.nsf example database, but could use some pointers?
One of my developers evaluated the workflow stuff over the last couple of days. Unfortunately, I cannot share the documentation that came out as a result of her efforts.
So the only way for you by now is to analyse the parts of the sample application.
Find the Simple Workflow Control und Workflow Action controls in the sample application and take a look at the source code.
You will see that the Simple Workflow Control deals with persons and roles. Roles in the context of workflow are not ACL Roles. They are roles that ere defined in the configuration ( like [Manager] )
So you need to have some kind of configuration in your application that contains a person name an the role this person has in your workflow. If this person is a manager for example, you have also to describe, which other persons he/she is managing.
Then, in your workflow steps you describe, in which wf state a specific person is involved, what is the next step and if any mail is send around.
Once ayou have done a bit of analysis, you will be able to create your own sample application.
I also hope that there will be more documentation around. I will provide more detailed information about how to use the wf controls, but I'm going on holiday in the next days. So I do not have much time left, to put a manual together.
But looking at the source code should help to understand how all the stuff works.
Is there any form of version control for Linden Scripting Language?
I can't see it being worth putting all the effort into programming something in Second Life if when a database goes down over there I lose all of my hard work.
Unfortunately there is no source control in-world. I would agree with giggy. I am currently moving my projects over to a Subversion (SVN) system to get them under control. Really should have done this a while ago.
There are many free & paid SVN services available on the net.
Just two free examples:
http://www.sourceforge.net
http://code.google.com
You also have the option to set one up locally so you have more control over it.
Do a search on here for 'subversion' or 'svn' to learn more about how to set one up.
[edit 5/18/09]
You added in a comment you want to backup entire objects. There are various programs to do that. One I came across in a quick Google search was: Second Inventory
I cannot recommend this or any other program as I have not used them. But that should give you a start.
[/edit]
-cb
You can use Meerkat viewer to backupt complete objects. or use some of the test programas of libopenmetaverse to backup in a text environment. I think you can backup scripts from the inventory with them.
Jon Brouchoud, an architect working in SL, developed an in-world collaborative versioning system called Wikitree. It's a visual SVN without the delta-differencing that occurs in typical source code control systems. He announced that it was being open sourced in http://archvirtual.com/2009/10/28/wiki-tree-goes-open-source/#.VQRqDeEyhzM
Check out the video in the blog post to see how it's used.
Can you save it to a file? If so then you can use just about anything, SVN, Git, VSS...
There is no good source control in game. I keep meticulous version information on the names of my scripts and I have a pile of old versions of things in folders.
I keep my source out of game for the most part and use SVN. LSLEditor is a decent app for working with the scripts and if you create a solution with objects, it can emulate alot of the in game environment. (Giving Objects, reading notecards etc.) link text
I personally keep any code snippets that I feel are worth keeping around on github.com (http://github.com/cylence/slscripts).
Git is a very good source code manager for LSL since its commits work line-by-line, unlike other SCM's such as Subversion or CVS. The reason this is so crucial is due to the fact that most Second Life scripts live in ONE FILE (since they can't call each other... grrr). So having the comparison done on the file level is not nearly as effective. Comparing line by line is perfect for LSL. With that said, it also (alike SourceForge and Google Code) allows you to make your code publicly viewable (if you so choose) and available for download in a compressed file for easier distribution.
Late reply, I know, but some things have changed in SecondLife, and some things, well, have not. Since the Third Party Viewer policy still keeps a hard wall up against saving and loading objects between viewer and system, I was thinking about another possibility so far completely overlooked: Bots!
Scripted agents, AKA Bots, have all usual avatar actions available to them. Although I have never seen one used as an object repository, there is no reason you couldn't create one. Logged in as a separate account the agent can be wherever you want automatically or by command, then collect any or all objects you are working on at set intervals or by command, and anything they have collected may be given to you or collaborators.
I won't say it's easy to script an agent, and couldn't even speak for making an extension to a scripted agent myself, but if you don't want to start from scratch there is an extensive open source framework to build on, Corrade. Other bot services don't seem to list 'object repository' among their abilities either but any that support CasperVend must already provide the ability to receive items on request.
Of course the lo-fi route, just regularly taking a copy and sending the objects to a backup avatar, may still be a simple backup solution for one user. Although that does necessitate logging in as the other account either in parallel or once every 20 or-so items to be sure they are being received and not capped by the server. This process cannot rename the items or sort them automatically like a bot may. Identically named items are listed in inventory as most recent at the top but this is a mess when working with multiples of various items.
Finally, there is a Coalesce feature for managing several items as one in inventory. This is currently not supported for sending or receiving objects, but in the absence of a bot, can make it easier to keep track of projects you don't wish to actually link as one item. (Caveat; don't rezz 'no-copy' coalesced items near 'no-build' land parcels, any that cannot be rezzed are completely lost)