No one will ever convince me that the HTML Composer tool is actually practical to use.

I am having such a heck of a time with the simplest of pages. It was created in v7.7.05. Now I want to add a parameter (heaven forbid!) and I am having nothing but trouble. So I thought I'd use Dev Studio 8.0.08 to create a new page to mimic the old one. I'm having just as much trouble.

What a waste of time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Francis Mariani,

I feel your pain. I wish the would devote resources to get the existing GUI working and more functional. I understand their resources going to 'flash' but there is not a day that goes by that we don't chuckle (or sometimes scream) about some GUI issue.

I have not chuckled in years - the thing has brought me to tears on many occasions.

I think you need to visit Nashville, TN for Our Users Group Meeting.

David Glick, Director, Information Builders will show you how to Jazz Up Your HTML Pages

This session, we will show you some of the advanced features of the HTML Canvas of WebFOCUS App Studio to enhance an existing working HTML launch page. We'll explore animations, the JavaScript editor, integrated CSS using the CSS editor, JQuery, and our own proprietary functions.

-Doug

Doug,

Might I suggest that you ask David to jazz up one of you pages ?

This would be a real work example, not a prepared script.

quote:

Originally posted by Waz:
Doug,

Might I suggest that you ask David to jazz up one of you pages ?

This would be a real work example, not a prepared script.

where is the LIKE button?

Polishing a GUI of which the basics don't work well or are badly designed is a waste of effort IMHO. First get the basics right.

To name a few things:

It is SLOOOOOOOOWWWWWW. That's on a system with a dual core 3.2GHz Xeon and 24GB RAM, which should be plenty fast for such work.

Simple things like putting a control in the correct panel are hard to accomplish; you have to remember secret key-strokes to get that right (and I don't use the GUI often enough to remember those).

Even with the theme named '<Not Set>', composer injects class definitions in my HTML that I do not want. It insists on styling my buttons, for example.

Moving text fields changes their height. Every time it does that, I need to erase the height property.

Things never line up! Automatically placed items are not placed on the grid, but when you move them they do snap to the grid.

Newly discovered fields tend to have labels named after the amper-variable that the field covers. It would be nice to be able to add them on field discovery, so that the labels automatically get the correct dimensions based on useful text inside.

Adding new fields requires redefining the submit button links, after which any new fields get placed in such a way that large parts of the launch pages' controls get moved around. I'd much rather have them in a list somewhere at the side and drag them to where I want them to go.

By default, Dev Studio configures a theme to use in the GUI. That means that on every install of Dev Studio, we need to verify that people are at least using the same theme (namely '<Not Set>') to get consistent report styling. On the plus side, we could probably move our company styling into a new theme - I haven't looked into that yet.

Adding CSS/Scripts takes ages. The GUI insists on providing a list of suitable files, that I do not care for at all (we use absolute URI's), but I have to wait for that list to populate _every time_ I add a script or CSS file. I tend to add several javascript files to launch pages.
It's faster to type the darn things (let alone, copy-paste them from our example files), but nowadays IBI doesn't let you.
I think this touches on a more basic design problem in WebFOCUS, namely that all files tend to be in a single directory. We have app directories with 1100 files in them because of that, even though we moved our masters (~200, 2 files for each) to a separate app directory... IMO, virtual directories were a bad idea.

The worst thing is that sometimes HTML Composer crashes and throws away everything you've changed up to that point.

I'm not trying to make this sound like a rant, I think of these as real issues that I'd like to see improved upon.

Francis and RobertF, couldn't agree more! Even if you don't get stuck in errors and spend many, many valuable hours: the final result looks poor and has the looks from another era.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SWES,

Hey Waz, How about sending me one of your pages to get jazzed? Of course it needs to be based on an IB sample table...

1000000000000 thumbs up for this thread.

To say that I hate using the GUI is a vast under statement. I use it when I basically have no other option.

I have 1 and only 1 launch screen that I have built using the GUI. I used Dev Studio 8.0.08. At the time we were still using IE8. We moved to IE10 and guess what, it stopped working. It wouldn't work for nothing. I opened, made a insignificant change and saved it. It still wouldn't work. I downloaded and installed App Studio 8.0.08, opened the original one, made no changes and saved it. Now it works. Anyone from IBI care to explain why that makes any sense?

quote:

I think you need to visit Nashville, TN for Our Users Group Meeting.

David Glick, Director, Information Builders will show you how to Jazz Up Your HTML Pages

This session, we will show you some of the advanced features of the HTML Canvas of WebFOCUS App Studio to enhance an existing working HTML launch page. We'll explore animations, the JavaScript editor, integrated CSS using the CSS editor, JQuery, and our own proprietary functions.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

These demos are done in such a controlled environment, with a version of the software none of the client yet have - what's the bl**dy point?

The question was "what can't the Canvas do?" My reply was "the version I'm working with can't do all the stuff you're showing off with the version you have".

The lesson I learned quite a while ago is to not bother with the GUI and use pure unadulterated HTML and JavaScript/jQuery. But I continue to get stupidly caught up by "hey, I built the simple page in GUI 7.7.05, where's the harm in opening it in GUI 8.0.08?"... Then I spent three hours rebuilding the page from scratch.

There's a big difference between the software that's marketed and reviewed by Gartner et al, and the one us lowly developers/users/abusers actually use.

Why on earth does Dev Studio 8.0.08 HTML Composer still use the dreaded RTFILENAME keyword instead of the universally accepted SRC and why on earth does pointing and clicking to CSS and JS files that are located in the Web Applications area (again, universally accepted as the location for HTML related files) copy them into the Repository folder of the HTML file being worked on? I thought we had opened cases on this and it got fixed in 7.7.03 or 7.7.05?

Have you thought of some training

Aww, dhagen, what a sweet suggestion.

Unfortunately, the training does not deal with the real world, the one I live in. It deals with the rarefied world that people so much better than me live in.

Thanks for the thought.

I know I'm not supposed to look under the hood, but this is a dog's breakfast (8.0.08):

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<HTML><HEAD>

<META id=RLT_STANDARDS_MODE_META content=IE=9 http-equiv=X-UA-Compatible>

<META name=mycharsetmeta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>

<META name=Generation content="Created in release 8008, Generation 3">

<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>//confidential_id=IBI_OptionsScript
var szHtmlAlias="/ibi_apps/ibi_html";var szRunTimeHtmlAlias="runTimeHtmlAlias";var cgipath="cgipath";var ibirls="ibirls3";var rltdyncalendar="rltdyncalendar";var map="ibimap";var olap="olap";var olappanebase="olappanebase";var olapdrill="olapdrill";var ibiOptions = new Array(cgipath,ibirls);var nlsScript="/javaassist/nls.js";var glbScript="/javaassist/ibi/html/js/ibigbl.js";var replacePart="<replace>";
var scriptTemplate='<SCRIPT src="'+replacePart+'" type="text/javascript"><\/SCRIPT>';if(typeof(szRunTimeHtmlAlias) === 'string' && szRunTimeHtmlAlias.indexOf('/') == 0)szHtmlAlias=szRunTimeHtmlAlias;document.write(scriptTemplate.replace(replacePart, szHtmlAlias + nlsScript));document.write(scriptTemplate.replace(replacePart, szHtmlAlias + glbScript));</SCRIPT>



<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>//confidential_id=IBI_ibigblloadCss
if(typeof ibigblloadCss === 'function'){ibigblloadCss(null);addIntlTranslatedJS("composertrans.js");}else {alert("JavaScript alias '/ibi_apps/ibi_html'  is not valid");window.location("about:blank");}</SCRIPT>

<TITLE>HtmlPage</TITLE><LINK id=ITEM2 rel=stylesheet type=text/css rtFileName="cgipathsub/ibi_html/javaassist/ibi/html/composer/themes/nonBindows/IBI-Themes/default_theme.css"><LINK id=IBI_THEME_CSS rel=stylesheet type=text/css desc="Information Builders" rtFileName="cgipathsub/ibi_html/javaassist/ibi/html/composer/themes/nonBindows/IBI-Themes/ibi.css">

<SCRIPT for=window type=text/javascript eventname="onload">window.onload = function() { window_onload(); }</SCRIPT>



<SCRIPT>//confidential_id=clientEventHandlersJS

//Begin function window_onload
function window_onload() {
 
UpdateData();
 
// TODO: Add your event handler code here
//add onInitialUpdate() function to make changes before initial run of the reports
}
//End function window_onload

//Begin function listbox1_onchange
function listbox1_onchange(ctrl) {
    $("#btnRun").click();
}
//End function listbox1_onchange

</SCRIPT>

</HEAD>

<BODY style="OVERFLOW: auto" class=IBI_PageBg maptype="0" nextelementuniquenumber="1" thumbnailscale="4" elementtype="21" edaconnectionrequired="true"><SPAN style="Z-INDEX: 1; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 810px; HEIGHT: 425px; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 0px" id=panel1 class=sectionContainer elementtype="34"><SELECT style="Z-INDEX: 3; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 350px; HEIGHT: 60px; TOP: 20px; LEFT: 0px" id=listbox1 language=javascript onchange=listbox1_onchange(this) tabIndex=1 multiple size=3 addquotes="yes" requiredfield="0" operation="OR" defaultselection="0" persistentuniqueid="compUid_1" name="listbox1"></SELECT><IFRAME style="Z-INDEX: 4; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 800px; HEIGHT: 370px; TOP: 46px; LEFT: 5px" id=frmAutoExecReport marginHeight=0 frameBorder=no marginWidth=0 HEIGHTOLD="370" WIDTHOLD="800" autoExecute="True" requests_list="4" name="frmAutoExecReport"></IFRAME><INPUT style="Z-INDEX: 11; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 38px; HEIGHT: 22px; TOP: 20px; LEFT: 770px" id=button3 class="IBIfield IBI_button IBI_btn-run" tabIndex=6 onclick=OnExecute(this); value=" " type=button requests_list="4" name="button3"></SPAN><SPAN style="Z-INDEX: 13; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 810px; HEIGHT: 20px; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 0px" id=text2 class=sectionTitle elementtype="4"><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN></SPAN>Automation Execution Summary</SPAN><INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=layoutinfo type=hidden resourcectrlids="ITEM2;IBI_THEME_CSS" name="inputhidden1"><INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=ibiapp_app value=std_reports type=hidden ismre="1" name="ibiapp_app"><INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=ibif_ex value=/WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/New_Html1.htm type=hidden name="ibif_ex"><xml id=focus_xmlelement><script type="text/xml" nextelementuniquenumber="2"><rootxmlnode focoption="_FOC_NULL"><variables><variable controltype="7" parametercreatedinreslay="0" type="default" desc="P_RUN_STATUS" name="P_RUN_STATUS" default="DDDD" textvarname="" accept="0" select="0" create="1"><link linktype="default" from="compUid_1"><condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="4" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0"><data_info datatype="0" modifiedrequest="0" displayfield="P_RUN_STATUS" datafield="P_RUN_STATUS" datasource="qaauto_qa_run_log.mas" ibif_ex="qaauto_qa_run_log" selectedvalue="DDDD" operation="" slider_range_from="" slider_range_to="" previewvalue="DDDD" sourcetype="typeMaster"><static_values><static value="DDDD" display="DDDD" selected="1" noinput="0">
</static></static_values></data_info></condition></link><requestid id="4"></requestid></variable></variables><input_controls><input_control bindcontrolid="compUid_1" elementtype="9" name="listbox1" id="listbox1" multiple="1" onetimepopulated="0"><link linktype="default" persistentuniqueid="compUid_1"><condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="0" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0"><data_info datatype="1" modifiedrequest="0" sourcetype="typeFex" checkForDuplicateValues="0" datasource="/WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/qata_get_run_status.fex" ibif_ex="/WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/qata_get_run_status" displayfield="STATUS_NM" datafield="STATUS_NM" selectedvalue="DDDD" accept="0" addalloption="0" operation="NONE"><![CDATA[]]></data_info></condition></link></input_control></input_controls><requests nextrequestsid="6"><request requestid="4" sourcetype="typeFex" targettype="iframe" targetname="frmAutoExecReport" ibif_ex="/WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/qata_dash_auto_exec_report.fex" activereport="0" reportcolumns="" reportrealcolumns="" ibiapp_app="std_reports"></request></requests><other_bound_objects></other_bound_objects></rootxmlnode></script>

</xml></BODY>

<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>//confidential_id=IBI_loader
if(typeof doBeforeLoad === 'function'){doBeforeLoad();}function AdjustChildrenPosition(){
}
</SCRIPT>

</HTML>

<!-- cc nslv -->

While this looks reasonable (7.7.05):

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META id=mycharsetmeta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META id=Generation content="Created in release 7705, Generation 3.0">
<SCRIPT id=IBI_RelCallBack type=text/javascript>function AdjustChildrenPosition(){
}
</SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT id=IBI_OptionsScript type=text/javascript>
var cgipath = "cgipath";
var ibirls = "ibirls3";

var rltdyncalendar = "rltdyncalendar";
var gmap = "ibigmap";
var olap="olap";
var olappanebase="olappanebase";
var olapdrill="olapdrill";

var ibixmltree="ibixmltree";

var ibiOptions = new Array(cgipath,ibirls);
</SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT id=IBI_nls type=text/javascript src="/ibi_html/javaassist/nls.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT id=IBI_nlsVars type=text/javascript src="/ibi_html/javaassist/nlsvars.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT id=IBI_ibigbl type=text/javascript src="/ibi_html/javaassist/ibi/html/js/ibigbl.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT id=IBI_ibigblloadCss type=text/javascript>
ibigblloadCss(null);
addIntlTranslatedJS("composertrans.js");
</SCRIPT>
<TITLE>QA Test Automation Results - Automatic Execution Summary</TITLE>
<SCRIPT style="Z-INDEX: 0" id=jQuery type=text/javascript src="/approot/web/jquery-latest-min.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT style="Z-INDEX: 0" id=jQueryUI type=text/javascript src="/approot/web/jquery-ui-latest-custom-min.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT style="Z-INDEX: 0" id=Util type=text/javascript src="/approot/web/cppib-util.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT style="Z-INDEX: 0" id=ITEM2 type=text/javascript src="/approot/web/cppib-portal-ibi.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT style="Z-INDEX: 0" id=listbox type=text/javascript src="/approot/web/jquery-listbox.js"></SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT id=clientEventHandlersJS type=text/javascript>



//Begin function window_onload
function window_onload() {

UpdateData();

// TODO: Add your event handler code here
//add onInitialUpdate() function to make changes before initial run of the reports
}
//End function window_onload

function onInitialUpdate()
{
    $(function () {
        //$("#P_RUN_STATUS option").prop("selected",true);
        $("#P_RUN_STATUS").listbox(
        {
            'searchbar': false // enable a search bar to filter & search items
        });
        $( ".lbjs" ).css( "margin-top","22px" );
        $( ".lbjs" ).css( "margin-left","36px" );
        //$(".lbjs-list div.lbjs-item").attr("selected","selected");
        //$(".lbjs-list div.lbjs-item").prop("selected", false);

    });

}

//Begin function listbox1_onchange
function listbox1_onchange(ctrl) {
    $("#btnRun").click();
}
//End function listbox1_onchange
</SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT for=window type=text/javascript eventname="onload">window.onload = function() { window_onload(); }</SCRIPT>

<STYLE id=ibi_defaultstyleElt type=text/css>* {
	OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: medium
}
</STYLE>
<LINK id=css1 rel=stylesheet type=text/css href="/approot/web/themes/cppib-theme/jquery-ui-latest-custom.css" UserSuppliedFullPath="1">
<LINK id=cssCPPIB rel=stylesheet type=text/css href="/approot/web/themes/cppib-theme/cppib-sty.css" UserSuppliedFullPath="1">
<LINK id=csslistbox rel=stylesheet type=text/css href="/approot/web/themes/cppib-theme/jquery-listbox-custom.css" UserSuppliedFullPath="1">
<LINK id=css2 rel=stylesheet type=text/css href="/approot/common/css/CPPIB-Portal.css" usersuppliedfullpath="1">
<LINK id=css3 rel=stylesheet type=text/css href="/approot/common/css/qata_dashboard.css" usersuppliedfullpath="1"></HEAD>
<BODY style="OVERFLOW: auto" nextelementuniquenumber="9" thumbnailscale="4" elementtype="21" edaconnectionrequired="true" loadingscreen="/WFC/Repository/Common/custom_wait_screen.htm">
<SPAN style="Z-INDEX: 11; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 810px; HEIGHT: 425px; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 0px" id=containerAutoExec class=sectionContainer tabIndex=10 elementtype="34">
<IFRAME style="Z-INDEX: 1; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 800px; HEIGHT: 370px; TOP: 46px; LEFT: 5px" id=frmAutoExecReport title=app/qata_dash_auto_exec_report.fex tabIndex=1 marginHeight=0 frameBorder=no marginWidth=0 elementtype="2" HEIGHTOLD="370" WIDTHOLD="800" requests_list="0" autoExecute="True" name="frmAutoExecReport"></IFRAME>
<SELECT style="Z-INDEX: 7; POSITION: absolute; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none; OVERFLOW-Y: visible; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; WIDTH: 100px; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; HEIGHT: 22px; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; OVERFLOW: visible; TOP: 22px; LEFT: 45px" id=P_RUN_STATUS language=javascript onchange=listbox1_onchange(this) tabIndex=6 multiple size=3 operation="OR" defaultselection="0" tempatt_lastelement_ofline="1" defaultlocation="0,0,54,122" boundtovariable="1" requiredfield="0" persistentuniqueid="compUid_1" name="P_RUN_STATUS"></SELECT>
<INPUT style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; Z-INDEX: 10; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 38px; DISPLAY: none; HEIGHT: 22px; TOP: 385px; LEFT: 85px" id=btnRun tabIndex=9 onclick=OnExecute(this); value=Run type=button requests_list="0" name="btnRun">
<SPAN style="Z-INDEX: 15; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 805px; HEIGHT: 20px; TOP: 0px; LEFT: 0px" id=text4 class=sectionTitle title="Status of multi-platform QA automation tools" tabIndex=14 persistentuniqueid="compUid_4">Automation Execution Summary</SPAN>
<SPAN style="Z-INDEX: 16; POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 35px; HEIGHT: 20px; TOP: 25px; LEFT: 5px" id=text2 tabIndex=15>Filter:</SPAN></SPAN>
<INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=layoutinfo type=hidden>
<INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=ibiapp_app value=management type=hidden ismre="1" name="ibiapp_app">
<INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=ibif_ex value=app/qata_dash_auto_exec_page.htm type=hidden name="ibif_ex">
<INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=IBIMR_domain value=manageme/manageme.htm type=hidden name="IBIMR_domain">
<INPUT style="POSITION: absolute; TOP: -100px; LEFT: -100px" id=IBIMR_folder value=#qaautomation type=hidden name="IBIMR_folder">
<xml id=focus_xmlelement>
<script type="text/xml" nextelementuniquenumber="3">

<rootxmlnode focoption="_FOC_NULL" top="20" left="1372" width="150" height="130">

<variables>

<variable controltype="7" parametercreatedinreslay="0" type="default" desc="P_TEST_NAME" name="P_TEST_NAME" default="_FOC_NULL" textvarname="" accept="0" select="0" create="0" top="21" left="1" width="60" height="20" inbinding="0">

<link linktype="default">

<condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="4" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0">

<data_info checkForDuplicateValues="0" displayfield="P_TEST_NAME" datafield="P_TEST_NAME" datasource="qaauto_qa_run_log.mas" datatype="0" selectedvalue="_FOC_NULL" operation="" slider_range_from="" slider_range_to="" previewvalue="_FOC_NULL" sourcetype="typeMaster">

<static_values>
<static value="_FOC_NULL" display="_FOC_NULL" selected="1" noinput="0"></static></static_values></data_info></condition></link>

<requestid id="0"></requestid></variable>

<variable controltype="7" parametercreatedinreslay="0" type="default" desc="P_RUN_STATUS" name="P_RUN_STATUS" default="_FOC_NULL" textvarname="" accept="0" select="0" create="1">

<link linktype="default" from="compUid_1" persistentuniqueid="compUid_2">

<condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="4" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0">

<data_info checkForDuplicateValues="0" displayfield="P_RUN_STATUS" datafield="P_RUN_STATUS" datasource="qaauto_qa_run_log.mas" datatype="0" selectedvalue="_FOC_NULL" operation="" slider_range_from="" slider_range_to="" previewvalue="_FOC_NULL" sourcetype="typeMaster" linktype="none">

<static_values>
<static value="_FOC_NULL" display="_FOC_NULL" selected="1" noinput="0"></static></static_values></data_info></condition></link>

<requestid id="0"></requestid></variable>

<variable controltype="7" parametercreatedinreslay="0" type="default" desc="P_STR_DTE" name="P_STR_DTE" default="2013/10/21" textvarname="" accept="0" select="0" create="0" top="43" left="1" width="60" height="20" inbinding="0">

<link linktype="default">

<condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="4" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0">

<data_info checkForDuplicateValues="0" displayfield="P_STR_DTE" datafield="P_STR_DTE" datasource="qaauto_qa_run_log.mas" datatype="0" selectedvalue="2013/10/21" operation="" slider_range_from="" slider_range_to="" previewvalue="2013/10/21" sourcetype="typeMaster">

<static_values>
<static value="2013/10/21" display="2013/10/21" selected="1" noinput="0"></static></static_values></data_info></condition></link>

<requestid id="0"></requestid></variable>

<variable controltype="7" parametercreatedinreslay="0" type="default" desc="P_END_DTE" name="P_END_DTE" default="2014/01/21" textvarname="" accept="0" select="0" create="0" top="65" left="1" width="60" height="20" inbinding="0">

<link linktype="default">

<condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="4" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0">

<data_info checkForDuplicateValues="0" displayfield="P_END_DTE" datafield="P_END_DTE" datasource="qaauto_qa_run_log.mas" datatype="0" selectedvalue="2014/01/21" operation="" slider_range_from="" slider_range_to="" previewvalue="2014/01/21" sourcetype="typeMaster">

<static_values>
<static value="2014/01/21" display="2014/01/21" selected="1" noinput="0"></static></static_values></data_info></condition></link>

<requestid id="0"></requestid></variable></variables>

<input_controls>

<input_control bindcontrolid="compUid_1" elementtype="9" name="P_RUN_STATUS" id="P_RUN_STATUS" multiple="1" onetimepopulated="0" inbinding="1">

<link linktype="default" persistentuniqueid="compUid_1">

<condition default="1" name="Default" whattodowithcontrol="0" valuescompareoperator="0" parameterscompareoperator="0" conditionmultiselectoperator="0">

<data_info datatype="1" modifiedrequest="0" sourcetype="typeFex" checkForDuplicateValues="0" datasource="/WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/qata_get_run_status.fex" ibif_ex="/WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/qata_get_run_status" addalloption="0" cacheruntimedata="0" accept="0" operation="NONE" displayfield="STATUS_NM" datafield="STATUS_NM" dynalldisplayvalue="All">

<![CDATA[]]></data_info></condition></link></input_control>
		</input_controls>

<other_bound_objects></other_bound_objects>

<requests nextrequestsid="2">

<request requestid="0" targettype="iframe" targetname="frmAutoExecReport" sourcetype="typeFex" ibif_ex="app/qata_dash_auto_exec_report.fex" IBIMR_domain="manageme/manageme.htm" IBIMR_folder="#qaautomation" IBIMR_sub_action="MR_STD_REPORT" ibiapp_app="" activereport="0" compoundreport="0" reportcolumns="" reportrealcolumns=""></request></requests></rootxmlnode></script>
</xml></BODY>
<SCRIPT id=IBI_loader type=text/javascript>
doBeforeLoad();
</SCRIPT>
</HTML>

Like 2 days ago, I tried to set a radio button as checked, went to another element from the drop down list of existing elements to change something else, ran it, and the radio button was not checked. I then went back to re-dub it checked in its properties panel and it took a few tries of setting it, jumping around, saving it before it took permanently.

Last week, I tried opening an HTML form I created in the GUI tool in Notepad++ through the David Glick dubbed "official" way to edit the HTML if you want to (using the "Edit in Windows Associated Tool" option) to manually add an onclick handler to an element I wanted it to fire on, saved it, went back in a few moments later and EVERYTHING was wiped clean. Nothing existed anymore. All the file read was "sub". I wasn't too happy. I went this route because it "should be" a lot faster to just add the onclick attribute to the element instead of wading through the various panels to set up a task to do the same thing. I tried setting it up in the Tasks and Animations panel before such and it never took. It wasn't until I went into the properties -> events panel of the element I wanted to apply the onclick event to and not only assigned it via the events panel there (doesn't work yet), but double clicked it that the tool allowed for the connection/assignment to be recorded. SOO FRUSTRATING!!

Also, when you have several controls bound to parameters in the GUI, and check for the display values to be sent, it doesn't tell you what the variable names are that were assigned those display values. You must go into the code and use -? & -EXIT and search the list that populates in your HTML source output to figure it out. On top of that, the variable names the tool generates aren't very descriptive: _text1, _text2, _text3, and so on. When using those in your code, the next person needing to read such might have a hard time trying to figure out what those variables are referencing. I guess you could reassign them all (extra work), or add a comment, but oh wait, the tool will vaporize those if you happen to ever open it back up in the GUI from having it opened in the code to edit something. Sheesh...

I REALLY wish they would put the HTML tab back in. It's so lame that they cater to those that are too lazy to learn a few simple things in code. Give those people InfoAssist/Discovery. Keep the real development tool an actual development tool for all levels of expertise. Anyways...

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
why on earth does pointing and clicking to CSS and JS files that are located in the Web Applications area (again, universally accepted as the location for HTML related files) copy them into the Repository folder of the HTML file being worked on? I thought we had opened cases on this and it got fixed in 7.7.03 or 7.7.05?

You do know that instead of pointing and clicking a file name you can type an absolute URI there (for example: /approot/baseapp/fixEverything.js), do you?

Now that would be a good result of pointing and clicking too of course, but apparently IBI has customers with such weird setups that Dev Studio cannot safely assume that's going to be the correct URL after deployment. Quite likely, those customers are similarly stubborn as we are

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
Aww, dhagen, what a sweet suggestion.

Unfortunately, the training does not deal with the real world, the one I live in. It deals with the rarefied world that people so much better than me live in.

Thanks for the thought.

Francis,

It took you 6 min to tell me to GFY (I can read between the lines).

Getting old, or did you have to calm down to write this?

I'm not interested in getting training on a version of a product that I'm not using, where the version I'm using has too many bugs to talk about and the version the training is on purports to have no bugs but actually does.

I guess you and I both will be happy the day I retire.

dhagen, I don't this Francis' reply was really a GFY. I think, and Francis can correct me if I'm wrong, that it was more of a "Been there, Ddone that" reply.

As he said: "Unfortunately, the training does not deal with the real world, the one I live in." Which I both agree with and understand why it is what it is. I've been there and done that as well and have been many places to apply those "non real world examples" in "real world scenarios"

But, Francis, I'll bring your examples, and this post, to David's attention.

Unfortunately, I got this pretty little XML message when I attempted to run your 8008 version:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<ibfsrpc language="EN" type="simple" subsystem="SSYS" subreturncode="0" 
returndesc="Internal exception processing IBFSService.runItem " returncode="1059" 
name="runItem" localizeddesc="Internal exception processing IBFSService.runItem " _jt="IBFSResponseObject">
 -<ibfsparams size="4">
   <entry value="****" key="comp_pass"/><entry value="__null" key="args"/>
   <entry value="IBFS:/WFC/Repository/webdevel/Doug/BaseFolder/FrancisMarianasHTML8008.htm" key="path"/>
   <entry value="__null" key="comp_user"/></ibfsparams>-<ibfserrorvalues size="1"><entry value="IBFSService.runItem" key="FUNCTION"/>
 </ibfserrorvalues>
</ibfsrpc>

Then I saved and closed it and got the following

Automation Execution Summary
white rectangle (data entry) box and a run button then

Access Denied

You are not authorized to perform this action.

That's most likely due to my lack of access to the non-existent fex: /WFC/Repository/manageme/std_reports/qaautomation/qata_dash_auto_exec_report.fex. I'll create one / repoint that to one of my own and get back to you...
I'm in 8007.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug:
dhagen, I don't this Francis' reply was really a GFY.

Relax. Francis and I have known each other for years. This is our shtick. We have a lot of respect for each other, but we like to push each others buttons online. Then, every once in a while, we get together for a few beers and laugh about it.

Yup. I think I need one soon.

I totally, understand seeing that you're local to each other. But, I 'm just saying... in case others may not have realized it. So, it's true... You've both Been there, Done that... Now, come on down to Nashville... I'm totally relaxed, actually: Chillaxing ...

I should have stayed up all night to comment on this, bugger.

I have to admit that I've had many of the problems mentioned, especially the check boxes and radio buttons not defaulting, ended up adding jquery to set them.

I even have an issue where editing in composer puts what seems like random carriage returns (yes I know, i'm old, that what I call them) in the javascript of one function only. Weird.

I do have a bit of respect for the set up of the pages, they are laid out in three parts. JS stuff, XML control and the HTML. I can see much potential in the design. I just think its still in its WF8 infancy.

Doug,

I'll have a look and see if there is something appropriate, but we have already heavily styled out pages.

And then composer drops you in the deep end without a life preserver and crocodiles and sharks

Hi All

You are having too much fun with Dev Studio exploiting its weaknesses. Join the real world and upgrade to App Studio and let the games begin. Dev Studio will not be fixed anymore and you will have to go to App Studio. The tools have there quirks but keep up the good work and force the changes that will make the tool better...

A better App Studio would make us all happy and we need to point out all its weaknesses and provide potential solutions that will make our jobs easier...

Thanks Barry

Euhm Barry, what about all the things produced with a lot of effort within Dev Studio. "Go to App Studio" is said way more easily than done.