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#28 Add/Edit windows interact badly with file management ops

open
zw
None
5
2007-11-21
2007-11-08
zw
No

If there are Add/Edit windows open and user creates new database or changes to a different one, the windows stay open. Would expect to be prompted with a "Save changes? Yes, No, Cancel" dialog for changed items (preferably one covering all items) and would expect to lose windows upon Yes/No.

Discussion

  • zw

    zw - 2007-11-21
    • summary: Add/Edit windows survive database change --> Add/Edit windows interact badly with file management ops
     
  • zw

    zw - 2007-11-21

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    Lots of cases break. Vanilla saves/save as-es, and any op causing closing of old db - quit, open existing, open new. Breakage probably also depends on whether database has ever been saved. Problem is basically that it's just not obvious how asynchronously manipulated, multiple add/edits with undos should interact. Think it's possible to get them to behave safely, but not in an obvious way.

    Multiple simultaneous edits are a desirable thing - they make the creation of a group of related (but not quite vice-versa/template-worthy) items easier quite simply because all tags and text are available to copy between items as they're honed to their final shape. But this convenience can't be allowed to get in the way of a UI behaving how a user would expect.

    So, save for an epiphany on how to achieve this complicated behaviour in a "natural" way, I think the fix is to simplify by allowing no more than one add/edit window at any time. One that's synchronously written back, sports no buttons (so synchronous nature is obvious) and has local "edit" undo summarised by an umbrella undo at the higher level. "Add Item" also has to change to add the item first then fire up the editor, rather than allow edit on an item in limbo then add it when the user is done.

    There is a compromise which I might implement later - sacrifice features til the multi-edit interaction works, and make this edit mode a preference clearly marked as being somehow advanced. I picture such a mode allowing multiple asynchronous undoable edits, but disallowing all file ops and "quit" until all item editors are closed.

    But that's a feature for another release. For now, close this by singleton-ing and synchronous-ing the add/edit window.

     

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