Re: [Tsheetx-developers] Feedback on branches/txsheet-2.0-demo

[Scott M. <sco...@gm...>]

With changes as large as this, perhaps this would be a good place to add the
needed date/time storage change to the database?

Currently TSNG can not handle functioning across different timezones other
to simply ignore that other timezone's exist.  To handle things correctly,
here's what needs to happen:

1.  start/end times need to be stored using unix timestamps, I suggest using
64 bit fields in the database so that when the timestamps begin to use 64
bits, we won't have to touch the database.
2. the times stored need to be stored in UTC format, each user could then
locate themselves in a timezone, and PHP should be able to convert their
times to UTC time and back.
3. when data is pulled out of the databases, conversions to local time
should be performed for entry forms, but probably not for reports.

That's all that's needed for the system to be able to work correctly, but
the issue of user configurations needs to be tackled too. And let's not
forget about the elephant in the room, writing the script that converts the
existing time/date data into this new format; this may seem like a
relatively trivial task, but I believe there are some very tricky issues to
overcome: DST, the possibility that some worker's are in different time
zones within the same database, I'm sure there are others.

#1 above eliminates the issues that can be caused by the database system
attempting to "help us" by doing time/date manipulations before handing PHP
the data.
#2 and #3 allows TSNG the ability to function correctly across different
timezones

Looking forward to seeing your work Mark!
 BTW, within a branch such as this, feel free to break things, that's what a
branch is for :-)
As for compatibility, as long as we can migrate the database from the
current system to the new one, you don't need to worry about compatibility.

-Scott

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 10:11 AM, David Thompson <
tom...@us...> wrote:

>  More feedback:
>
>
> > I am interested to hear you feedback.  At the moment I am really trying
> to make changes
> > in such a way that nothing is broken and the old version and the new
> version can co-exist
> > whilst people slowly migrate each page to a more integrated system.
> >
> I think you're overestimating the need to stay compatible (and working) at
> each stage. As far as I know, only Peter Lazarus is doing and changes in
> parallel, so it's "only" one person who will get bugs that are not his.
>
>
> > I saw mentions of a total rewrite somewhere but maybe a more progressive
> rewrite (this as a starting point for example) may be more suitable
> > - thus  allowing development of new features such as Peter's approval
> process whilst page restructuring is also going on.
> >
> That would be Rob. Great plans, right ideas, just too little time to do it.
> Once your proposals get going, then I guess we can ditch the current
> tsheetx-2.0 branch. His priorities were the database abstraction and good
> use of MVC. You haven't mentioned any DB changes yet?
>
>
> > As a plan what do you think to:
> >
> > 1. move towards a templating style using the system suggested
> > 2. split the core elements into subfolders to give further structure.
> > 3. cleanup the html errors and start looking at ways to improve the
> > code structure of the core of the site?
>
> Go for it.
> Cheers.
>
>
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