Re: [Tsheetx-developers] Keeping track of context

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    Hi Scott, <br>
    <br>
    I was thinking a little bit about this yesterday as I spent a
    substantial amount of time fixing the $post variables.&nbsp; As it
    currently stands, the $post variable is now in the gbl.class.php and
    is accessed via gbl::getPost() and gbl::setPost().&nbsp; Please let me
    know if a particular page doesn't work as it should.&nbsp; <br>
    <br>
    If you want to maintain state between page refreshes then the best
    way to achieve this is through the use of the $_SESSION object or
    serialised classes embedded in the $_SESSION object.&nbsp; I will update
    this at somepoint but at the moment I am still trying to work my way
    through the codebase to make things just work.&nbsp; The move to the OO
    format is a huge undertaking and it is not really my top priority at
    the moment as I have a project dissertation that needs my attention
    for the next couple of months.&nbsp; Scott could you add this item into
    mantis and assign it to me?<br>
    <br>
    Cheers<br>
    Mark<br>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">_____________________________________________
 
Mob:  07725 695178
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ma...@rw...">ma...@rw...</a></pre>
    <br>
    On 15/04/2011 21:04, Scott Miller wrote:
    <blockquote
      cite="mid:BAN...@ma..."
      type="cite">In the previous versions of TSNG, I'd attempted to
      better keep track of what "context" the user was in.&nbsp; I'd
      accomplished this by making use of a variable I'd called $post,
      and used that whenever forms were submitted.&nbsp; This was much better
      than it was previously, but it was not flawless by any stretch of
      the imagination.<br>
      <br>
      So, to help make sure everyone understands what I'm talking about,
      allow me to expound on what the word "context" means herein.&nbsp;
      Context is sort of the "state of mind" the user is in when trying
      to accomplish something.&nbsp; As a normal user, if I go back in time
      to look at something lets say in the weekly form, and then decide
      I want to look at that with a different form, say the monthly
      form, in previous versions, by switching forms, the application
      totally forgot the user had gone back in time, and presented the
      current month again.&nbsp; By keeping track of context, the user is now
      presented with the month the user had gone back to look at.&nbsp; This
      is one very basic and important item of context that I think we
      need to keep track of, what date is the user currently interested
      in?<br>
      <br>
      Another example is if I'm now an administrator, and a user has
      some problem with their previously entered time, I can "become"
      the user by changing the "context user" and from there, I can act
      as if I was the user and I can even modify the user's time entries
      if I need to do so. (Note: this option is only available to the
      "administrator" accounts, and to guard against unscrupulous
      managers, who might be tempted to fraudulently modify an
      underling's times, never make a manager an administrator. It is
      quite amazing in a tiny office how often we as administrators had
      to legitimately help fix someone's time entries).<br>
      <br>
      So far we have <br>
      <ul>
        <li>Context</li>
        <ul>
          <li>user id</li>
          <li>date user is interested in</li>
        </ul>
      </ul>
      We can add other items; if we're looking at a report and we are
      interested in a range of dates for a report, we need to keep track
      of the beginning and ending date of interest.&nbsp; With new options
      just created, another item might be if we want page areas shown or
      hidden.<br>
      <br>
      So, with all this, my main question to the group is how do we
      effectively keep track of all this potential context?&nbsp; With Mark
      as the OO guy, I'm hoping you have some good ideas for helping us
      keep track of it all, and I'm hoping that option is better than
      the hugely long set of post variables currently passed back and
      forth.&nbsp; This is particularly important when we move to using the
      java pop up calendar for navigation...<br>
      <br>
      -Scott<br>
    </blockquote>
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