[ic] Redirecting Based on Domain

[Dan Browning]

> On Thu, 3 Jan 2002, Dan Browning wrote:
> 
> You were quoting the wrong message, so I deleted it all :-)

Clearly caused by stray beta particles.  I'll put my aluminum helmet on
for this one.  

> DB>>Two issues on this one:
> DB>>
> DB>>1. The online help interface (when you click help in the top-right
> DB>>corner).  Recommendations could be made with regards to 
> improving this,
> DB>>however, I personally prefer #2:
> 
> This is usually (but not always) useless. In Construct, go 
> into orders,
> click on the 'pending' and bring up that screen and click on 
> help. I get
> help on how to add, delete and modify ITEMS - nothing to do 
> with processing
> ORDERS.
> 
> Most of the helps on this page are vague and ambiguous. One 
> that is clear is
> telling you to put in a url for where they can get help. It does not,
> however, tell you what form to put that url in. 
> (http://www.domain.com/help
> or www.domain.com/help)
> 
> Now, here's a beaut! From the orders page, I clicked on the 
> order, and then
> I clicked on the shipping address. Up comes a screen where I 
> can change that
> data. Clicking on help brings up a help screen. One of the 
> pieces of help is:
> 
> ""filter" and "pre-filter" can be used to filter data 
> destined for that field
> or data read from that field, respectively"
> 
> (Kind of like for help with the coffee pot click here. 
> Clicking produces the
> text, "Use the coffeepot to make coffee in". In my perfect 
> world, there
> would be a definition/description of coffee here, or else a 
> link to tell
> the user what coffee is - perhaps in a glossary. And, there 
> would also be
> instructions (perhaps brief) on how to use the coffeemaker 
> (put a filter in
> the basket, coffee in the filter, water in the reservoir and 
> turn it on.)
> 
> This particular help field needs to be expanded - at least 
> with an example.
> Otherwise it is non-sensical.
> 
> >From this same orders page, click on the customer and get the 'view
> customer' screen. Then click on preferences. The help here 
> tells me that I
> can 'OK', 'Cancel' and 'Auto-Export'. And, a reference to 
> using Meta Tags.
> Nothing else.
> 
> Here's a field: 'project_id' How do I use that? Once I put 
> something in
> there, where else does it appear? No help.
> 
> He's got a credit limit of -57.91. What is the importance of 
> this? No help
> here.
> 
> Here is the 'inactive' field. What do I put here? No help. I 
> clicked on the
> 'meta' right under it. Lot's of configurable stuff, but no 
> help. What is
> meant by 'prepend html'? What is meant by 'append html'? I 
> clicked on 'help'
> and I am told that there is no help, and I am offered a list 
> of other things
> to read.
> 
> Here is a field 'db_acl'. What's that all about? No help.
> Here is a field 'file_acl'. No help for this one either.


Great stuff, Jim.  Instead of "it sucks" we're getting down to specifics
-- practically a todo list for whoever volunteers to fulfill the
_now_clearly_explained_ need.

However, I think that documenting the admin interface through the help
interface should be a duplication of the information in... #2:

> DB>>2. There already is a document on the admin interface (the
> DB>>"Administration Tool Guide").  However, it was created in 
> FrameMaker,
> DB>>and Red Hat has yet to convert it to SDF so it can be added to the
> DB>>Interchange doc system.  If someone would like to 
> volunteer to make the
> DB>>conversion, I'm sure Red Hat would appreciate the contribution (I
> DB>>wouldn't mind helping someone get started).
> 
> Sorry. I've got no idea what 'SDF' is. When I foraged through the docs
> section last month at Akopia I saw no mention of this tool 
> guide. Otherwise
> I would have downloaded it and printed it out.

SDF is a file format that can be easily converted into HTML, PDF, TXT,
POD, etc.   

Right now the document is only accessible in PDF format, e.g.

http://interchange.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/docs/Attic/icadm
in.pdf?rev=1.1

But needs to be converted to SDF.  (Again, volunteers?)

> Version 4.8.3 has some brief documention pertaining to the 
> store in man
> format as well as 'POD' format. (Am I the only one that has 
> no idea what POD
> format is? or, how to use it?)

perldoc file.pod
-or-
pod2html file.pod

> DB>>Hopefully that document and the Interchange FAQ will soon 
> be posted at
> DB>>the Ref Doc site:
> DB>>
> DB>>http://interchange.redhat.com/cgi-bin/ic/dev-4.8/index.html
> 
> The FAQ that I found when I was plowing around was woefully 
> inadequate.
> Perhaps I was in a different place. But, it seemed that no 
> matter what I
> did, I kept ending up at Red Hat and them trying to get me to 
> buy Linux,
> instead of helping me with Interchange.
> 
> The fact that so many newbies come in here asking the same 
> questions over
> and over should be an important clue that something is wrong.
> 
> Mike Heins is a genius. He has several people around him that 
> are at the
> near-genius level. Unfortunately, what's being written for 
> documentation is
> being done in near-genius terms which is above many heads 
> (including mine!)
> 
> I think that one of the things that needs to be done is to 
> get Interchange
> and Akopia onto separate web pages from Red Hat. As it is,
> www.interchange.com is dead and doesn't work. www.akopia.com 
> takes you to a
> Red Hat page where they want to sell you Red Hat stuff, and anything
> relating to Interchange is buried behind the smoke and mirrors.
> 
> 
> -= Jim =-

Here is what it takes for something to get done:

1.  Specific information / details about what needs to be done (like
what you have done above regarding the admin interface, except
preferably from someone who also knows what the answer is, not just the
problem)

2.  Someone to do #1.

Jim, I know that you already know this, but I for the sake of those who
do not:  Nothing anyone says will spontaneously make other people do
lots of tedious work for free.  Now that the mind-control option is out
of the way, here are the left-over options:

1. Be Annoying: "Uhhh, it sucks dude"
2. Be Helpful: Specifically explain what sucks about it (i.e. bug
report)
3. Be Cool: Fix it yourself (Kudos to Ed L. for writing ic_ecommerce)
4. Be Rich: Pay some one else to fix it
5. Be Quiet: Same as #1 except it is less annoying

Everyone can be Helpful, some are Cool, some are Rich, but the rest of
us should be Quiet.  Anything I missed?

Later,

+---------------------------------------------------
| Dan Browning, Sr. Tech Consultant
| Kavod Technologies, 1498 SE Tech Center Pl Ste 170
| Vancouver, WA 98683  <dan.browning@kavod.com>
+---------------------------------------------------
Human beings were created by water to transport it uphill.