Developer Exchange Wishlist Part 2 (started 22-May-2005)

[Ben]

I am starting a new thread on this topic because the old Developer Exchange Wishlist has acheived crtical mass and is now to long to be usefull. I have read a number of times that people just do not have the time to go through all of the postings.

The Old List can be found at this link

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=130&message.id=332&jump=true



I would like to strongly urge everyone to review those ideas that were discussed in the first version of the Wishlist and repeat those requests that would be of most use to you or others.

"The squeeky wheel get the oil."

Ben

[Ben]

I think the single change that could bring the biggest quality delta to the Exchange would be the addition of imbedded graphic support.

Please see this link

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=106760#M106760

where I first observed it being used.

How I would like to see it implemented:
While editing my Q or A I would position my cursor where I want my image to show up. I would then push the button labeled "Insert Image" and I would then navigate to the image file. I could then continue my message. When I submit the message the image is uploaded just like the attachment is now.


Observations:
1) The exchange is already capable of supporting this functionality provided you are HTML savy (I am not).

2) The inclusion of images greatly improves the Q & A exchange quality.

3) Images would greatly elliminate the need to convert examples from one version to another. As it stands now we have to post 6.1 and 7.0 versions to handle the bulk of our audience. This will only get worse as time progresses.

4) Rookies could learn better because they have to build the code themselves thereby learning where the required operators are located, how to wire, configure, etc.

5) Experienced wire-workers would have the answer at a glance instead of down loading examples.

6) Examples involving add-on packages do NOT have to be opened. No need to play "whack-a-mole" (Process of repeatedly clicking "Igore VI" when opening a VI that uses an add-on package not present on the machine as per C Altenbach).

7) Thread are shorter due to #3.

😎 Language barriers could be minimized. I might get a clue what those Q's in those other languages are about.

9) Exchange storage requirements reduced because 1 image is smaller than multiple versions of the VI for the different LV versions.

10) Better Exchange performance because threads are shorter and images are served more than VI attachments.

11) Example obeselesnce is minimized. In about two years our huge example set currently in LV 6.1 will not be useful without up grading.


Additional associated requests:

1) Allow for multiple images to be included in the reply (The Exchange already supports this through editing of messages).

2) Once an image is selected via file navigation, a figure number and caption can be specified.


Closing thought:
The above suggestion should not be implemented until after "The List" has been implemented and CC is relieved of his self imposed obligation.

Comments anyone?

Ben

[chilly_charly]

Ben,
this is a really good proposal, and I'm sure that Molly will adopt it. This is a logical move, in harmony with the graphic programming concept.

Accordingly, we must encourage strongly the use of the png graphic format, since it gives compact images of diagrams and front panels, without any loss. In comparison with lossy jpegs, the files are nearly 2 time smaller.
And Molly might forbid the attachment of bmp images.

To go further, I think that NI should pay more attention to graphic matters. Did you notice how complicated it is to manipulate pictures in LV ? And how long it takes to open a jpeg file ?

CC

Message Edited by chilly charly on 05-22-2005 07:07 PM

[Ben]

Key word/user name subscrpition

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=130&message.id=182&jump=true

Ben

[tst]

A collection of unresolved issues from the first thread:

1. On occasion, posting a message with an attachment repeatedly brings me back to an empty post page. In the other thread Molly said this is probably caused by the message being too big, but this also happened with small attachment (on the order of a few dozen KB).

2. The ability to disable HTML tags for specific threads.

3. Radio buttons to force users to disclose their version.

4. BMP blocking. Molly said this can be done if we want to, so - we want to (don't be surprised if you will start getting questions like "I tried to post a picture and I can't").

5. "Please post an example" button, saving the need to reply.

6. A solution to the links-don't-send-you-to-the-right-post-in-long-threads problem.

Speaking of this last one, in the last few days (maybe before as well) it seems the after replying in a long thread or using "View discussion in popup", the page is opened in the second page of the thread and not in the first. Speaking of this, I would actually prefer if after posting a reply the page would automatically open where that reply is so I can make sure it came out OK.

[EdDickens]

Another selection for the 'Options' menu for message that would forward the message to NI Support. This could be used if a thread has gone on for a while and you still haven't got the solution you need.

It seems that the support folks don't always look at threads that have already had several replies. I'm sure they have a lot to do without monitoring every thread on the board, but sometimes one needs to brought to their attention.

I think this would be a better solution than starting a new thread because the answer would end up in the original thread instead of a new one where it may be missed by some one searching for an answer.

Ed

[Molly K]

tst-

I know of two use cases where you are returned to an empty post page when trying to post. The first is if the attachment is larger than 5MB. The second is if your session times out while you are composing your message. The current timeout is set to 3 hours, but it was 1 hour in the past. Is there another reproducible use case of when this would happen?

Thanks!

[tst]

When it happens, it happens repeatedly (I think I even tried clicking reply again and it still did it), but I don't think it can be reproduced.
What I usually do is to post, then edit the post and add the attachment (which works fine).
In any case, it's not a large attachment (like I said, a few dozen KB and it attaches fine when editing) and it's not the timeout, because it happens a few minutes after clicking reply.

[chilly_charly]

Molly, tst
I had this sort of problem few weeks ago (and I fact, I still have, but I found a workaround). Remember when I was obliged to cut the List file into 2 parts, just to be able to post it ? This happened with file sizes over about 24 kb.
I even posted a question here :
Here is the answer I got from NI web system engineers : "Looks like your side is terminating the connection prematurely. It may be due to a timeout setting in your setup or proxy/firewall if you have one".

The problem was solved using a VPN connection to a different web server.

CC

[Ben]

CC

Re: the timeout posting.

In the RR thread I managed to post multiple files with 4 of them over 1 Meg.

I have not tried a 3 meg recently but that failed the last time I tried.

Ben