v6 ignored Options Directories entries

Am 30.12.2011 23:54, schrieb Brett Holden:

I think that when somebody installs v6 alongside v5 that v6 should run

exclusively and not use v5 libraries.

 

This is not a suggestion so much as it is a bug report. It's an accident

waiting to happen. I remember the exact thing happening as I upgraded from

v4 to v5.

This problem happens with LOTS of people and EVERY major program update

since YEARS (and also with every OTHER program on earth). In most cases,

the user KNOWS that one may not overwrite old projects that still need

to be edited with the older version, but sometimes the phone rings,

something else happens and voila! you forget and have ruined your old

files by just accidentally pressing CTRL+S. Too bad! (And yes, I myself

was also swearing wildly once when doing an update from 4 to 5. Luckily,

I had some backups and only had to throw three hours of work in the bin)

This is again a case of bad GUI in case of problems: Here, the user

SHOULD be notified, but isn't, probably resulting in problems. There are

several simple possibilities to get this done properly (and lots of

programs use at least the following point 1):

  1. EAGLE just KNOWS the version with which a newly opened file was

     previously created. And it knows its OWN version. And CadSoft

     KNOWS between which versions (even minor version changes) the

     data structure was changed or expanded. Therefore,

      - if there is a FILE data structure change between the saved

        file and the current EAGLE version, the user is notified

        with a dialog box like: 'This file was created with an older

        version of EAGLE. If you change and save it, you might not be

        able to reopen it with the old EAGLE version. Proceed with

        the file loading? '.

     THAT is quite easy to do, BUT has the problem that the user

     might easily FORGET this message during viewing. Accidentally

     pressing CTRL+S does STILL ruin editability with older versions.

  2. To circumvent this, a similar question could be asked AGAIN

     when the user wants to SAVE the file ('Do you really want to

     overwrite the existing file? Reopening it with older EAGLE

     versions might not be possible afterwards. '). Yes,

     this MIGHT be a nuisance, but this save warning is displayed

     only ONCE per file IF there might be a version problem. After

     the file has REALLY been saved with the new version, these

     questions will cease completely until a new (not downward-

     compatible) version is used. That should be OK (at least in

     MY opinion).

  3. Some other programs use different schemes, which I myself do NOT

     like much:

      - In case file versions differ, the user is informed during

        file loading (as stated above). To prevent accidental

        overwrites, the file is opened write-protected. Before

        saving it again, write-protection must be disabled manually

        in some file option dialog. [Disadvantage: There must be

        this write-protection option somewhere]

      - In case file versions differ, the user is informed during

        file loading (as stated above). To prevent accidental

        overwrites, the file is opened like a NEW file (without

        proper file name), so just saving does NOT work, because the

        user is ALWAYS asked for a new file name. [Disadvantage:

        The user MUST enter a file name. This needs quite some

        typing, and one MIGHT even have forgotten the name in the

        meantime]

Therefore, the combination of (1) and (2) should make version problems a

thing of the past. And for the guys who really HATE to be asked such

questions, why not implement my suggestion from the post 'EAGLE GUI (7):

Unnerving failure behaviour' and put a 'Don't show this message again'

checkbox in the question dialog (2)?

The above is VERY easy to implement and protects the user from ACCIDENTS

(this is what a good GUI should do). Of course the new EAGLE version

would STILL use the old libraries and not its own ones. But this CAN be

circumvented with the '-U' switch. If the user wants to run different

EAGLE versions in paralled, put some information about that in the

manual. This way, newbies cannot ACCIDENTALLY overwrite their projects,

and experts can take parallel-install information from the manual. I

cannot tell whether there would still be awkward problems when using

PROJECTS - I just HATE the behaviour with projects due its multiple

drawbacks, and therefore our institute doesn't use them...

Andreas Weidner

Am 30.12.2011 23:54, schrieb Brett Holden:

I think that when somebody installs v6 alongside v5 that v6 should run

exclusively and not use v5 libraries.

 

This is not a suggestion so much as it is a bug report. It's an accident

waiting to happen. I remember the exact thing happening as I upgraded from

v4 to v5.

This problem happens with LOTS of people and EVERY major program update

since YEARS (and also with every OTHER program on earth). In most cases,

the user KNOWS that one may not overwrite old projects that still need

to be edited with the older version, but sometimes the phone rings,

something else happens and voila! you forget and have ruined your old

files by just accidentally pressing CTRL+S. Too bad! (And yes, I myself

was also swearing wildly once when doing an update from 4 to 5. Luckily,

I had some backups and only had to throw three hours of work in the bin)

This is again a case of bad GUI in case of problems: Here, the user

SHOULD be notified, but isn't, probably resulting in problems. There are

several simple possibilities to get this done properly (and lots of

programs use at least the following point 1):

  1. EAGLE just KNOWS the version with which a newly opened file was

     previously created. And it knows its OWN version. And CadSoft

     KNOWS between which versions (even minor version changes) the

     data structure was changed or expanded. Therefore,

      - if there is a FILE data structure change between the saved

        file and the current EAGLE version, the user is notified

        with a dialog box like: 'This file was created with an older

        version of EAGLE. If you change and save it, you might not be

        able to reopen it with the old EAGLE version. Proceed with

        the file loading? '.

     THAT is quite easy to do, BUT has the problem that the user

     might easily FORGET this message during viewing. Accidentally

     pressing CTRL+S does STILL ruin editability with older versions.

  2. To circumvent this, a similar question could be asked AGAIN

     when the user wants to SAVE the file ('Do you really want to

     overwrite the existing file? Reopening it with older EAGLE

     versions might not be possible afterwards. '). Yes,

     this MIGHT be a nuisance, but this save warning is displayed

     only ONCE per file IF there might be a version problem. After

     the file has REALLY been saved with the new version, these

     questions will cease completely until a new (not downward-

     compatible) version is used. That should be OK (at least in

     MY opinion).

  3. Some other programs use different schemes, which I myself do NOT

     like much:

      - In case file versions differ, the user is informed during

        file loading (as stated above). To prevent accidental

        overwrites, the file is opened write-protected. Before

        saving it again, write-protection must be disabled manually

        in some file option dialog. [Disadvantage: There must be

        this write-protection option somewhere]

      - In case file versions differ, the user is informed during

        file loading (as stated above). To prevent accidental

        overwrites, the file is opened like a NEW file (without

        proper file name), so just saving does NOT work, because the

        user is ALWAYS asked for a new file name. [Disadvantage:

        The user MUST enter a file name. This needs quite some

        typing, and one MIGHT even have forgotten the name in the

        meantime]

Therefore, the combination of (1) and (2) should make version problems a

thing of the past. And for the guys who really HATE to be asked such

questions, why not implement my suggestion from the post 'EAGLE GUI (7):

Unnerving failure behaviour' and put a 'Don't show this message again'

checkbox in the question dialog (2)?

The above is VERY easy to implement and protects the user from ACCIDENTS

(this is what a good GUI should do). Of course the new EAGLE version

would STILL use the old libraries and not its own ones. But this CAN be

circumvented with the '-U' switch. If the user wants to run different

EAGLE versions in paralled, put some information about that in the

manual. This way, newbies cannot ACCIDENTALLY overwrite their projects,

and experts can take parallel-install information from the manual. I

cannot tell whether there would still be awkward problems when using

PROJECTS - I just HATE the behaviour with projects due its multiple

drawbacks, and therefore our institute doesn't use them...

Andreas Weidner