Reporting Metacard Bugs

[Richard Gaskin]

Bob Warren wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> As a result of Richard's recommendation on the UR-List, here I am!
> (fanfare of trumpets)

Welcome aboard.
...
> Here is a little feedback already about Metacard 2.6.6's behaviour under 
> Ubuntu Breezy:
> 
> ----------------------
> In Windows, some windows can be minimized and others cannot. For 
> example, I can minimize my stack window. In this case, it is reduced to 
> an icon at the bottom of my screen in the task bar. To get it back 
> again, I click on the icon at the bottom, and the stack re-appears in 
> the middle of my screen. On the other hand, I cannot minimize the coding 
> editor of a button script I am creating. There is no minimize button at 
> the top of the code editor's window, only a close button. This makes 
> sense to some degree, because closing the code editor is one way of 
> actioning the coding I have typed, though why I should not be able to 
> minimize it, I don't know.
> 
> In Ubuntu, regarding the coding editor, what appears at the top of the 
> window is just the opposite of what appears in Windows: I have a 
> minimize and restore button (which also means that I cannot even drag 
> the window itself to a new position). It also means that the coding I 
> have typed can never be actioned, unless I go to the "File" menu and 
> choose "Apply Script". However, although the script is applied, this 
> does not close the window, and so far I have not discovered how to close 
> it. Very soon, the number of code editors I have open at the same time 
> becomes rather unwieldly.

Window decorations are a function of the engine.  On Mac OS and Windows 
the minimize button is active, so I'm fairly confident this isn't an IDE 
issue, but an engine one.

If you make any other stack and set its style to modeless, do you get 
the same result?


> I have already discovered that this is not the only aspect of window 
> behaviour that needs attention in the Metacard IDE under Ubuntu Breezy.
> -----------------------
> 
> Above, I have described a single difficulty which indicates that I 
> cannot easily use Metacard under Ubuntu at all at the moment. In order 
> to get such things fixed, where is the most appropriate place for 
> reporting difficulties? Here on the List? If the Metacard equivalent of 
> Bugzilla does not exist, but somebody decides to invent one, I would ask 
> but 2 things:
> 
> 1. That the bug reporting/enhancement request interface should be more 
> user friendly than Bugzilla.

Agreed.  The bug count is low, so we generally just use this list. It's 
a fairly low traffic list, and these days used almost exclusively for 
design and enhancement of the IDE (most general language discussion has 
long since migrated to the use-rev list).   Posting bugs here not only 
alerts the team member who'll work on it (often me, with help from 
Klaus, Ken and others), but also alerts other users to these issues.

> 2. That it should not include a voting system aimed at evaluating the 
> importance of bugs etc. in the opinion of other users. To me, such a 
> system has various fundamental problems, and the importance of bugs or 
> suggested features should be firmly in the hands of those responsible 
> for the IDE/engine.

Agreed.  Voting is helpful for a company to measure the impact of an 
issue on its community, but I'm sure not even RunRev gives it more 
weight than many other important factors (cost of fixing it, cost of not 
fixing it, etc.).

But with the MC IDE the goal is zero known defects with each final 
release, so voting isn't necessary since every bug gets effectively 
infinite votes. :)

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
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