Good example/tutor for Valentina

[Kay C Lan]

On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Ruslan Zasukhin <sunshine at public.kherson.ua>
wrote:

> I have not catch here. You mean that you can understand how to use REV with
> SQL lite and mySQL, but cannot catch how to use it with Valentina ??
>

Man, I thought I'd slip past your gaze, but impossible - your amazing
Ruslan.

Yes, the frustrating thing is that I can get all sorts of things done with
SQL using either mySQL or sqLite, and I KNOW I could get it all done much
faster if I could only get Valentina to work for me. Val Studio keeps
crashing on me and I've had similar problems with 'example' Rev stacks + Val
DBs I've created.

Now I know Valentina will work, it just isn't happy with my set-up. But it's
my set-up that I need to sort out and I'm intentionally NOT asking for your
help. I'm not in the demographic that you should be focusing your precious
time and effort. I marvel at the level of support you provide over on the
Valentina List and there are many professional developers there working on
commercial products who deserve your time and effort.

I'm not paid to use Rev or Val, my paid job is fulltime +.

I'm a HyperCard refugee who joined the Revolution;-)

I create little odds and ends for me,myself and I. I expect my development
environment to start, run and produce results in minutes as minutes is all I
have to spare.

I looked into Rev 1.1 but wasn't impressed, came back a year or so later at
2.2. bought that, not because it worked, but as a donation in the hope that
one day it would. At 2.6 I started using Rev, but had to develop a healthy
save as you go mentality. 2.7 was OK and 2.8 fine.

When I got into mySQL, I just downloaded the installer, followed the
instructions and it worked FIRST TIME. If it didn't I wouldn't be using it.

When I decided to give sqLite a go, someone pointed me to sqLite Manager for
FireFox. I installed it, pointed to a 3rd party program that was based
around sqLite, and bingo, I was accessing all the data. It worked first
time. I wouldn't be using it otherwise.

I know that if I said 'today I'll fully troubleshooting my Valentina set-up'
that I could get it up and running. The problem is the other side of my
brain says, in half a day I could get so much more done with Rev + mySQL.
But IF I made my living from databases, I would invest the time to get
Valentina sorted.

Having said that, I have kept an eye on the Valentina List and have 'marked'
posts regarding installing Val for Rev on OSX. I know there is a problem
with Rev docs using Val 1.1 refs. I know that pre 3.x  install.rev
improperly used copyFile instead of copyFolder. I know that you occasionally
suggest trashing the contents of  /usr/local/lib/vcomponents. I know there
are a couple of TXT files that need to be checked to see that they contain
the correct reference to the correct drivers.

But I also note that all of this good information does not reside in one
place, nor does a single one of them appear on the 'Installing Val for Rev'
wiki page.

So it is time consuming for me to backtrack through the posts to find these
gems and it must be tedious for you to keep repeating these same
instructions.

SO, you ask that I provide a short description of the FIRST SIMPLE lesson,
but instead I'd like to suggest a simple addition to the Val for Rev
Installation page:

http://www.valentina-db.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=paradigma:public:en:documentation:v4rev:manual:installation

At the bottom of the page please make the simple assumption that some people
will not achieve a successful install and add a 'Troubleshooting Section',
and in it include:

1) If it is necessary, and how to Uninstall previous versions of Val.
Please be very specific about how to find ALL the Val bits and pieces that
may need to be Trashed. Users may not remember where Val 1.1 was installed.
And what about if things were installed in the wrong place? What searches
can a user carry out to ensure they remove EVERYTHING?

Assume the user has copies of Rev 2.6, 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9 installed.
Assume the user has attempted to install Val 1.1, 2.5,2.6,2.7,2.8,3.1,3.2
over several version of Rev.

2) Should the install.rev console window report that it was unable to copy a
file or create a folder, provide specific steps how to resolve this and a
checklist to ensure everything is in the right place. Also, the fact that
the installer was unable to copy or create something, may that suggest a
'permissions' problem? Knowing the read/write permissions for every file may
also be handy. Could the fact it couldn't copy a file suggest that a file by
that name already exists? Is that OK or does that suggest an old file is
still there?

3) Rev docs have Val 1.1 refs and should be ignored when using Val 2.x, 3.x
(That was valid for pre 2.9 docs - is it the same for 2.9 docs?)

4) Pre 3.0 install.rev script needs copyFile amended to copyFolder, and
include the full script:

 ------------------
    get CheckExist( lPluginFile, lExternPath )
    if the result is false then
      -- revCopyFile lPluginFile, lExternPath
       revCopyFolder lPluginFile, lExternPath
      if the result is empty then
        Message "Copy plugin: " & lPluginFile & " Successful!"
  --------------------

5) When to Trash  /usr/local/lib/vcomponents and how to replace it's
contents.

6) The location of the TXT files and their appropriate content depending on
which version of Rev you are running.

7) You put into the Message Box: put the externalPackages of stack "home"
and Valentina for Revolution is NOT listed. What should you do? (Just run
Installer.rev again? Trash everything first? Repair Permissions? Manual
copy/move?)

8) It is common if a piece of software is not functioning to trash it's
preference file, is this recommended for Val Studio?

9) Anything else from your encyclopaedic knowledge that may help
troubleshoot a misbehaving installation, such as where to find the Warnings
log, and how to put together a comprehensive 'support' e-mail so that you
can quickly pinpoint the problem ;-)

And although I'm clearly a Mac man, specifics for both Mac and Win would be
much appreciated.

Lastly, I've recently completed a clean install of OSX 10.5.2, not an
upgrade. After many days of ensuring everything was working I did a clean
install of Rev 2.9, not an upgrade. I currently have more important things
to do with my time, but some day I'll get around to doing a clean install of
Val, and I'm hoping it will now just work, and I'll be happy and when I have
the opportunities I'll set about moving my mySQL DBs to Val:-)

Again I am not asking you to reply to this e-mail, other customers should be
way higher on your priority list, but someday, when the world is good and
everyone is happy and you think to yourself, 'gee I'd like to write some
wiki pages', I hope you consider the above :-)

Gotta go, needed elsewhere :-(