auto update stacks/applications

Rob Cozens rcozens at pon.net
Sat Sep 18 06:16:41 EDT 2004


>I'm wondering what some of the methods are that others use to
>accomplish auto updates, and what kinds of advantages/disadvantages there
>are to your methods.

Hi Chris,

Here's an example I'm working on at the moment; The project name is 
"Marine Time Lines" ["MTL"].

MTL consists of two stacks: MTL_Viewer.rev & MTL_Data.rev.

MTL_Viewer displays a world map and hilites various oceans in 
response to check box settings designating various threats to the 
marine environment (eg: Habitat Destruction, Overfishing, Pollution). 
Clicking a hilited ocean displays a pertinent quotation (such as 
below) and a list of "marine time lines" relating to that ocean and 
those specific threats.

MTL_Data contains all the quotations & time lines, indexed by ocean & 
threat, in a format that can be printed with a simple "print this 
stack" command.  It also contains virtually all of the handlers 
called by MTL_Viewer, which starts using MTL_Data on preOpenStack.

MTL_Viewer is designed for distribution as a standalone application. 
MTL_Data is designed as a replaceable, downloadable, data file.  A 
user can download MTL_Viewer once and subsequently "update" it by 
replacing the local copy of MTL_Data with the latest download.

This design allows both the data presented and the manner in which it 
is manipulated to change without modifying the standalone application 
file.

The shortcoming of this design is that it does not accommodate 
changes in the features supported by the standalone--adding a new 
threat category, for example--without replacing the standalone.
-- 
Rob Cozens, Staff Conservator
Mendonoma Marine Life Conservancy

"It is contrary to human welfare to contribute in any way...
  to the degradation of the sea's capacity to support life."

  -- Walter Hickel, U. S. Secretary of the Interior, 1971
     in "From Abundance to Scarcity" by Michael L. Weber


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