SAVEAS inconsistent when issued from CLIP

George
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Posts: 4,057

SAVEAS inconsistent when issued from CLIP Mar 15, 2022 13:16:30 GMT -5

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Post by George on Mar 15, 2022 13:16:30 GMT -5

Robert:
I've been doing preliminary code browsing.

We're veering into a make work project. I no longer think a single SAVE command is workable. The number of internal 'wrinkles' is turning out to be astounding. Merging the code and associated 'wrinkles' from 4 commands together is just not going to work.

So how did we start this expedition, and what are we really trying to fix?

a) SAVEAS of a CLIP session - where does it go?
Without a filename specified, you get a popup and can be as specific as you want.
With an unqualified filename it goes to the current FM Filepath specification.

The suggestion was to support an unqualified filename with a leading ? and popup a list of recent paths to choose from. Sounds reasnable to me.

b) CREATE / REPLACE did not default to ALL.
Easily corrected.

c) CREATE bails out if the file exists.
Why not just add a normal Pop-Up "Do you want to replace the existing file?"

d) Since the existing Options => FM option is basically inoperative, remove it.
Add a new DEFDIR pathname command to set this globally (not by tab) and save it in the CFG file.

These are achievable, after looking closely at the merging of the 4 commands, I doubt I can pull it off.

George

Stefan
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Posts: 990

SAVEAS inconsistent when issued from CLIP Mar 16, 2022 6:10:49 GMT -5

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Post by Stefan on Mar 16, 2022 6:10:49 GMT -5

I broadly agree with Robert's last post.

My 2 pennies worth

(a) I too eschew '?' as the 'request' for a path.
It's awkward to type (needs SHIFT key) and, as Robert says, neither normal Windows nor SPFLIte standard, as well as being an invalid character for a filename.
I suggest '\' as an alternative prefix character.
Further alternatives might be
'/' (I see that in Windows CMD.EXE CD comand this is also accepted as meaning 'go to root directory')
'..' (Also accepted by CD command, but means 'one up from current directory' which may therefore be confusing)

'\' is simple to type and a common part of any filename so familiar to users.
Hence, a file-spec of ABC.EXT would mean ABC.EXT in whatever default path applies to this tab
And a file-ppec of \ABC.EXT would provoke a dialog to select a path.

As for which default to apply, if the current tab contains a file whose origin is known, use that same path as default unless users requests a change (no file-spec or one starting with '\') which provokes a selection pop-up. If the current tab doesn't have a known path (Get_FilePath in macro-speak), it's an automatic path selection pop-up)

(c) CREATE/REPLACE command

We three (at least) seem quite comfortable that CREATE (and REPLACE) should write out every line by default, unless the user also specifies a line-control-range.

In good-ol'-IbmSPF, if memory serves, the user either had to specify a proper file-spec with the command, or was presented with a panel on which to do so.
Thus if no file-spec is entered with the command, proceed as described in (a) above. Hence I don't see a need for an "ASK option".
If you really want an ASK argument on the command, you may want to consider a OPTIONS - GENERAL entry so users can specify whether they want ASK as default or not.

I'd also prefer a different solution to a 'Shall-I / Shan't-I Replace' pop-up if the selected file-spec already exists.

I suggest that maybe an additional operand 'REPLACE | REP' on the command syntax can kill several birds with one stone.

- The user can specify this from the outset to simply replace (overwrite) the file in case it exists.

- If REP isn't specified and file-spec exists, could you terminate the command with a non-zero return code and leave (as usual) the failed command in the command line, BUT...

with the addition that the command after the error is not just whatever the user typed, but also includes the file-spec, fully expanded with path, etc?

Then there's no need for the user to retype, or RETRIEVE a potentially incomplete command and no need to re-navigate the selection panel if one was used.

The user simply adds the REP operand, or modifies the file-spec and, and then presses <ENTER> again.

- The third advantage to this approach is that you could easily implement the REPLACE command with very little, perhaps even no code at all.

REPLACE would be the same as CREATE but with the REP operand specified up front.

So REPLACE could be implemented by the addition of a SET ALIAS.REPLACE=CREATE REP

The only loss would be that there's no error message if the file named on a REPLACE command did not already exist.

No great drama in my book as you only end up with new file whose name you mis-spellt. Nothing was lost.

SAVEAS Command

With the above changes to CREATE/REPLACE, the SAVEAS command is effectively the same as the modified CREATE command, but with fewer operands, essentially allowing only REP and file-spec.

So its code is verbatim the same as CREATE, except that the line-control-range and X|NX and U|NU operands are not allowed by the definition.

You could even leave in the code supporting those unused operands. Commented out or wrapped with a suitable IF stmt, it would just never be executed.

(d) 'Default' Target Folder

Agree again with Robert although I think the EDIT/ASK/FM/ERROR approach is perhaps overkill given the nut you're trying to crack.

The confusion of "where did it go?" could be avoided, IF the message confirming the "data export process" included the fully-qualified filename instead of informing the user of how many lines were written.

In any case, a peek at the FM RECENT screen should clear up the issue if the user adds something like PATH(40) to the column display in OPTIONS - FM.

If there has to be a single 'default' directory where unspecified files go, please make it user-selectable (I guess from the OPTIONS-FM panel).

This allows users to tailor the facility to their own, possibly changing from time to time, needs.

Personally, I would set mine to "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop" because it

a) make such files easy to find

b) clutters up my desktop, thus encouraging me to be more specific next time!

Last Edit: Mar 16, 2022 7:17:46 GMT -5 by Stefan

George
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Posts: 4,057

SAVEAS inconsistent when issued from CLIP Mar 16, 2022 9:51:24 GMT -5

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Post by George on Mar 16, 2022 9:51:24 GMT -5

Guys:

OK, enough of this back and forth. Executive decision time, this is what's going to happen. I think it satisfies the majority of problems and concerns..

CREATE and REPLACE will default to ALL if no line-range specified, (even though there is no ALL keyword) - and I mean ALL RECORDS.

CREATE will accept a REP/REPLACE keyword. (It already does internally as there is no real code for REPLACE, it's passed off internally to the CREATE code to be performed.

If the existing file conflict does come up with CREATE (i.e. no REP specified), I will ensure the full proper command is left in the command line.

For CREATE/REPLACE/SAVEAS. if issued from a Tab which HAS an associated PATH, an unqualified filename will use that PATH. If no associated PATH (like CLIP) the normal OpenFile dialog will appear. No default from elswhere will be made. (BTW the ? idea was Robert's in one of his messages, although I realize now he didn't mean as a prefix.)

For CREATE/REPLACE/SAVEAS. if issued from a Tab which HAS an associated PATH, and the user wants to choose a different path, then omit the filename and use the pop-up OpenFile dialog.

There will be no default PATH for unqualified filenames.

Stefan
Administrator

Posts: 990

SAVEAS inconsistent when issued from CLIP Mar 16, 2022 10:08:50 GMT -5

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Post by Stefan on Mar 16, 2022 10:08:50 GMT -5

George,

I think that's a good combination of hopefully relatively manageable code changes.
I take it these mods also mean that the current SAVE commanmds remains as the EDIT command that we all know and love and there's no need for the WRITE command as outlined in one of your earlier posts?
Or have I missed something?

George
Administrator

Posts: 4,057

SAVEAS inconsistent when issued from CLIP Mar 16, 2022 10:30:08 GMT -5

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Post by George on Mar 16, 2022 10:30:08 GMT -5

Stefan: Correct, SAVE/CREATE/REPLACE/SAVEAS all remain, and get fixed/enhanced. WRITE/PUT etc. are no more, the more I looked at combining them, the more I realized it was a terrible path to go down.

George