Dave Watts Wrote: > I'm a big boy; I don't mind a little criticism. So feel > free! And yes, I'm sure to be wrong plenty of times.
> But sometimes, when you (or anyone else) asks "how do > you do x", the answer will simply be, "you can't do x". > Unfortunately, it is simply not true that for every > problem, there is a viable solution, especially > within our field. There are a lot of things that > simply can't be done within web applications. Prepopulating or dynamically populating a file input springs to mind... So do: - disabling the back/refresh buttons in a browser - disabling printing in a web page - disabling source view in a browser - preventing users from copy/pasting from HTML - disabling double-clicks in a browser - disabling context menus in a browser - creating a new session when a new person sits down at the computer These are all things that have been asked of me quite recently, and while there are some JavaScript-based answers there are simply no bulletproof answers to be had with HTML (I'm not getting into the Flash / Java UI options), partly because JavaScript can be disabled in any browser. But I had a client who wanted to control the browser with HTML in ways that just aren't realistic in order to provide 100% secure (cheat-proof), un-proctored professional certification testing in a person's home. Ultimately I have to admit that such a thing is simply not possible with HTML, no matter how much code you throw at the problem. The last one -- the new session thing -- is something the client mistakenly thought they actually had with a previous application because a previous coder had disabled all the browser's cache, so they thought that when they clicked in the address bar and arrowed down to get a previous page (because they "disabled" the back button) that the lack of prepopulated forms was proof that the server had created a new session (which it hadn't, because of course, that would require a magical heat-seeking session that's capable of making decisions on the basis of data the browser either doesn't have (who's in front of the machine) or doesn't provide to the server (the fact that the user used the address-bar history to reach the page)). Dynamically populating file inputs by comparison doesn't happen because it's considered a security risk and therefore the browser simply disallows it. I can't speak for all browsers of course, but enough of them prevent it to say that any solution won't be even remotely reliable. > As an instructor, I say to my students "there's no such > thing as a stupid question". I hear that from other > instructors as well. Of course, that's not really true. > There are plenty of stupid questions. But who cares? > You're much better off asking questions as they occur > to you, than trying to figure out if a question is worth > asking. I just took a class last week, and asked tons of > questions - some stupid, some not - and I wouldn't have > learned nearly as much if I worried about the quality of > my questions beforehand. If you can learn any one thing > from me, the best thing to learn would be that you > should just ask whatever you like, without worrying > what people will think of you for asking. I've made plenty of in retrospect embarassing comments on the cf-talk list over the years. Yeah, I feel like an ass when I do. Then I help some people solve some problems and I feel good and then I make an ass of myself again. :) And I still remember most of them I think... I remember making a really boneheaded comment on the list the first time I saw someone use true/false instead of yes/no in a block of CF code. These days I try always to use true/false just due to personal preference, but at the time I was somehow caught off-guard and dropped my pants in front of everybody (metaphorically speaking). :P Then there was this wierd incident when I was having a bad day and had a tough time reading a text document Sean Corfield had created on a Mac because it didn't occur to me to pop it into a different text editor to see if I got better results. So, it happens... and we move on. :) Being a noob only _feels_ embarassing, and I guess that feeling is compounded by the fact that a lot of mailing lists have very strong wording in their list rules about how people need to read the docs or faqs before asking questions. Personally I don't mind answering noob questions or even pointing people to the appropriate documentation when it's apparent that they haven't seen it or maybe don't know where it is. And I suspect the majority of those of us with the experience don't mind either, because there've been many times that I've answered a question on the list quickly only to realize a moment later when I finished going through my mail that 5 other people had already answered the same question because it was something most of us already knew. :) So... while yes, some people have a tough time with it, unfortunately I think that feeling of being embarassed by being a clueless noob is just something we all have to get past. s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://www.fusiontap.com http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:234212 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
