You know the only problem I have with some of what Craig is saying below, is
that I think that we should stop trying to fight the platform, and start
developing for it. By that I mean we are developing "web" applications, so
they should work with the environment they reside in, the web browser, and
take advantage of the features of the browser. Don't just think of this as
recreating the legacy interfaces they're replacing. The whole concept of
controlling sequence of movement to me is a bit constraining in such an
environment. Users should have more freedom than what they had on a 3270
terminal 10 years ago, but it would seem that's not what people are willing
to provide.
That's not to say I'm discounting the challenge.
Just my .2 cents.
Dan
> ----------
> From: Craig R. McClanahan[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Reply To: Craig McClanahan
> Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 12:25 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Handling The Browser Back Button, et al (tms)
>
> Frank Starsinic wrote:
>
> > Are there standard techniques for preventing a user from using the back
> button
> > in the
> > browser and modifying and re-submitting a form? This issue has caused us
> serious
> > problems
> > in the past and we are wondering how other people handle this.
> > i'm not so sure we should be worried about the Back Button as much as
> how to
> > handle the situation if someone did try that by mistake.
> >
> > i guess not caching the page could be one quasi-solution? but what other
> > techniques are used?
> >
>
> One thing I do that helps avoid this problem (but certainly doesn't
> eliminate it)
> is to open my JSP-based app in a new window that does not have back
> buttons,
> location bars, or any of that stuff. Visually, it looks much more like a
> standard
> GUI application when you do this, so users are more likely to "get it"
> that this is
> a transactional application system, not a browsable web site. Of course,
> this
> still doesn't foil the savvy users that know about the right mouse menu or
> the
> keyboard shortcuts ...
>
> Also, it's possible that continued use of the "Back" button by users might
> be an
> indicator that some additional navigational controls would be useful in
> the user
> interface.
>
> >
> > what about something in the session that indicates that the page has
> been
> > processed already??
> >
>
> This is a much better solution -- your app knows what stage of processing
> it is
> expecting next, so it can reject input that comes in out of sequence.
>
> >
> > we also have concerns about a user bringing up 2 different browsers at
> the same
> > time OR 2 browser windows and working on seperate parts of the app at
> the same
> > time.
> >
>
> This is a valid concern, because often the two windows will share the same
> servlet/JSP session. State management checking, as you proposed above,
> will help
> here. In addition, since I'm opening my app in a new window, I specified
> a
> particular target window name, so that the user cannot open the app more
> than once.
>
> >
> > our app is heavily workflow intensive and these issues have caused
> problems in
> > the past.
> >
>
> As browser-based applications start to proliferate, all developers need to
> continually educate users to use ONLY the navigation controls provided by
> the apps,
> instead of surfing and bookmarking the usual way (unless your app is smart
> enough
> to deal with the real life behavior under all circumstances).
>
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > frank
> >
>
> Craig McClanahan
>
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