User documentation isn't the appropriate venue for things like newly discovered bugs. As a bug is discovered, we determine what we're going to do about it and then enter that into our project plan for the next release. Then we see if there is a workaround. Then we determine if the bug is isolated or widespread, and if widespread we try to either publish a KnowledgeBase article or inform the Plum Discussion List about it.
Remember that Plum is free, so the practical reality of the matter is that we can't support it like Macromedia supports ColdFusion or Microsoft supports Windows. We can only do what time and money allow us, and that's that. We're going to make changes to the documentation, the tutorials, and anything else that makes sense based on everyone's feedback, but it isn't going to be a constant near-realtime stream of updates, I can assure you. The only thing that can speed this process up significantly is one or more substantial corporate sponsorships of Plum (in return for banner ads in the Plum IDE). We're looking right now at one company possibly sponsoring a feature they want in the product, but along with that feature they would be paying for any existing bugs to be fixed in that same release that contained their sponsored feature, and also for at least some of the documentation changes that might make things more clear for new users. If we get it, great; if we don't, everyone will have to wait until we can find the free time to handle it. If anyone can think of a better way to handle things without charging for Plum (which we will *never* do) then let us know. Just please don't assume that things like documentation changes are easy and/or quick, because they are not. Documentation changes must be rigorously tested just like the software itself, and all cross references to the material that was changed must be checked and tested as well. All our documentation is done in RoboHelp just like much of the major commercial software out there, and all our online, compiled, and printed documentation is generated from this one tool. KnowledgeBase articles are the proper venue for workarounds to newly discovered bugs, and our internal project plan is the proper venue for all bugs that are discussed on the Plum Discussion List. Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis Member of Team Macromedia http://www.ProductivityEnhancement.com Download Plum and other cool development tools, and get advanced intensive Master-level training: * C# & ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers * ColdFusion MX Master Class * Advanced Development with CFMX and SQL Server 2000 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 2:08 PM Subject: RE: [plum] How to Add a New Table Hi Jeff, I am not referring to "application bugs and fixes" but DOCUMENTATION. This is what any user comes to depend on when they have a question "How do I do that?" Find the answer in the online Help Docs. It doesn't make practical sense to me to place a caveat on Plum "Read the Help files, but don't believe them until you check the Release Notes." Release Notes--to me at least--have always referred to the FUNCTION of the program/application, not ONLINE Help Docs. Printed Docs are another thing. But here we have the distinct advantage of being able to correct an error NOW, or improve the clarity of an instruction NOW. Updateable online docs have the power to eliminate problems before a user ever encounters one. Had your discovery of the Add New Table "bug" been changed in the online documentation months ago I would never have had a problem this morning. I can see the online Docs as also bring attention to a functional bug with a published work-around. Then reading the Help I'd know how to do what I needed to do now, and then when Adam and David modify the program code to eliminate the bug, they can also update the online documentation to remove the work-around instruction. Dan -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jeff Fleitz Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 1:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [plum] How to Add a New Table Hi Dan, All changes and bug fixes are aleady documented with each release. You can find these in the 'Release Notes' in the Plum Help file. I have found these to be adequate for me, but if you find this approach lacking, I think Adam and David would listen to any good suggestions. Best, Jeff Dan wrote: > Would it be appropriate then to recommend that Documentation and Help > Topics be a "downloable Update" > > Adam and David could, upon verification on their end that a Doc item > should be changed, make that change to a "working copy" of the Doc's and > then make that file downloadable for self-installation/update to a > user's Plum IDE. > > > > This way as "simple" issues, but bottlenecks never-the-less, in the > Documentation come up, they can be "fixed" right away so all past, > present, and future users of Plum will benefit. Since Adam and David > will control the "working file" for the Docs they in a sense are in > control of the Help we rely on within the application. > > > > > > Dan Kaufman > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *Jeff > Fleitz > *Sent:* Monday, May 16, 2005 1:26 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* RE: [plum] How to Add a New Table > > > > This is a known bug I reported a couple months ago. You are supposed to > be able to create a table manually, without using synchronize, You can > actually do this, but the validation messages make it painful. The > trick is to create the table, click off on another node, come back and > right click to add a new column, click off again. click on the table and > add the NewColumn field as the primary key. Once you do this, you > should be able to avoid error messages and rename the column to whatever > your primary key field is. Then you can add additional columns, > relations etc. fine after that. > > > > It's ugly to do, but doable. I am sure this will be on the list for 1.1 > fixes. > > > > > > Jeff > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of > *Tim Blankenship > *Sent:* Monday, May 16, 2005 1:07 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [plum] How to Add a New Table > > I agree. Maybe send Adam/David a request to clirify the > documentation about adding tables. > > On 5/16/05, *Dan* <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > > That's exactly what I ended up doing. But the Plum Help docs sure > don't seem to make that clear. In re-reading the Help on New Table > it does say ".adds a new table to your project." So I would guess > then that project in this sentence means your *.Plum project and NOT > your "what you are working on as is commonly referred to as a project" > > > > Assuming that this is in fact the case, I would recommend that the > Help docs at this point state (something like) "Before selecting New > Table from the Database node you must first have added/created the > table in your database. The database node Right-Click menu ONLY > adds an existing database table to your Plum project file." > > > > > > Dan > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] *On Behalf Of > *Tim Blankenship > *Sent:* Monday, May 16, 2005 12:50 PM > *To:* [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [plum] How to Add a New Table > > > > I don't think this feature works as you intend it to. I beleive the > table has to exist already in the database. > Create the table/columns etc on the database and synchronize the db. > > On 5/16/05, *Dan* < [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > > How do you Add a New Table to your database from the Plum IDE? > > > > In Plum IDE, I right-click on the Database node > > This gives me a NewTable form > > I enter the Table Name > > The Singular and Plural Labels > > > > But then ??? > > > > There are two boxes for the Primary Key, but are empty. > > I righ-click on "New Table" in the nodes tree and select New Column > and get > > > > "You must choose at least one column for this table's primary key. > Click OK to return to the form and correct the erro, or click Cancel > to cancel your changes." > > > > Don't know how to proceed ??? Can't add anything to the NewTable > form and can't Right-Click to add a new column. > > > > Can anyone help? > > > > > > > > > > Dan Kaufman > > > > > > > > //An Elephant Never Forgets// > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > > > -- > Tim Blankenship > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > www.vespri.com <http://www.vespri.com> > > > > > -- > Tim Blankenship > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > www.vespri.com <http://www.vespri.com> > ********************************************************************** You can subscribe to and unsubscribe from lists, and you can change your subscriptions between normal and digest modes here: http://www.productivityenhancement.com/support/DiscussionListsForm.cfm ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** You can subscribe to and unsubscribe from lists, and you can change your subscriptions between normal and digest modes here: http://www.productivityenhancement.com/support/DiscussionListsForm.cfm ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** You can subscribe to and unsubscribe from lists, and you can change your subscriptions between normal and digest modes here: http://www.productivityenhancement.com/support/DiscussionListsForm.cfm **********************************************************************
