On Thu, Jan 23, 2003 at 01:52:03PM -0000, Dave Hooper wrote:
> > It'd really hard for fred to die (the only case I know being internal
> > JVM errors) without catching the exception and at least using its
> > built-in exception handler.  I'd give the developers some credit and
> > try parsing logs.
> 
> It's actually easier to just probe the ports; plus it will always work -
> this includes JVM errors and unhandled exceptions.  We've had these
> before, remember.  I do give the developers credit, lots of it in fact
> because freenet is clearly a powerful and well-design system.  But I tend
> to design everything defensively.  With a background in telecoms and
> embedded devices it's understandable why!
> 
> > This could be done as well, but I think much better info can be had
> > from the logs.  Although...  One could execute the FCP command to get
> > info from the node, and use that info for some sort of (very-) mini
> > status.
> 
> True, but ... maybe later.  Or if someone else wants to augment
> freenet.exe on windows, they could look into that.  All I need is
> essentially a visual cue to say, yes the web interface is running, or no
> the web interface is not running.  Yes I can connect to the FNP port, or
> no I can't.  Any sort of FCP transaction is bigger than I need and doesn't
Not the FNP port, the web interface port :)
> catch situations (should they ever arise, and I hope not but I tend to
> design defensively) such as fred thinking the web interface is ok but
> user-mode software is unable to connect to it.
> I hope you can see my viewpoint here.  Maybe some things are trivially
> obvious in certain circles but the majority Windows users generally don't
> care about 'status reports' - they want to know whether it's supposed to
> be working or not.  Inquisitive users will then try to find out 'why'.  UI
> guideline: don't present the user with too much information when it is not
> required.
> 
> Consider ICQ on Windows.  The icon provides visual cues for connection
> mode, connection success, online status etc.  The icon does not say 'yeh,
> well, I tried to connect but the server said '0x7a' and this means the
> local ICQ client is too old and is also behind an incorrectly configured
> firewall' - the icon says 'Connection failed'.
> If the user wants more information, they read the ICQ connection logs
> which are available from the ICQ client app.
> 
> It's just the done thing for Win apps.  The logfile is always available,
> and it's just a click away from the freenet toolbar icon.  The icon status
> is a no-click visual indicator of configuration success and runtime
> progress.  It's impossible to display a 'mini-status' in a 16x16 icon. 
> The underlying software *could* parse the logs but when it's easier not to
> and there's no immediate benefits, I find it hard to see the point.  Plus
> I only have a modest amount of free time to work on freenet software.
> 
> d
> 

-- 
Matthew Toseland
[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED]
Full time freenet hacker.
http://freenetproject.org/
Freenet Distribution Node (temporary) at http://amphibian.dyndns.org:8889/I3mGXPd6zTA/
ICTHUS.

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