Can you fix that?
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Ed note: This is in regards to a web app -- Ling
Client: one of the issues is that the file must always have the same name, even if you export it 10 times. Now it will have a number in brackets behind the file name if you export it more than one times can you fix that?
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Well, can you?
It sounds like a perfectly reasonable business question to me. If the data is different in each file, then the business requirement probably needs some negotiation with the client' that doesn't fully appreciate what he's asked for but it's not a WTF to ask the question.
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The point is that it is because the user saved this file once before in the directory the browser/OS is prompting to save as filename(1).wtf
It's a n00bie question... I thought wtf that's funny
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WTF rule #1: If you fail to properly explain why your WTF is a WTF, you're TRWTF.
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@derula said:
WTF rule #1: If you fail to properly explain why your WTF is a WTF, you're TRWTF.
Agreed. After reading the OP's initial post I was "huh what?")As a suggestion to the user, I'd say your best bet is to tell them to delete te file each time before trying to download it again. That should fix it. Do explain it's not within your control though, but focus on giving them a solution that they can understand.
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@RogerWilco said:
@derula said:
Make sure that the solution involves slamming his dick in a drawer at least six times every download. Hopefully he has to download the file about 12 times a day.WTF rule #1: If you fail to properly explain why your WTF is a WTF, you're TRWTF.
Agreed. After reading the OP's initial post I was "huh what?")As a suggestion to the user, I'd say your best bet is to tell them to delete te file each time before trying to download it again. That should fix it. Do explain it's not within your control though, but focus on giving them a solution that they can understand.
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@belgariontheking said:
Make sure that the solution involves slamming his dick in a drawer at least six times every download. Hopefully he has to download the file about 12 times a day.
I am amused to the sentiment of "lol you owe me a keyboard".
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@derula said:
WTF rule #1: If you fail to properly explain why your WTF is a WTF, you're TRWTF.
Can you explain that? Otherwise, according to your rule, you're TRWTF.
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They want it to overwrite instead of prompting to rename. How much simpler does it need to be?
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@Evo said:
@derula said:
WTF rule #1: If you fail to properly explain why your WTF is a WTF, you're TRWTF.
Can you explain that? Otherwise, according to your rule, you're TRWTF.
WTF rule #2: WTF rules apply only to WTFs, not to the WTF rules themselves.
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@hawaii50 said:
Client: one of the issues is that the file must always have the same name, even if you export it 10 times. Now it will have a number in brackets behind the file name if you export it more than one times can you fix that?
I'm assuming this is for a web app, and you have no control over the actual filesystem then?
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@jchannell said:
@hawaii50 said:
Client: one of the issues is that the file must always have the same name, even if you export it 10 times. Now it will have a number in brackets behind the file name if you export it more than one times can you fix that?
I'm assuming this is for a web app, and you have no control over the actual filesystem then?
It's probably on an embedded system.
ducks
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@jchannell said:
I'm assuming this is for a web app, and you have no control over the actual filesystem then?
exactely it is a csv export of a db, to be download locally...
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@hawaii50 said:
exactely it is a csv export of a db, to be download locally...
Fixed your OP.
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Is there a reason it's a WTF when a client doesn't know as much about the technical aspects of the solution as the developer he hired? I mean, isn't that the whole reason the client hired the developer in the first place? A customer having a lousy computer literacy level isn't a WTF in itself; a developer who fails to ask what level of technical skill the customer has and set things up accordingly is.
On the other hand, if the customer claimed to be an ubergeek computer power user extraordinaire, and then failed to understand something simple, they're the WTF. But that isn't specified here.
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@PeriSoft said:
Is there a reason it's a WTF when a client doesn't know as much about the technical aspects of the solution as the developer he hired? I mean, isn't that the whole reason the client hired the developer in the first place? A customer having a lousy computer literacy level isn't a WTF in itself; a developer who fails to ask what level of technical skill the customer has and set things up accordingly is.
On the other hand, if the customer claimed to be an ubergeek computer power user extraordinaire, and then failed to understand something simple, they're the WTF. But that isn't specified here.
point taken I take back my WTF and replace it with a simple *palm smack* :)
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@hawaii50 said:
[quote user="PeriSoft"]
Is there a reason it's a WTF when a client doesn't know as much about the technical aspects of the solution as the developer he hired? I mean, isn't that the whole reason the client hired the developer in the first place? A customer having a lousy computer literacy level isn't a WTF in itself; a developer who fails to ask what level of technical skill the customer has and set things up accordingly is.
On the other hand, if the customer claimed to be an ubergeek computer power user extraordinaire, and then failed to understand something simple, they're the WTF. But that isn't specified here.
point taken I take back my WTF and replace it with a simple palm smack :)
[/quote]
Actually, there is a WTF here. The WTF is web "applications". We keep pretending that web applications can be as functional as native applications and inventing new hacks to overcome the impedence mismatch between the needs of a web browser designer and the needs of an application designer. Now we are surprised when a user assumes that a web browser is an arbitrary application platform and asks for a feature that is truely outside the capabilities of any web browser that plans on containing malware for the next thirty minutes.
Of course, some idiot is going to build a browser plug-in for customizable file saves and the entire world is going to have to live with another layer of "yesterday's hacks are today's standards" on top of HTML.
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@Jaime said:
We keep pretending that web applications can be as functional as native applications and inventing new hacks to overcome the impedence mismatch between the needs of a web browser designer and the needs of an application designer. Now we are surprised when a user assumes that a web browser is an arbitrary application platform and asks for a feature that is truely outside the capabilities of any web browser that plans on containing malware for the next thirty minutes.
... and with new browsers like Mozilla Prisim that make it a specific point to blur that line by helping to make a web application act like a desktop app the problem will only get worse.
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@Jaime said:
and asks for a feature that is truely outside the capabilities of any web browser that plans on containing malware for the next thirty minutes.
Of course, some idiot is going to build a browser plug-in for customizable file saves and the entire world is going to have to live with another layer of "yesterday's hacks are today's standards" on top of HTML.Just about every (native) application I've ever used behaves the same when I save a file. If I click on "save" it over-writes an existing file with the same name. If I click on "save as" and enter a name that is the same as an existing file, it asks me if I want to over-write the existing file. On the other hand, if I use Firefox to download a file and a file with the same name already exists in the download location, Firefox automagically renames the file to filename(1) with no prompt or indication that it is going to do this. Forgive my ignorance, but is there really a technical limitation that prevents a web browser from saving a file the same way that a native application does?
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@El_Heffe said:
Firefox automagically renames the file to filename(1) with no prompt or indication that it is going to do this. Forgive my ignorance, but is there really a technical limitation that prevents a web browser from saving a file the same way that a native application does?
I seem to remember IE4 or something doing that, but with square brackets and even when the file doesn't already exist.
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Okay, crazy idea...
... try out some various Download Managers, and see if you can find one that allows what you need + integrates with Firefox?
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@El_Heffe said:
@Jaime said:
and asks for a feature that is truely outside the capabilities of any web browser that plans on containing malware for the next thirty minutes.
Of course, some idiot is going to build a browser plug-in for customizable file saves and the entire world is going to have to live with another layer of "yesterday's hacks are today's standards" on top of HTML.Just about every (native) application I've ever used behaves the same when I save a file. If I click on "save" it over-writes an existing file with the same name. If I click on "save as" and enter a name that is the same as an existing file, it asks me if I want to over-write the existing file. On the other hand, if I use Firefox to download a file and a file with the same name already exists in the download location, Firefox automagically renames the file to filename(1) with no prompt or indication that it is going to do this. Forgive my ignorance, but is there really a technical limitation that prevents a web browser from saving a file the same way that a native application does?
Yes. A native application can do pretty much anything. Some common examples include:
- Save the previous path used and open the dialog to that folder. A web browser will do this, but it won't keep the last path for this app, it will keep the last path used by any web browser session.
- Allow an application setting to force an intial directory. This setting be stored in one of many persistence stores.
- Allow a silent overwrite.
- Refuse to overwrite existing files.
- Auto-suggest a file name that is available using any algorithm.
A web app cannot control the file save dialog nearly as much as a native app. The main reason is that web browsers need to protect users from malicious sites, so they prevent the web application from accessing local files.
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@jchannell said:
Okay, crazy idea... ... try out some various Download Managers, and see if you can find one that allows what you need + integrates with Firefox?
Yay. So now the web application works properly with exactly one browser, and even then, only with a specific plug-in installed. Also, the user needs to use this download manager for all downloads, not for just this application.
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@belgariontheking said:
Make sure that the solution involves slamming his dick in a drawer at least six times every download. Hopefully he has to download the file about 12 times a day.
This is quite possibly one of the most disturbing posts in the history of TDWTF... remind me to never ask you for a "solution".
