“It’s hard enough to find an error in your code when you’re looking for it; it’s even harder when you’ve assumed your code is error-free.”
— Steve McConnell
Now that we have completed all of the parts for the initial set-up process of our new Scoped Application, it’s time to take a step back and see where things stand. On the one hand, after 16 captivating installments, you would think that we would be much further along in this process beyond just the initial set-up. On the other hand, this is a fairly complex endeavor, and it’s good to get this necessary administrative function out of the way so that we can focus on the actual purpose of the application. But before we jump right into that, we should first have quick look at what we have and what we don’t have at this point.
What we have is an initial version of the set-up process for both the Host instance and the Client instances. Now all of this needs to be fully tested in multiple scenarios, but even if we manage to kill all of the bugs that are undoubtedly baked in there at this stage of the game, as it is written, it assumes for the most part that all will go well every time. What I mean by that is that there isn’t a whole lot of error recovery built into the process right now. Everything seems to work if all of the instances are up and running when contacted. That’s not really good enough for prime time, though, as it is always possible that one or more instances might be unavailable or off-line for some reason. At some point, we will have to build in some processes to monitor for that and to deal with it in some way. Right now, if you fail to get some kind of update from the Host, you just don’t get it. That’s not really good enough in the long run, but my approach is always to get things working first, and then add such features later in a future version. Maybe we will even handle that using Event Management, although not everyone has that feature activated, so maybe that’s not a good plan after all.
There are other features that I would like to add as well. For example, it would be nice if each participating instance had some form of logo or image that would visually identify them and all of the items that they have shared with the community. Things like that are nice-to-haves, though, so again, we’ll deal with that later. At this point, I just want to make sure that what we have put together so far actually works the way that it was intended before we go any further.
I also want all of the menu options hidden until set-up is complete, and then once set-up has been completed, I would like the set-up option to be hidden. I haven’t thrown that in there just yet, either, but that’s something that I don’t want to forget to do once I am sure that everything is working as it should be.
Not too long ago, I had an offer to assist with the testing of this particular project. Normally, I like to do all of my own testing, but they say that programmers are the worst testers of their own code, so I’m going to break with tradition and go ahead and put out an Update Set for this app that is clearly not finished and basically not good for anything of value at this point. If anyone want to participate in this effort, all that I ask is that you post any defects that you uncover to the comments section so that I can see if I can’t get them resolved and put out a new version with the corrections.
So, here’s the deal: gather up your friends and neighbors and come up with some strategy to see who draws the short straw and serves as the Host instance, set up the Host first, and then everyone else jump in and set up their Client instances by referencing the Host. This can work with just two instances, but to see the existing instance updates for any new instance, you will need at least three (one for the Host, one for the new Client, and at least one for an existing Client). Four our more would be even better, but three will at least test all of the current features. When all is said and done, everyone’s list of member instances should match, unless something went terribly wrong along the way. And if you really want to put yourself out there, you can set up a Host instance and put your instance ID in the comments so that other people that you don’t even know can attempt to connect to your instance. Your call.
To install this version of the Collaboration Store (we’ll call it version 0.1), you will need this Update Set, which contains the Scoped Application, and you will also need the latest version of snh-form-fields, which you can find here. Install the form fields Update Set first, and then install the Scoped Application. At that point, you should be good to go and should be able to click on the set-up menu option at any time. I’ll let this sit out here for a while and see if anything comes of it. Thanks in advance for helping a guy out. It’s very much appreciated.
