Directory Structure and Design Features of DA

Hi,

I want to ask a couple of questions in the hopes you might change course on these issues in upcoming releases. I don't mean this to come off as an angry complaint, but I think these are important issues.

First, why is the new Data Bridge creating the directories WA_DataAssist and WADbSearch. Weren't these, like all new extensions, supposed to get moved into the /webassist directory. I was looking forward to the consolidation of all these directories that was previously promised.

Second, I find the design of the DataAssist Pages wizard to be overly complex. While there are some cool features, the only gripe I ever had with ADDT was the complex layout making it sometimes hard to fit their forms into a wide variety of different applications. The old DataAssist form layout was fairly simple. This allowed me to fit the form into almost any template and restructure it easily when needed. The new forms that the wizard spits out are much harder to restructure and control. I think the table free layout feels slicker and the way buttons are generated is nice, but versatility is the real goal here.

While I think simpler would be better here, integration with form designer or additional layout controls may also serve as an answer to this issue.

Just wanted to get that out there. I think I am going to have to abandon the wizard for anything but the results table and build my own forms for now.

Hi Neo,

What aspects of the new Data Assist are creating the old directories?

My Data Bridge is creating a database_management folder under webassist. Everything is nicely consolidated (apart from eCart obviously).

Cheers
Ian

It generated that directory as well, but also these other directories for search and styling I the. I used the database pages wizard.

The wizards are handy..i rarely use them but only started using them in the new databridge for a quick turnaround on a project..usually i just use the server behaviour panels.

i guess with the wizards being complex, this could be a benefit for some people if they require certain things that a simple wizard just cant allow them to do.

with regard to the file structure, I find that it creates everything neatly into one directory, consolidating everything together which is perfect :) I havent experienced it creating duplicate directories that mimic the older way of how the webassist products split their files.

and as for ADDT, I hated the way it created its directory structure. its a fair time ago now, but I think it was the same before Adobe purchased the company that produced them. I hated them since they always created unwanted files that I wasnt using for the product. at least Webassist only creates the files that are needed for a particular behaviour (such as encrypted passwords, it will only create the encryption file that you requested.

It is interesting though to learn how some users are having problems, when others like myself dont have any problems with the software working. I do wonder why as I dont have anything special on my computer.

Chris

I just used the wizard and it added these old style directories. The rest of the site is still an ADDT site except for the WYSIWYG editor. Plus I searched the site to confirm the new wizard created the directories.

I ofen just build my own forms and use the server behavior panel for most complex of unique operations, but the wizard is nice and a great time saver for spitting out basic table/recordset management (and if we get row sorting, even more useful). ADDT was undeniably heavy (though still consolidated to the includes directory).

What I liked with the old WADA is that it was easy to to customize and to use in a variety of layouts. This new wizard is feeling more like ADDT where the layout is very specific and with so many dependent elements that adjusting it is cumbersome at best and perhaps impossible. (listen to me I am reminiscing about what I used 2 days ago). I am going to have to go back to designing my own forms for the mos basic operations and I think that is going in the wrong direction.

I'm not referring to the complexity of the wizard. I referring to the complexity of the layout that makes it hard to customize. I'm looking for the wizard to spit out a simple set of pages/forms for database management that I can manipulate easily. The only complexity I want is in tools that make the functionality of the pages better (lightbox delete, row sorting, etc). This is what appealed to me about WA in the first place. While I missed many features of ADDT, what I did not miss when I changed to WA was the clean simplicity of the layout for customization which was a nightmare with ADDT.

It would be nice if an edit design option would be added inside DA wizard to edit/modify the layout/design of every page created by DA wizard. This should be the same for SecurityAsiist, but i have been informed the SA will be embedded inside DA in the future. It would be nice to have this simple CSS design option inside then. I think it should be possible to link to FormBuilders design tools from within the wizard someway, right?
(I'm not talking about re-entering the form pages after creation)

Yes, this is a very logical and likely addition.