Gardener's Journal Beta Test Discussion

Please use this thread for all discussions pertaining to the beta test of the Gardener's Journal.

I found a bug. The details:
1) I added a catagory call "How to grow weeds"
2) I added a catagory call "test"
3) looked around a little
4) I typed in "test" again and submitted it. I received a response that the catagory had already been created.
5) looked around
6) back at catagory I used the pull down menu and clicked on "How to grow weeds" then clicked submit.
7) It appeared to take it. I refreshed the catagory screen
8) When I pull down the menu now "How to grow weeds" is gone. In its place is a blank line.

Hope I wasn't to detailed.
Sari

An error this time. details:
1) created catagory called "How to kill common garden plants"
2) added item under it called "I love a brown and black garden"
3) clicked "Add to" received the following:
Fatal error: Failed opening required '/www/garden/include/ls_date_time_picker.inc' (include_path='') in /www/garden/www/editgj/addtoentry.php on line 2

You are deleting this entries before rollout right?!? Your not going to kick me out for find errors are you? LOL!!

see my second entry. I have since went to view and then selected add item. Got the same error.

If you go to add new item type nothing and submit it creates a blank line in your entries. You are able to delete it and return everything to normal. Worth fixing?

Another, Here's the Details:
1) Select "View Items"
2) Click on any of the entries and you get the following error message:
Not Found

The requested URL /editgj/editentry.php was not found on this server.


Apache/1.3.14 Server at davesgarden.com Port 80

Just barely got into it, but when I entered the category "annuals" I misspelled it and wanted to go back and correct it, but it was somehow deleted and then left a blank line space. I could type in annuals again but it appeared after several blank line spaces. Clear as mud, right?

Question:
Dave on the "Main Page" all I get is:
Welcome to your Gardener's Journal, Sari

Please use the "Journal Menu" on the right side of these pages to navigate through the Gardener's Journal.

and all the stuff on the right side of the screen. Shouldn't I see "stuff" in the middle of the screen? If not what is the purpose of the "Main Page"?

BTW I clicked on every entry on the right side of the screen and all of them worked.

Found "fix" to my first entry.
1) under new categories I used the pull down menu to select the black line.
2) I then typed in "trying to fix" and submitted it
3) Now when I look at categories the blank line is gone and I have an category titled "trying to fix"

There doesn't appear to be a way to delete a category.

When adding a new item you are asked to enter any initial comment you want. Problem: I never see those initial comments again.

Does the person that finds the most problem win a trip to Disney.com? LOL!!!!

I Entered a category and when I went to view it I got the same fatal error that Sari got. Also when I tried to edit that category, same thing.

Thanks everyone - this is excellent feedback! We're finding all the errors and I'll be able to fix them all quickly.

First thing in the morning I will address each of these issues one by one. I already fixed Sari's 10:18 PM problem.

But for now, Dave sleeps. :)

Dave

Sari, I fixed the 10:33 PM bug - it won't accept blank names anymore.

Sari again: Regarding the 10:10 PM post - were the categories too hard to figure out initially, causing you to have to play around with it until you figured out how it worked? How can I make the categories more friendly and intuitive to manage?

Sari's 10:36 PM bug is fixed.

Lantana's 10:37 PM: These was caused by several bugs in the categories area. I should have them all fixed now. I also cleaned up the database so all blank categories are removed.

Sari's 10:44 PM: The main page will be used later for a special purpose (report generation, etc) but for right now is empty. It will be filled with useful information later.

Sari's 10:52 PM: Deleting a category... This is a sticky situation. What if you have several items under a particular category, and then you delete that category? What happens to the items? Right now, if you change the name of the category, it will simply recategorize everything that was under that category to whatever the new name is. Let me know what your thoughts are on this.

Sari's 10:55 PM: Problem solved. It's in the viewentry page now.

Sari 11:01 PM: No, but if that was the case, you would win. ;-)

gardener_mick's 11:11 PM: should be all fixed with the above.

Dave

Okay, all bugs should be caught up by now. Please play with it some more and see how it looks.

PS: You can also go to:

http://davesgarden.com/gj/dave/index.html

to view my own journal. This might give you some ideas of what I am doing. This page is, of course, still extremely rough around the edges, but the data is there to look at.

Keep those bug reports and comments coming! This is how we improve on the thing!

Dave

I have had several problems in a few minutes. I created four catagories. I added 4 new items, each with a different catagory. No matter which category I selected, they all showed up with the last category I had created.

Problem 2: I tried to upload an image and got 2 warning messages.

Warning: Unable to create /www/garden/www/gjpics/2001-01-05_20_13 rand 772.jpg No such file or directory in (www/garden/www/editgj/addto entry.php on lin 62 failed to copy /www/garden/www/gjpics/2001-01-05_20_13 rand 772.jpg

Warning: Cannot add header information-headers already sent by (output started at /www/garden/www/editgj/addtoentry.php:62) in /www/garden/www/editgj/addtoentry.php on line 114

Sharon

Sharon,

Regarding problem 2: That was a serious bug that hadn't been found before because you're the first to upload an image since I began the beta test.

It should be fixed now - will you it again?

Regarding problem 1: I need to do some research on this. I'll get back to you on it.

Dave,

That time it took the image with no problem.

Sharon

Okay, I fixed problem #1. Sorry for the error - I introduced this bug while fixing another this morning. :(

Soon to come - I'm going to make an edit feature for each item, so you can change the category, etc. For now, you'll have to just delete the entry and re-create it with the proper category.

Dave

Dave,

The categories are working now. Will there be an entry area for the sceintific name as in our have list and the plant database?

Sharon

scientific name - yes. several new feature requests have come in to my mind, and this is one of them.

I think the finished product is going to be very different than what we've been testing here. Much more work for me to do here.

Please keep those reports and feature requests coming!

Thanks,
Dave

Dave,

I just tried typing in a hyper link in the add to section. It didn't recognize it has a hyper link as in message threads or plant database.

Sharon

That's the kind of feedback I'm looking for - keep it coming.

I'll get the hyperlinks put in.

Dave

The 10:10pm bug was half lets see what happens and half confusion about what should happen. I thought that when I did what I did it would take me to the category I had selected.

After thinking about "categories" last night and today here's what I see as "problems.
The setup:
A) under the journal menu the entry is "categories"
B) on the categories screen the title is "Editing your Categories"
C) on the surface items 1 & 2 don't seem to be a problem BUT

1)You can not edit categories or anything else on the "Editing your Categories" screen. You can only add more categories. So why is it called "Editing your Categories"?

2) The line above the pull down menu says "Select the category you are editing...". Again I say there is nothing to edit. I do realize that you can change the name of a category but I would not call that "editing". Yes, I know it actually is "editing" but it is confusing. Does that make sense?

Dave,
You didn't respond to my 10:55pm issue. What happens to my "initial comments"? Should they show up on the "Viewing all Items"?

What is the purpose of RID and why do you display it? on the "Viewing all Items" screen?

Regarding the 10:55 issue - I did answer it:

"Sari's 10:55 PM: Problem solved. It's in the viewentry page now."

The viewentry is the page where all the entries for a particular item are displayed. The initial comment is in italics at the top of the page.

The RID is simply the "Resource ID". This is an internal number used for tracking. Each item in the journal (yours and everyone else's) has a unique identifier - an RID.

You can then use the RID to easily reference an individual item. Here's why I put the RID in a visible area:

This spring I'm going to be starting seeds. So, say I start seeds for my federle tomato.

I go to the journal and create an entry for the federle tomato. Then I take note of the RID that the journal assigned my federle tomato.

When I sow the seeds, I write down (on the plant market) "Federle/XXXX" where XXXX is the RID number for this batch.

Then, as I take notes on what this batch of federle tomato seeds are doing, I will be able to easily locate the item in the journal through the RID.

this will be especially important whenever I have several different batches going of the same kind of seed.

Dave

Question?
If I enter the following categories annuals, herbs, nitrogen fixers, perennials, shrubs, trees, veggies, and wildflowers. They are going to be listed alphabetically. While I will be making entries for all of the categories the ones I will be using the most are the shrubs, trees, nitrogen fixers, and wildflowers categories. Is there a way to move them to the top? Without putting an "A" infront of them? LOL!
Let say that under "Trees" I have an item call "Apple tree cuttings" lets now say that all the cuttings die. I don't want to delete that item but nor due I want it to be the top item in my category. How can I move it to the bottom? And how can I move the items I use a lot to the top?

Can I move an item from say "Annuals" to "Herbs"?
Can I let someone VIEW one of my categories?

All excellent questions and (in disguise) feature requests.

Right now none of these are possible, but they will be.

I've copied your note into my TODO and will address this soon.

Dave

Dave, It was a big help to see your setup. I think that it is really neat to be able to journal with pictures. It will really help in the planning. I haven't been able to find any more bugs, but I just got home from work and am now going to play for a while.

Dave, How come your categories and items are listed like they are? When I go in to view mine, it looks different. Is there a way that I can veiw it like that if I wanted to?

Dave, can you put a column sorter on the veiwing items page so that we can sort by the colums like in the plant database? Please... Thanks for everything you have done so far. I can see this as being a great help.