My experiences with tellico, a few bugs and possible enhancements

[Robby Stephenson]

On Monday 19 February 2007, Jens Seidel wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 18, 2007 at 07:23:45PM -0800, Robby Stephenson wrote:
> > On Sunday 18 February 2007, Jens Seidel wrote:
> > > * Once a collection vanished tellico complains that it cannot open
> > > it. This error occurs not only once but on each start!
> >
> > So you're repeatedly trying to open a file that doesn't exist? Why?
> > Once you
>
> Tellico opens the last opened file per default on each start. Maybe
> tellico should warn the user only the first time that it cannot open the
> file. During the next start it could retry to open it (maybe the user
> just forgot to mount a filesystem the first time and now it works again)
> and if it fails again tellico should not display the same error "file not
> " "found" again.

OK, I see. That would probably involve just another config setting about 
whether or not the previous file was loaded successfully. Or alternatively, 
maybe if it is not loaded successfully, then it shouldn't be repeated at 
all on next load.

> > Turn the option "Include images in data file" on then. That location is
> > the default location for the images when they're not in the data file.
> > It
>
> OK, but you could use a symlink to the original files, right?

I haven't tried that. A symlink to the data/ directory would undoubtedly 
work, but I'm not sure how the KDE libraries handle saving to a symlink 
file. In other words, I don't know if they will overwrite the symlink or 
the file that the symlink points to.

> > > I tried to open
> > >   the collection from another user account and tellico did not found
> > > any of my pictures. Why do you do not save just the filenames instead
> > > of a hash?
> >
> > What if you opened it from another machine, how would it get the
> > pictures
>
> Than I need of course to copy my files too and possible fix all paths
> via sed in the XML file.

There aren't any paths in the XML file for the images, just the image name. 
When the file is loaded, Tellico looks first in the data file for an image 
with that name, then looks in the ~/.kde/share/apps/tellico/data/ 
directory.

And incidently, the name of the image file doesn't matter. A hash is used as 
a weak guarantee of uniqueness, but if you did a search/replace and renamed 
them to your current name, Tellico wouldn't change it back.

> Assume I 
> want to share the pictures with the old names independent of tellico;
> because you rename these I either have to keep both image directories or
> delete my original files (to save disk space) and remember the tellico
> <--> original file name mapping (probably via a script).
>
> > improves load time greatly, believe me.
>
> Really? I thought I read the opposite is true. I will check it ...

No, you're right. My thoughts weren't coming out clear in my writing there. 
It is much faster, as you note, to keep the images separate. Especially 
with your 1 MB images...

> > > * The XML file uses the tag <scott>. Nevertheless my stamp collection
> > > doesn't use scott catalog numbers (I don't know these), but Michel
> > > ones (which are protected by copyright, grml!!! Any solution to
> > > this?). Why not use <catalog_number>?
> >
> > Because a Scott number is not a Michel number. If you called the
>
> Indeed, that's why I suggest to use a more general name. Please note
> that the German translation of "Scott#" is just "catalog nr.".

Oh, that might not be the best thing, then.

> > add it. I don't know anything about stamp collecting. I looked at a few
> > other stamp collection databases, tried to figrue out what fields they
> > included, and add those for Tellico. If Michel is a popular cataloging
>
> According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_catalog:
> "The numbering system used by Scott to identify stamps is dominant among
> stamp collectors in the United States."
>
> I live outside the United States.

Right. :) So perhaps the default field could be locale dependent?

> I mean the following:
> Assume you have a field called "myfield" which supports plural forms. Now
> the user creates another field with name "myfields". I wonder whether
> this could be a conflict (tellico doesn't check this).

I see. You're right, there's no check for that. I'm not sure what kind of 
mayhem would result.

> > Or just what the word denomination means with regard to stamps
> > and coins?
>
> Yep. Your current solution "denomination refers to the monetary value."
> is fine, thanks.

Good!

Robby