----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 1:18
PM
Subject: RE: GBS requirements
These are both good ideas, and have been submitted
before.
I understand what they are asking for here, but
no. You can load .dbf files from any directory. LocalDB
and the .mdb files contained therein should be opaque to the user.
In fact, if we ever went SQL/Oracle, there wouldn't be a LocalDB or .mdb
files.
That said, I will offer a
consolation. Every time I open an bugtrack email with an attached
GEMS .dbf file, I swear to myself that I'll add the ability to just double
click the file and have GEMS launch and load. Then I copy the file,
fix the bug, and forget about it until I receive the next bugtrack
attachment.
I'll try to get this in the next release,
but there is a cost. The current extension for GEMS backup files is
".dbf", which believe it or not was a very unfortunate type-o in the very
first GEMS release. It was supposed to be ".gdf", for
GEMS dump file. It would be bad etiquette to associate GEMS backups with
the .dbf file type, since that extension is universally accepted
as the old dBase-II file format.
Turns out that .gdf files are also "Geographic Data
Files", which very well could conflict with a County's GIS department.
There just aren't enough TLAs. I propose ".gbf", or GEMS backup
file. We haven't called them a dump for a while now due to the Beavis
and Butthead giggles.
Now, this change is going to take some effort on
support's part. Once a file extension is out there, there is no getting
rid of them. That's why nothing has ever been done about it. The
transition plan would be to change the file extension generated by backup to
.gbf, and change the load dialog to display both .dbf and .gbf files.
Register your complaints in the follow-ups, but this really needs to get done
at some point.
This one I don't
follow. Races run in a district. If they want to suppress
races on an SOVC, set up a reporting set. If they want to suppress
report precincts, set up a district.
Ken