Messages

1

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: I just lost my precious template

« on: March 08, 2018, 07:52:55 PM »

I'm done here for now. I will only wait for rejetto response.

2

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: I just lost my precious template

« on: March 08, 2018, 02:50:19 PM »

please don't be too harsh with Rejetto

I'm not trying to be harsh to anyone. Sometimes, feedback gets perceived as an aggression and I can't help with it.
I might be missing something due to language and cultural differences. As an IT person, I'm just trying to bring things for discussion once I see them broken.

anyone could take the code and make a fork on GitHub

We have one already. And I'm not on the level of dedication where I can spin my own fork and make sure it will live. Having too many forks, barely (if ever) supported, is not a healthy situation. I'll consider contribution into a fork only when the main project is dead.
And for my purposes it might even be better to start over with a different tech and set of features.

Speaking of hfs.tpl or default.tpl: there is no need for such file at all. The less files program touches on it's own - the less space for mistakes and data loss.
The program is already using internal template without it. And customized templates must be user-selected files.
Instead of [Edit..., Change file..., Restore default], there better be [New file..., Select file..., Edit..., Use internal template].
"Edit" is disabled for internal template. "New file" shows the dialog to save a new copy of default template and that's the only way the program will write template on a disk.
No need to touch anything on update. If the config gets damaged, the worst thing could happen is the program will go back to internal template.

Currently, the program is only saying "Customized template" in the bottom panel. Make it more useful by showing template filename there instead, or "internal template". Maybe even move the whole "HTML template" menu as the context menu of that line (currently it's just a shortcut for Edit), so that the current state and manipulation controls will be in a single place.

3

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: I just lost my precious template

« on: March 07, 2018, 07:02:51 PM »

I've seen that github repo already. Something that was supposed to become hfs 3.0. I hope that experiment is dead now - it was a move in the wrong direction, in my opinion. To the date, there must be better tools to make a file server and not sacrifice compactness and ease of use.

Sourceforge in 2018 is still a pile of garbage. I'm not interested to interact with projects hosted there.

4

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: I just lost my precious template

« on: March 07, 2018, 02:38:04 PM »

What I was supposed to find in those links?
Ok. I looked through the faq and all the pages linked from the wiki main page. The only conclusion is that the wiki is well outdated.

Open the "Menu" in HFS.
Select "Other options" and open "Edit HTML template".
Copy your HTML template and paste it over the HFS "HTML template".

- I think I remember this built-in editor in the old versions of hfs...

When hfs.tpl was the one and only template file, it must've been considered as user data and never overwritten by the app unless clearly requested.
When template selection was added, it should be as simple as this:

• create new template only on request at user-pointed location,
• there is no such thing as default location,
• make a clear indication of what file is currently used, if any...

then it on users/rejeto(creator) to help compile a more user intensive interface that may need a revamp

I hope this topic will raise his awareness of UX issues.
I can discuss it more and might contribute if the code will be on github.

5

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: I just lost my precious template

« on: March 07, 2018, 02:05:10 AM »

run hfs.exe and drag-drop "my template.tpl" on the root of file

That's extremely obvious (not) :/
My complaint is that the right and safe way to use the program is the least obvious one.
That's opposite of pit of success - pit of failure. And I fell into it.

To my understanding, drag-and-drop tpl file is equal to "Change file" option in menu - just write a path to tpl into config.
If I'm in Easy mode, nothing is telling me I can ever choose the template path.
If I'm in Expert mode, using the menu is actually a more clear way. But still, the program is promoting to edit the default template.

First, this is why we ask you to do a backup.

Where? Today is probably the first day I visit this forum. I have never seen such warnings in the program itself.

That's not the software auto doing.

Too bad.
The best update sequence I've seen in other apps is when updater is making an archive of all the stuff and keeps few such archives from recent updates.
Here it would be helpful not to try to overwrite existing files at least, unless asked directly. Give a warning if files are corrupted and unusable, but give a chance for user review.
Respect user data.

auto backup available on the jfs menu.

I can only see it for vfs (in two different places. what's the difference?).

(If you saved your vfs then you can recover your template.)

Even if I drag tpl into tree and save vfs, I can't see how to do this. Vfs file size is not changing after save whatever tpl I drop into it. The only thing updated after changing template path and exit is the ini file.

Never use the program update method!

Once again, how I supposed to know this before shit happens? Why the program is asking me to urgently update (due to security risks) through what turns out to be breaking mechanism and neither making nor asking to make backups?

The update via program will leave you with a has.old, check there.

To this point, it have overwriten ~temp.vfs.bak file already. Typical issue with single backup. Numbered backups would've saved from that.

Witch is why it says in the default template to not edit this file...

Can't remember if that was in the old template back when I started to customize it.
In the new ("Macro") default template, it has VERY misleading note. Essentially it says where to go to customize special flags.

6

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / I just lost my precious template

« on: March 06, 2018, 05:54:10 PM »

... and I'm really upset now.

That happened with the upgrade to 2.3k or drapid github version. (Can't exclude ssd issues too, who knows...)
hfs.tpl file got truncated somehow. I only left with JS code, that was making the most of head tag. At least something - it's the most complex part and the rest could be recreated relatively simple, although still will take some time I wasn't meant to spend on it.

Backup, always topic is the sad one.
I will not come to the support forum unless I already got an issue.
If this piece of software is meant to fail, then make it fail safe. Make automatic backups before dangerous operations. Don't promote default template editing, instead, provide the way to store and select from multiple templates.

UPD: looks like RD version has serious unicode-related issues. It also produces broken default tpl file. Although the unicode is what made me to try it in the first place.