* * * * *
Hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches and paperclips
> From: "Smirk" <{{
[email protected]}}>
> To: spc@{{pick.net}} (email @ work)
> Subject: ip address stuff
> Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:41:49 -0400 (EDT)
>
> Hi Sean,
>
> I like the IP (Internet Protocol) (Internet Protocol) address layout you
> are using. Could you add some features?
>
> * add a location feild (boca, charlotte, other building, etc)
> * add a contact name & number field
> * add a subnet field
> * add a checkbox for each record that would allow one to tuplicate info
> from one box to many, or to clear all data for unassigning:
>
> * i.e. duplicate all info from row x.x.x.x to selected boxes
>
> * unassign all checked boxes
>
>
> The check box column should have one checkbox in the column header that
> would toggle all other checkboxes on or off.
>
> -S
>
I spent the day working on what I thought would be something quick.
The first order of business was to get the webpage (mentioned above by Smirk)
to send the information it had back to the server. And that's when I started
running into some real issues (and let me just state for the record that so
far I'm not a fan of JavaScript [1]). Issues with tool use (specifically,
software tools) and user expectations.
The IP files I edit look something like this:
> 192.168.1.0 00:00:00:00:00:00 Obnoxico & Co. network
> 192.168.1.1 DE:CA:FE:BA:D0:01 managed switch
> 192.168.1.2 | their stuff ...
> 192.168.1.3 |
> 192.168.1.4 |
> 192.168.1.5 |
> 192.168.1.6 |
> 192.168.1.7 FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF Obnoxico & Co broadcast
>
Nice and easy to read. Vertical columns nicely arranged. But each column
isn't nicely delineated in the actual “text.” Here, let me do a “reveal
codes” and I'll show you:
> 192.168.1.0→00:00:00:00:00:00→Obnoxico & Co. network↵
> 192.168.1.1→DE:CA:FE:BA:D0:01→managed switch↵
> 192.168.1.2→→|→→their stuff ... ↵
> 192.168.1.3→→|↵
> 192.168.1.4→→|↵
> 192.168.1.5→→|↵
> 192.168.1.6→→|↵
> 192.168.1.7→FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF→Obnoxico & Co broadcast↵
>
The right arrows (→) represent the HT (Horizontal Tab) character, and the
crooked arrow (↵) represents the end of line marker (under Unix, this is a
single character LF (Line Feed) whereas under Windows, this would be the two
character sequence CR (Carriage Return) LF). And by using HT as a field
separator, my columns don't line up logically (although visually, in my text
editor, they do).
And that's an issue.
A hard issue.
Oh sure, most people can probably deal with a file that looks like:
> 192.168.1.0 00:00:00:00:00:00 Obnoxico & Co. network
> 192.168.1.1 DE:CA:FE:BA:D0:01 managed switch
> 192.168.1.2 | their stuff ...
> 192.168.1.3 |
> 192.168.1.4 |
> 192.168.1.5 |
> 192.168.1.6 |
> 192.168.1.7 FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF Obnoxico & Co broadcast
>
But I can't. It would drive me up a wall. The solution would be to read in
each line, expand the tabs to spaces, then pull out each field according to
which character columns they're in. That would solve that problem, but it
still leaves some other issues.
The last three features Smirk requested I woudn't say are necessarily hard to
implement, but getting the user interface right is. Or at least, a user
interface I would like (and that would be a minimum number of mouse clicks,
because lord knows I don't want to have to check 32, 64 or even 128
individual check boxes to unassign a block of addresses—then again, I'd
probably never use the web interface at all so that point might be moot). But
what Smirk is asking for is an interface closer to how he works, which mimics
a spread sheet (which I touched upon the other day [2]).
And there's still the issue of just how much Smirk or P will update the IP
list. My updating the lists hasn't been that much of an issue, and the only
reason it's an issue now is the lack of updates to The Company Twiki [3].
(what good is a knowledge base if no one bothers to update the knowledge?)
And if the number of times it actually comes up that Smirk has to update the
IP list is small, then perhaps writing this piece of software isn't really
worth the effort (which is where I'm leaning).
On the other hand, this issue is deeper than just updating a list of IP
addresses—at the core, it's a collaboration issue (even if right now it's
just between Smirk, P and I) and the fact that Smirk uses hammers, I use
screwdrivers and P uses a wrench. And all we have are paperclips (hmmm … that
certainly came out of left field).
[1]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/03/15.2
[2]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/03/13.1
[3]
http://twiki.org/
Email author at
[email protected]
