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The Horror!

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Weird and The Wonderful
helpdatabasecomdesign
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  • S Offline
    S Offline
    Shog9 0
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Trying to track down a bug. Very simple little routine calls a few methods in an old COM DLL - some calculations and look-ups, nothing too special. Problem is, it only works once - if the routine is called twice in a row, it'll fail the second time around. Same inputs, same code to create the COM object, call a few methods, finish up... it just doesn't work twice. So, i track down the code for this old DLL. VB6, which i haven't bothered to install in years, but i don't want to rebuild it anyway unless there's no way around it. Unzip the code and start browsing through it...

    ...and it's all forms. Except for a couple hundred lines in a .cls file for wiring up the COM interface, it's all forms. There is absolutely no UI for this damn thing, none, it exists only for some routine calculations and to retrieve a handful of numbers from an Access database... and it's all implemented by chaining 32 different forms together along with some sort of insestual communication between them.

    I feel sick.

    ----

    It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.

    --Raymond Chen on MSDN

    W J 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • S Shog9 0

      Trying to track down a bug. Very simple little routine calls a few methods in an old COM DLL - some calculations and look-ups, nothing too special. Problem is, it only works once - if the routine is called twice in a row, it'll fail the second time around. Same inputs, same code to create the COM object, call a few methods, finish up... it just doesn't work twice. So, i track down the code for this old DLL. VB6, which i haven't bothered to install in years, but i don't want to rebuild it anyway unless there's no way around it. Unzip the code and start browsing through it...

      ...and it's all forms. Except for a couple hundred lines in a .cls file for wiring up the COM interface, it's all forms. There is absolutely no UI for this damn thing, none, it exists only for some routine calculations and to retrieve a handful of numbers from an Access database... and it's all implemented by chaining 32 different forms together along with some sort of insestual communication between them.

      I feel sick.

      ----

      It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.

      --Raymond Chen on MSDN

      W Offline
      W Offline
      WhiteSpy
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Sometimes its better to just trash things and recode. You get lost in the code and take 3 times as long to get done trying to patch someone elses work. Good luck with it.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • S Shog9 0

        Trying to track down a bug. Very simple little routine calls a few methods in an old COM DLL - some calculations and look-ups, nothing too special. Problem is, it only works once - if the routine is called twice in a row, it'll fail the second time around. Same inputs, same code to create the COM object, call a few methods, finish up... it just doesn't work twice. So, i track down the code for this old DLL. VB6, which i haven't bothered to install in years, but i don't want to rebuild it anyway unless there's no way around it. Unzip the code and start browsing through it...

        ...and it's all forms. Except for a couple hundred lines in a .cls file for wiring up the COM interface, it's all forms. There is absolutely no UI for this damn thing, none, it exists only for some routine calculations and to retrieve a handful of numbers from an Access database... and it's all implemented by chaining 32 different forms together along with some sort of insestual communication between them.

        I feel sick.

        ----

        It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.

        --Raymond Chen on MSDN

        J Offline
        J Offline
        Jasmine2501
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Sounds like something a VB programmer would do.

        "Quality Software since 1983!"
        http://www.smoothjazzy.com/ - see the "Programming" section for freeware tools and articles.

        B S 2 Replies Last reply
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        • J Jasmine2501

          Sounds like something a VB programmer would do.

          "Quality Software since 1983!"
          http://www.smoothjazzy.com/ - see the "Programming" section for freeware tools and articles.

          B Offline
          B Offline
          Brady Kelly
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Well, how else would you do it? VB6 is all event driven you know, all you do is place a button on a form, and when the user clicks... oh, OK, maybe I can use SendKeys..., OK, back on track... wow, this really is as easy as the book said!

          C 1 Reply Last reply
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          • B Brady Kelly

            Well, how else would you do it? VB6 is all event driven you know, all you do is place a button on a form, and when the user clicks... oh, OK, maybe I can use SendKeys..., OK, back on track... wow, this really is as easy as the book said!

            C Offline
            C Offline
            chrishuff
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            All VB6 programmers are not like that. I've done a ton of complicated stuff with vb6. it just that novices tend towards vb6 because of it's ease of learning factor.

            B 1 Reply Last reply
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            • C chrishuff

              All VB6 programmers are not like that. I've done a ton of complicated stuff with vb6. it just that novices tend towards vb6 because of it's ease of learning factor.

              B Offline
              B Offline
              Brady Kelly
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              joemerchant wrote:

              [Reply | Email | View Thread | Get Link]

              I didn't say they were. I started my consulting career on a national client server system with hundreds of users, using VB6. It even included vertical text headings for narrow report columns! :omg:

              P 1 Reply Last reply
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              • B Brady Kelly

                joemerchant wrote:

                [Reply | Email | View Thread | Get Link]

                I didn't say they were. I started my consulting career on a national client server system with hundreds of users, using VB6. It even included vertical text headings for narrow report columns! :omg:

                P Offline
                P Offline
                PJ Arends
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Brady Kelly wrote:

                joemerchant wrote: [Reply | Email | View Thread | Get Link]

                :laugh:


                Darker than a black steer's tookus on a moonless praire night

                Within you lies the power for good, use it!!!

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • J Jasmine2501

                  Sounds like something a VB programmer would do.

                  "Quality Software since 1983!"
                  http://www.smoothjazzy.com/ - see the "Programming" section for freeware tools and articles.

                  S Offline
                  S Offline
                  Shog9 0
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Fortunately, there's a VB-coding consultant working for us, so it looks like i can push the problem off on him... :D

                  ----

                  It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.

                  --Raymond Chen on MSDN

                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • S Shog9 0

                    Fortunately, there's a VB-coding consultant working for us, so it looks like i can push the problem off on him... :D

                    ----

                    It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.

                    --Raymond Chen on MSDN

                    J Offline
                    J Offline
                    John R Shaw
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    You lucky sob! I did not think VB6 programmers should have been writing DLLs to begin with, I considered it a ridiculous idea even when I was forced to use that language for the main interface. All of my DLLs and COMs where written in C or C++. I have yet to decide about VB.Net.

                    INTP "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra

                    R 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • J John R Shaw

                      You lucky sob! I did not think VB6 programmers should have been writing DLLs to begin with, I considered it a ridiculous idea even when I was forced to use that language for the main interface. All of my DLLs and COMs where written in C or C++. I have yet to decide about VB.Net.

                      INTP "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Rajesh R Subramanian
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      John R. Shaw wrote:

                      I did not think VB6 programmers should have been writing DLLs to begin with,

                      I do not think VB6 programmers should be doing around anything with coding. :-d

                      J 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • R Rajesh R Subramanian

                        John R. Shaw wrote:

                        I did not think VB6 programmers should have been writing DLLs to begin with,

                        I do not think VB6 programmers should be doing around anything with coding. :-d

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        John R Shaw
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        That is the wave of the future – coding without understanding. Modern MS languages are good for business – but it requires real programmers to create the frame works first. What that means is that people who understands how it all works decreases and the number of people who know how to use it increases. Translation: If you know how it all works there are fewer jobs – If you know how to use it there are lots of jobs.

                        INTP "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra

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