[thelist] Looking for dynamic menus for ASP pages

Luther, Ron ron.luther at hp.com
Fri Jul 30 10:55:02 CDT 2004


Rob Smith noted:

[snip about his 'comma separated list' application running just 
fine over several years]

Hi Rob,


I've kinda been on both sides of this, so I have some understanding 
of both points of view.

I've built some truely ugly apps with chewing gum and bailing wire ... 
(your comma separated lists values, for example, could each be replaced 
with a single integer computed using the numeric placeholder values as 
exponents in a prime factorization) ... it "works" just fine. Nobody 
else is going to understand it or be able to modify it - but it "works".

I've also been on the receiving end ... (pulling data from a mainframe 
sales order system that was set up to store user configurations as a 
single 100 bit binary value - if a customer ordered product "a" then 
a "1" in bit number 57 might indicate that it needs to be built with 
a red case, if a customer ordered product "b" then a "1" in bit number 
57 might indicate building it with a Kanji keypad) ... it "worked" just 
fine.  But it was a royal PITA to work _with_.

I have to side with the db folks on this one.  'Maintainability' has 
value to the company. And that includes 'maintainability' by the folks 
that come after you. The suggestion for a separate attribute table is 
a good one.

<odd analogy>
Ever watch an auto race?  Then you've probably seen one where the 
winning car crossed the finish line with body panels flapping in the 
breeze, dented bodywork, scuffed tires, front-end misalignment, duct 
tape all over the place, and smoke pouring out from under the hood.

They won. They were successful.  

Obviously they should leave the dang car alone and start the next 
race in the condition it's in now ... cuz it "works".
</ odd>



HTH,

RonL.


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