Conference iosg::all-in-1_v30

Hi,

By specifying a different file extension - .DX - for the outgoing transfer, the
user is (implicitly) asking ALL-IN-1 to convert the document from one format
to another.  ALL-IN-1 (quite reasonably, IMVHO) doesn't support converting .EXE
files to .DX files.  However, the error message could be better.

What I think the user should do is use RVC and SVC: these options tell ALL-IN-1
explicitly not to perform any conversions while transferring the files.

Scott

    Thanks Scott, called customer to give him your feedback.  Customer
    is under the impression that once the document is imported it is 
    no longer a .EXE - it is in WPSPLUS format.  He can read it, edit
    it - even though it looks like junk.  Why then when doing the SV
    does it assume its still a .EXE?
    
    Not only does he get the error - ALL-IN-1 also crashes.  He feels
    that there is a "bug" in the .DX transfer.  It does appear like
    it creates the file, starts writing ("initing some DX") - then
    crashes.  Because their application is running in the ALL-IN-1
    subprocess - their application breaks.  Their application assumes
    if ALL-IN-1 crashes, there is something wrong.
      

The WPS-PLUS and DX formats are designed to store documents, and .EXE files
are not documents. 

I tried converting a .EXE file to .WPL and back .EXE.  ALL-IN-1 didn't
crash but the output .EXE file was not useable.  I agree that you have
found a problem in the DX output text dataset, which I'm guessing is caused
by the unusual contents of the input .WPL file.  


What is the customer trying to do?  If it is to store .EXE files in the
ALL-IN-1 file cabinet then they should be stored as foreign documents and 
be trasnferred into and out of ALL-IN-1 using DT RVC and DT SVC.  

If the customer wants ALL-IN-1 users to be able to read and edit .EXE files
then a new FORMAT master entry could be created to handle these types of
documents.  The entry could define a read operation to use ANALYZE/IMAGE to
produce a readable listing file from a .EXE file.  An edit operation could
use PATCH as an alternative editor which understands .EXE files. 


Richard

Jean,

>> once the document is imported it is no longer a .EXE -
>> it is in WPSPLUS format

Yes, I guessed as much, which is why I pointed out the need for using the
"without conversion" options for both halves of the transfer: RVC and SVC, not
RV and SV.  Richard has spelled out what I implied in .1 - the user shouldn't
be converting .EXE files to .WPL files in the first place.

>> Why then when doing the SV does it assume its still a .EXE?

It doesn't.  It thinks it's a .WPL, but as you point out, the contents (the .EXE
file) are junk, so the poor old DX converter can't be expected to cope: "GIGO"

>> He feels that there is a "bug" in the .DX transfer

Well, I suppose anything that makes ALL-IN-1 crash is a bug.  But there is a
limit to how much checking of their input the conversion routines can do and
still complete in reasonable time.  If given what appears to be a .WPL file,
the code has to make some assumptions that the file's contents are what they
claim to be.  In this case, a simple user error has caused a file with junk
contents to be created.  At the end of the day, there's no ay we can trap every
possible way, accidental or malicious, that this can happen.

So to repeat what Richard and I said in earlier replies: the user's life
will be full of joy and happiness if they use the correct options for this
operation: RVC and SVC.

Scott

    Hi Scott/Richard - gave customer your responses "more or less" and
    he feels a CRASH is not acceptable.  That DX should be able to give
    a message that this is not "do-able".  He is a 3rd party "Boston
    Software" and he is not trying to DO anything.  His product which
    integrates with ALL-IN-1 depends on DX not crashing.  He knows he
    should be using SVC and RVC, but his users of his product don't....
    He would like to see an error message and not a crash.  He can
    duplicate the behaviour by using the DIR.EXE and is hoping to see
    a fix for the crashing problem.
    
    Any suggestions?
    
    Jean

>> he feels a CRASH is not acceptable

I agree entirely.  If the users had been doing the right thing (ie SVC/RVC) and
it crashed, then this would be a serious problem.  But the users are doing the
wrong thing; if they do the right thing it will work.  If the 3rd party is
complaining that the users don't know which are the right options, then he
should fix his product documentation to tell them to use the right options.

It's a bit like someone saying "If I delete my file cabinet, all my documents
disappear" - if you do something wrong, then you can only expect wrong results.
I agree an error message would be better than a crash, but in these days of
limited engineering resources, we can only really fix things that don't work
the way they were intended to.

>> His product ... depends on DX not crashing

Huh?  The problem is that DX shouldn't even be being used.  Whether or not DX
crashes when used incorrectly doesn't have anything to do with it.

So to summarise:
- Yes, anything that crashes is a bug and should be fixed.
- In this case, the crash occurs because the user (or 3rd party product acting
  on the user's behalf) is doing the wrong thing
- If the user does the right thing, there is no problem
- So this bug goes down the list, as we have plenty more serious ones to fix

Sorry, but that's life...

Scott

If you wish to prevent users doing an RV of an .EXE file then add the 
following entry to the FORMAT master file.


                       Document Handling (Format) Master

 Name:                 EXE
 Description:          VMS .EXE files

 Revisable (Y/N):            N
 Default file type:          .EXE
 Object default file type:

 Text data set (Y/N):  N
       Data set name:

 Template filename:
 Template form:

 Edit function:        N/A
       Initialization file:
       Purge count:
       Editor type:

 List function:

 Print function:

 Always print nofeed (Y/N):     N
 Always print passall (Y/N):    N
 Printer level:

 WPS-PLUS formatting (Y/N):     N

 DCL compile command:

 CDA format (Y/N):             N
     Front end converter name:
     Back end converter name:
     Converter options file:

     
This makes .EXE files a known format to ALL-IN-1, and defines this format
as not being convertable to revisable formats such as WPSPLUS and ASCII 
EDT.


Richard