Hi Evan > I'm working on this CSV "unpacker" plugin: > http://evanbalster.com/tiddlywiki/csv_unpack.html
Good stuff. > The introduction of deserializer modules, which I only discovered half-way > through the process, made things a lot easier. But I'm a bit troubled at the > lack of a good mechanism for reporting errors in the import, or allowing the > user to customize the re-formatting of the data. The deserializer modules were originally primarily used in the boot process where there is no possibility of showing a UI. (Similarly, they are constrained to being synchronous because that's convenient for the boot process). For the things I've built, I've used a few different workarounds: * For the xlsx plugin, there is a UI in the control panel, and the deserialiser then refers to the tiddlers managed by that UI. That means that the UI is separate to the import process * For the latest release of the text-slicer plugin, the functionality is implemented as a toolbar button (and widget message under the covers), and a modal dialogue is presented before the operation is performed None of them are particularly satisfactory. I think we need to: * extend the spec for deserializers to allow them to be asynchronous and to present a UI * enhance the import mechanism to present a UI for selecting/overriding the deserializer, and for interacting with the chosen deserializer There are some other enhancements that are overdue for the import mechanism: diffs, and better handling of overwriting. > There are a few scenarios I'm thinking about: > The CSV can't be parsed due to some error. > The wiki opens a tiddler describing the error, in addition to the $:/Import > tiddler. > OR: The wiki displays error information in the $:/import tiddler. > > The CSV is parsed successfully and the user needs to map CSV columns to field > names in the wiki, previewing their effects. > A configuration tiddler appears alongside $:/Import and allows the user to > modify the imported data before finalizing the import. > OR: A "wizard" appears in the $:/Import tiddler and the user configures the > import before proceeding to preview the tiddlers. Indeed, that's a good summary of what is needed. > So, my questions: > Is it bad practice to create and/or display tiddlers from a deserializer? Deserializers shouldn't have any side effects besides converting their block of text to an array of tiddlers. > Is it possible to incorporate this sort of functionality (wizard steps and > error reporting) into the import mechanism in current or future versions of > TiddlyWiki? It would need some reengineering to make it possible, covering both the deserializers and the wider import mechanism. Detailed discussion about the code might be better at GitHub; if you're interested in exploring it I'd recommend digging into the existing implementation first. > Currently my plugin requires all setup to be performed in advance, using the > plugin's settings. I notice that one of the built-in deserializers displays > import errors by creating an imported tiddler to act as an error message; I > might adopt this "hack" in lieu of something better. Both those techniques are useful. Best wishes Jeremy. > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TiddlyWikiDev" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tiddlywikidev+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to tiddlywikidev@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywikidev. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywikidev/e1dd0adf-d80c-450e-91bb-3b6c8d20fdbe%40googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWikiDev" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tiddlywikidev+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to tiddlywikidev@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywikidev. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywikidev/E5C7973E-9900-4BA1-9B79-2FE502EFA29E%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
