>> "The ability to group design elements, and refresh "groups" from a specific database, as opposed to individual
>>design elements. We have thousands of design elements, some we want to share across client database design
>>templates - Right now, we have a huge managability issue doing this all manually."
> How do you maintain the locations of the templates that have these shared design elements?
We build Environmental Health Systems for Health Regions/Districts in Canada and the USA. The systems are used to track food, water, on-site sewage (septic tanks) and other areas to do with environmental health safety. Each of our clients has different requirements for the system - for example, one of our USA clients tracks food inspections significantly different from our BC (Canada) clients.
Each client (ie/ contract) has their own template. Each client can have multiple "areas" within their region - typically we assign each region a combination of 4 databases - A startup database (startup frameset), a discussion database, a "Live" database that inherits from their template, and a "Testing & Training" database that inherits from their template.
For example:
- Antarctica Health Region (Client)
- HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf
- Antararctica_DesignForum.nsf (bug/fix/request forum)
- Snow Area (Area that a client controls)
- Antarctica_Snow_EHS_Live.nsf (main database - inherits from HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf)
- Antarctica_Snow_EHS_Testing.nsf (testing database - inherits from HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf)
- Antarctica_Snow_Discussion.nsf (Area's discussion database for inter-office stuff)
- Antarctica_Snow_Startup.nsf (Startup database with links to databases, etc)
- Ice Area (Area that a client controls)
- Antarctica_Ice_EHS_Live.nsf (main database - inherits from HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf)
- Antarctica_Ice_EHS_Testing.nsf (testing database - inherits from HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf)
- Antarctica_Ice_Discussion.nsf (Area's discussion database for inter-office stuff)
- Antarctica_Ice_Startup.nsf (Startup database with links to databases, etc)
- Wind Area (Area that a client controls)
- Antarctica_Wind_EHS_Live.nsf (main database - inherits from HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf)
- Antarctica_Wind_EHS_Testing.nsf (testing database - inherits from HS_EHS_Antarctica.ntf)
- Antarctica_Wind_Discussion.nsf (Area's discussion database for inter-office stuff)
- Antarctica_Wind_Startup.nsf (Startup database with links to databases, etc)
For clients with simmilar needs, we run them off a common template, that their own client template inherits from. For example:
- HS_EHS_BC.ntf
- HS_EHS_BC_NorthClient.ntf (inherits from HS_EHS_BC)
- North Client's Databases
- HS_EHS_BC_SouthClient.ntf (inherits from HS_EHS_BC)
- South Client's Databases
- HS_EHS_BC_NorthClient.ntf (inherits from HS_EHS_BC)
- HS_EHS_USA.ntf
- HS_EHS_USA_WestState.ntf (inherits from HS_EHS_USA)
- West State (Client)'s Databases
- HS_EHS_USA_EastState.ntf (inherits from HS_EHS_USA)
- East State (Client)'s Databases
- HS_EHS_USA_WestState.ntf (inherits from HS_EHS_USA)
Typically the "Client Templates" do not have any prohibits or custom changes - in a very few cases we do, but this can be a problem because bug fixes/changes on these prohibited elements do not refresh down to the clients with the custom changes. This can cause unusual bugs/issues - but thankfully this doesnt happen often because we try to avoid making custom changes in the client templates at all costs.
To make matters even worse, we have a QA process in there, with two of their own templates for each "root" template (QA In Progress and QA To be Refreshed)
The main problem is at the HS_EHS_BC.ntf and HS_EHS_USA.ntf templates - they are not linked at all. There are certain elements that are common across the designs (inspection system, owner tracking, etc) - we want these to be "common" across each template. The USA "restaurant" form is significantly different from the BC "restaurant" form so we wouldn't want an element like that copying across.
What would be nice is to group elements together, for example, take a list of design elements, put them into a group (like "Inspection System") and be able to refresh just that element group. We're currently working on our own system to do this (NotesMake - which we plan to make opensource), but we're along way from having it done.
Our databases have over 200 forms and 500 views each!
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. . . . . . RE: Poll: Top three Designer enhanc... (~Maria Umjipyon... 9.Oct.02) 
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