* Map Life Facts plugin with Bing Maps support

[ColeValleyGirl]

Having a path shown in the error message is confusing. If I receive an error message referring to the D: drive I'd assume it related to something on my computer. Or, if the path specified was not on my computer, I'd think that either something was missing or there was a setting pointing to the wrong place.

If the point of the path/module being in the error message is for CP's use if they need to investigate issues, the same could be achieved by giving every error a unique number instead of the path and remove any confusion.

The library in question isn't written by CP; they almost certainly just use the provided binaries. And even if they built their own binaries, the code would still insert the path.

[tatewise]

Can we please let CP answer the question instead of guessing their response?
CP claimed that the bad path "d:\my\lua\luacom-master\src\library\tluacom.cpp" is not caused by FH, and that trevithick should contact the VPN provider. My finding suggests the path does emanate from FH albeit via a library module supplied with FH.

BTW: I've had luacom errors that confusingly mention the d:\my\lua\luacom-master\src\library\... path too, and I do not use a VPN.

[ColeValleyGirl]

I'll add that, in an ideal world with an omniscient plugin author, a user should never see an error message with a stack traceback.

However, an author can realistically only code to catch 'expected errors'; and access to the geocoding server being refused part way through the geocoding process because of the involvement of a VPN (if that is what's happening) isn't something that would have occurred to me to check for.

[tatewise]

Also to trap that form of luacom error needs the use of luacom.config.abort_on_... settings instead of the Lua pcall(...) function, so it is somewhat unusual as well as unexpected.

[ColeValleyGirl]

Can we please let CP answer the question instead of guessing their response?
CP claimed that the bad path "d:\my\lua\luacom-master\src\library\tluacom.cpp" is not caused by FH, and that trevithick should contact the VPN provider. My finding suggests the path does emanate from FH albeit via a library module supplied with FH.

Mike, I'm sorry, but there is nothing CP can do about the Luacom code. Luacom is throwing an error; it is giving you an error message ("The server name or address could not be resolved"); it is telling you which line of code (382) in which Luacom module (tluacom.cpp) is reporting the error, and for reasons best known to the Luacom authors, the error thrown includes the path to the relevant module. (I suspect it was valuable to them while debugging).

The only thing CP can do is rebuild the library -- but you will still get a path in the stack dump -- it will just be a different path.

So they are absolutely right; there is no 'bad path'; there is a problem resolving the server, probably because of the VPN.

[ColeValleyGirl]

BTW: I've had luacom errors that confusingly mention the d:\my\lua\luacom-master\src\library\... path too, and I do not use a VPN.

Because that part of an error message is nothing to do with the actual error.

[ColeValleyGirl]

Also to trap that form of luacom error needs the use of luacom.config.abort_on_... settings instead of the Lua pcall(...) function, so it is somewhat unusual as well as unexpected.

We had -- although I can't find it -- a discussion about that technique. It's used in fhFileUtils, because there's no way to test for all the possible error conditions (not only because they're not predictable, but in some cases they aren't testable -- there's no way to know if a user has the necessary access permissions without trying an operation.)

[trevithick]

Mike, ColeValleyGirl, jelv,

Mike: Good find.

I have read the Help/Advice file, but will do so again specific to the Copy Location button. I will refrain from my desire to fill every field and leave the Standardized Locations alone unless necessary. I have used the nudge to move the plot of someone(s) who Died at Sea to the middle of the Atlantic. I would love to see Map names include the name of the person, but I see an issue with birth, marriage, census, death, and other dates. Maybe the persons Record ID and then add -x where x is a sequential number.

ColeValleyGirl: I agree with jelv. Reporting an error with inaccurate path information is as jelv says, not only confusing to the end user, but wrong. It sends the user on a goose chase hunting down a problem with their installation, etcetera. That's worse than Microsoft Windows error messages that are in the form of Error 0x123456789. Sometimes those can at least be decoded and a solution found.

I wish I weren't the one to report this to CP as all can do is copy and paste some of your comments.

[jelv]

BTW: I've had luacom errors that confusingly mention the d:\my\lua\luacom-master\src\library\... path too, and I do not use a VPN.

Because that part of an error message is nothing to do with the actual error.

So where is the end user told that that part of the error message is for diagnostic purposes by the software author and that they should ignore it?

[ColeValleyGirl]

ColeValleyGirl: I agree with jelv. Reporting an error with inaccurate path information is as jelv says, not only confusing to the end user, but wrong. It sends the user on a goose chase hunting down a problem with their installation, etcetera. That's worse than Microsoft Windows error messages that are in the form of Error 0x123456789. Sometimes those can at least be decoded and a solution found.

I wish I weren't the one to report this to CP as all can do is copy and paste some of your comments.

Please don't waste everyone's time including your own reporting it to CP. As I have repeated a few times, it isn't their code and they can't do anything about it. It's hardly the only piece of software that does a similar thing -- the output is intended for debugging purposes, which is something a user shouldn't be doing, although a plugin author may ask you to provide information and test new versions to help them do it).

[ColeValleyGirl]

So where is the end user told that that part of the error message is for diagnostic purposes by the software author and that they should ignore it?

The end user should only see that sort of error message in exceptional circumstances (when there's a bug in the plugin or the author hasn't anticipated an error condition). They can't ignore the message because the plugin typically terminates after throwing it; all they can do is report it to the plugin author for investigation.

If somebody really wants to take it up with the author of the Luacom library, they can go here but I doubt anything useful will come of it -- (a) the format of the error message is very common; and (b) the library has largely been left untouched for over 12 years, and I can't see a new release being made for what is essentially a cosmetic reason.

[tatewise]

I would love to see Map names include the name of the person, but I see an issue with birth, marriage, census, death, and other dates. Maybe the persons Record ID and then add -x where x is a sequential number.

Sorry, but I really don't understand what you are requesting.
What Map names? Do you mean Place names?
Why are they affected by event dates?
The same Place name can apply to dozens of facts for multiple people, so I don't understand.
Perhaps some examples would help.

Note the Create Web Page Maps tab creates HTML maps with all the facts of a person marked on a map.

The FH Map Window can show a similar map with markers for the facts of nominated people.

[trevithick]

My apologies Mike! I wasn't thinking it through thoroughly.

The maps are those created by the plugin using the "Create Web Page Maps" tab. For example, my father's is "map1178.html" which does incorporate his Record ID. Event locations and their associated dates would not affect maps as the one map for each individual includes all those locations locations.

[tatewise]

One reason the Map files use Record Id is to guarantee they are unique.
The other allows them to be incorporated into FH created Web Pages which only use Record Id in the file names.
Incorporating the names of the Individuals in the file names would become very difficult.

Are you now saying that I can ignore your request for Map file names to include the name of the person?

[trevithick]

Yes Mike. Please ignore my request.