Get rid of the editing time limit!!!!!

[MidiMagic]

I am totally sick of that editing time limit.

When I am trying to copy pieces of code from several files on my ISP, the 30 minute editing time limit keeps me from assembling the code together in the code tags in the post:

- When I go to get each piece of code from a file on my ISP server, when I return to this page, the editing window is erased. So I have to save the post before I go get a piece of code.

- The clipboard can hold only one piece of code at a time.

- When I paste the next piece of code, I have to edit the previous piece to get the formatting lined up again. There is something that removes spaces or puts extra spaces into some of the lines. It messes up the code one way if it is already in code tags, and another way if it is not.

- Because of these delays, the 30 minute limit keeps me from adding more than two pieces of code in a post.

- To top it off, one of the ads just made my mouse-drag selection disappear and moved the mouse cursor into the ad.

There should be no edit time limit.

[Dani]

Originally there was no limit. It was added out of necessity due to much abuse which landed us in many a difficult situation. I can only suggest you put your long posts together in Notepad or such before publishing them.

[MidiMagic]

I don't see how editing a post can get you in a difficult position.

I seem to recall that it was some kind of posting game that caused this unreasonable limit. Was it overloading the server or something?

Often I don't realize that I need another piece of code until the edit limit is too close. By then it is way too late to make the notepad file.

I have to log into the server to get the files. That takes time.

So I really have just 15 minutes.

And if I get a phone call, the time is taken away.

If you can reverse the change you made which clears the edit window when the browser loses focus, this wouldn't be a problem. I could put all of the files in the initial edit. I believe this change happened when you added those awful bumbling windows.

[Dani]

> I don't see how editing a post can get you in a difficult position.

• User posts a question
• Multiple people reply
• User realized their problem was a mistake on their end, and so go back and edit their original post replacing it with "oops!"
• Thread no longer makes any sense.

• User has many posts
• User has difference of opinion / disagreement with forum management
• User goes back and edits all of their posts replacing them all with jibberish
• Hundreds of threads no longer make any sense
• User's actions negatively affect many other members whose posts no longer make sense

Both of these scenerios have occurred dozens of times, in addition to having quite a few other problems with allowing users to go back and edit what they've originally posted.

I'm not quite sure why your textbox contents are emptied when your browser loses focus. This is the first time I'm hearing that.

[MidiMagic]

User goes back and edits all of their posts replacing them all with jibberish

Are we dealing with little children who take away their ball and go home? Or do policies like a half hour edit limit make them mad?

Why not give us a longer period? Or give us a place we can park the post while we go get stuff. Your preview button doesn't start the clock, but trying to refresh the empty edit screen does.

The edit window clearing happens on only this site, and one other one which seems to use the same kind of BBS software. I have been trying to track it down, but without luck. Some theories:

- I just realized that it is not the browser losing focus, but the page losing focus. I have to use the browser to get the info from my server.

- The ads my ISP foists on me, combined with your ads, might use up so much cache that the text box info is lost.

- Your ads may be forcing the page to reload. I do see the blue progress bar at the bottom when I return.

- The help person on the other system I have this trouble on says I violated "security" by leaving the site bounds.

eBay also makes this claim, but it makes me log in again if I leave the site bounds. I can leave your site for over a day after forgetting to log out, and I find myself still logged in when I return.

- A programmer says that your site software and my ISP might be using exactly the same text box, with the same name. This would explain the other similar site's software using it too.

- My ISP might be doing something that clears the box for security reasons.

[Dani]

Who is your ISP?

[MidiMagic]

ISP service to house: AT&T SBC Global (sbcglobal.net)

Email: Yahoo (yahoo.com)

Web Host (where the files are): Geocities (geocities.com)

Computer: Dell Optiplex

OS: Windows XP Pro

Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.6

[MidiMagic]

Did you find something to use the ISP info for?

[WaltP]

Create your post in an editor. When done, copy and paste the entire post into the edit box. Hit PREVIEW and fine tune your post. Simple.

[MidiMagic]

Not simple. The code tags are messing up the code indenting when I do that. I then have to edit again to fix that.

Also, I can't see the post I am replying to when I do that.

The half-hour period is just too short.

[joshSCH]

No one else has a problem with it.. Dani is definitely right, allowing infinite editing periods could potentially be hazardous. I doubt they will change it.. it works out well.

[Ancient Dragon]

Not simple. The code tags are messing up the code indenting when I do that. I then have to edit again to fix that.

My guess is that you are using tab characters as well as spaces. All editors screw up the code when you mix tabs and spaces like that, its not just DaniWeb. Set your original code editor to use only spaces and not tabs, that will probably fix the problem, I know it did mine.

[MidiMagic]

I am not using tab characters. All of the code is done in Notepad. But I don't know if the server changes the form when I copy the file from there.

The problem seems to be related to the change to the variable width font in the edit window, and then back to the constant-width font in the code tags.

- I keep finding the number of spaces before the code changed.

- I find some other item I can't identify at the beginning of the line that causes a half-line vertical space between lines. This also is what happens when I re-edit a post with code in it.

- I find the portion inside the code tag in two different fonts, with one font for the contents of the code tag when I start editing, and a different font for material I insert. This messes up the spacing.

[ndeniche]

what about extending the edit time? how did you get to the conclusion that 30 mins was best?

[Ancient Dragon]

what about extending the edit time? how did you get to the conclusion that 30 mins was best?

Actually you should be able to edit your post a lot quicker than that! Does it take more than 30 minutes before you can read your post after pressing the Submit button ? Mine comes back within a few seconds and I edit it right away if it isn't correct. I don't wait for a half hour before looking at what I posted. My guess is that 5 minutes should be adequate.

>>The problem seems to be related to the change to the variable width font in the edit window, and then back to the constant-width font in the code tags

I don't understand how variable-width fonts in the edit box can affect the spacing of the code within code tags ? But maybe it does. :-O

[ndeniche]

it's not that i have that problem... but seeing it from MidiMagic's point of view...

if i have to edit a post i edit it immediately after posting... so, by me you could make it 5 minutes if you want...

[MidiMagic]

I often have to wait on:

- My ISP's login sequence (and ads berfore I can access)
- DaniWeb's ads to load.
- Several tries to get the spacing right again.

2 hours would be plenty.

[Dave Sinkula]

All of the code is done in Notepad.

Didja ever consider getting a code editor to edit code? Perhaps maybe a beautifier too?

[ndeniche]

lol

[MidiMagic]

Didja ever consider getting a code editor to edit code? Perhaps maybe a beautifier too?

I prefer having complete control, over having software make decisions I don't want it to make. I always get mad at editors that do things the way they want it done
, instead of the way I want it done.

And I am sick of this edit window adding a newline character every time I stop typing long enough for the stupid moving ad to start playing again!!!! I didn't remove them this time.

The last time I pasted code, it behaved. Maybe there was a glitch in the
edit window software.

[ndeniche]

er... i wonder which code editor you're using... cuz, AFAIK they don't think for themselves...

[MidiMagic]

I'm not. It was one my old employer provided. I can't remember whose it was.

[WaltP]

I prefer having complete control, over having software make decisions I don't want it to make. I always get mad at editors that do things the way they want it done
, instead of the way I want it done.

er... i wonder which code editor you're using... cuz, AFAIK they don't think for themselves...

I agree. My editor does exactly what I tell it to do. Is your editor Word? If so, that's not an editor... :icon_rolleyes:

[joshSCH]

MidiMagic, quit complaining and get over it. If you have a problem then find a solution yourself.. don't make the admins change a setting just to accommodate your insolence.

If you really are using notepad as your editor with spaces instead of tabs, with the daniweb editor set to standard mode instead of wysiwyg mode (although using notepad wouldn't affect this), I can't see what the problem is?

Prove me wrong.

[MidiMagic]

I wonder if that is the answer. The editor always defaults to whizzywig, and it happens then.

It seems to be that fonts appear in the code when I download code from my ISP file server, instead of getting the file off my backup CD-ROM. If I get the fonts off the backup, this does not happen. But I don't always have that disc handy.

I do still have a problem if I get a phone call while editing. When I return, the edit session won't save. And with the current posting delays and the time needed to log onto the ISP server, half an hour still seems too short.

As I type, the progress bar shows that something is still trying to load. This usually means a posting delay is imminent.

Put simply wysiwyg mode is a major pain in the proverbial. I'd switch to standard mode for starters, then you won't get any change of font sizes.

[MidiMagic]

I did experience a posting delay. I posted this as soon as the posting delay ended. The progress bar is not present, so I do not expect a posting delay.

My editor is notepad, not word.

[MidiMagic]

Put simply wysiwyg mode is a major pain in the proverbial. I'd switch to standard mode for starters, then you won't get any change of font sizes.

I had switched to standard some time ago. I just realized that somehow I got switched back to whizzywig (I think of that clown with spinning hair) without my knowledge. I just changed it back. We will see if this ends what I am starting to call the "lumpy code indenting" trouble.

But I still have the posting delays and the ISP delays. Those are imposed by others.

[ndeniche]

there's your problem... notepad is not a proper code editor...