Re: Un-doing changes
- From: David Brown <david.brown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2011 13:10:39 +0200
On 15/04/11 22:42, D Yuniskis wrote:
Hi,
I "store" all product settings in a database. I
also track *changes* to those settings (sort of
an "audit trail"). This allows the user to roll
back particular changes to, presumably, get to
a configuration he/she "preferred more". (Or,
lets him/her see how a particular thing *was*
done).
I'm told things like newer versions of Windows
have a similar feature (don't know as I've never
used it) -- *but* that it requires rolling back the
"entire" machine configuration to a particular
"save point" (sorry I don't know the Windows-speak
for all this :< )
Thinking about *that*, I guess the only practical way
it could be used is just *after* making a change that
you've decided is "bad"/undesirable. (I am assuming
that you explicitly/implicitly *do* something to trigger
the creation of this "save point" and can "unwind" them
in reverse order by doing something *else*) I.e.,
Windows is notorious for not documenting their Registry
(in a way that can help the user adjust it, interactively).
My approach, at least, doesn't suffer from the lack of
documentation aspect. You can see what each setting does
and aren't artificially constrained to "DWORD", "String",
etc. So, the database tries to assist you in constraining
your choices, etc.
I also have an expert system that helps the *software*
enforce consequences of setting changes. I.e., "if the
user makes this change, then these *other* changes are
automatic consequences of that action". So, the user
can identify (inspecting the audit trail) his explicit
changes and the automatic changes consequential to those.
But, aside from this and making observations about the
*timing* of "explicit changes" (i.e., "You didn't make
any changes for three days and then made the following
changes...") what else can I offer to assist the user
in "remembering"/identifying something that he would
like to undo *or* a setting that he would like to
revert back to?
(e.g., walking backwards through the audit trail, I can
tag each *change* that he made with information regarding
what the setting *was* prior to the change he made -- as
well as the actual new setting)
Sorry, I guess I'm trying to figure out how to overcome
*human* shortcomings... :-/
I'd love to help you, but I can't figure out what you are asking.
There are all sorts of ways to roll-back changes, and some of these allow re-running the changes, branching your changesets, merging those branches again, etc.
But I can't work out if you are looking for something for the Windows registry, Windows in general, databases, settings in some software, code for embedded systems, etc.
As a general point, if it helps you, then the best way to help people identify changes they want to undo is to find a way to identify what the changes did in the first place. For example, you might require people to add a log message saying why the change was made.
.
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