Hello all!
Thank you Molly and NI!
Since the BreakPoint (BP) is new may I suggest we start out by talking about how we can use it?
Since the proto-type, "Enthusiast 2" got out of control and went multiple directions, some use suggestions may help.
Here are some of my thoughts;
1) We can use this thread (for the time being) as a "What's up?" thread.
What I had in mind is away for me to catch up on what has been happening in the BP when I get back from road trips.
2) We could "reset" the current "What's up?" every 200 replies or so. When reset, it could be titled "What's up? Start 26 Mar 2005" to make it easier
to find.
3) As we find ourselves redirecting the conversation we can side-bar (SB) these converstaions to seperate threads (tables) in the BP. This could be
tricky figuring out when to do! Maybe we could query each other's opinion by starting a post with "(SB?)". If we see this in a reply and agree that
the thread should be split-off we can start a new thread quoting the "(SB?)" posting and its link, THEN reply to the "(SB?)" posting with the header
being "(SB!)" and include a link to the new "table" where the SB topic is being discussed.
This sounds pretty complicated!
It would give us the ability to keep the "What's up?" thread cleaner while letting people move freely between the "individual tables" (SB discussions)
and the "Lobby" (What's up thread).
4) With the talent we have contributing to this exchange, the BP could be become the incubtor of great thoughts! So if you have an indea, let it fly.
I have owned multiple copies of a book entitled "A Wack on the Side of the Head, A Guide to Creative Thinking" (Sorry I can not recall the author's
name, but whoever they are, I highly recommend reading their book). One major point made therein was the importance of not holding back on "rediculous
ideas". "Rediculous ideas" can lead to very practical solutions.
Case in point (my personal favorite):
Over the years we will get the question "How do I dynamically create FP controls and indicators?" To which the standard reply is "You can't but you
can show hide and move." or "Use arrays or clusters." occationally this falls short because the new objects can not be grouped together or the count
is extreme (100+). In these cases we used to say "Can't do that!"
Well we were in the middle of one of these conversations about three or four years ago and I was in a silly mood and suggested using a picture control
and draw commands to render obects that look like controls and watch for mouse clicks on the picture control...
I thought this was a rediculous idea because I had been toying with doing exactly that for a while and "knew" that this was just to much much work to
do pratically. Well wouldn't you know it was JP who came back and commented something like "Well actually, there is a 'invoke node' mthod that will et
you get a controls image." and posted an example where he could assemble an image of an asortment of controls. Since then, I have used this technique
to create FP's that support more FP objects than LV supports (i.e. in LV 6.1 there was a max of 550 FP objects).
My point is that we can have some great conversations if we entertain the "rediculous ideas" (SB if you want).
Please feel free to comment on any of the above ideas!
Ben
