Query Back Button

bazar2009

How do I make the back button show up automatically in a query?

I have some queries where the back button is present and others where it is not and they both have the same exact selections marked between the queries.

What am I missing?

Thanks,

Bazar

bazar2009

OK. It appears to be a bug.

I did some more checking and found the following:

When a query is started from a top bar menu and the query is displayed over the Main frame the back button does not appear. However, once the query is displayed a user can select the same query again from the top bar menu and the back button will appear. From what I can tell, there is no way for a configurator to display or not display the back button...it appears to be automatic.

Also to confirm, it does not appear that any of the calendar objects have a back button. Do you have any recommendations on how to handle this from within an application? Most users will tend to click on the browser back button (which causes the user to be directed to the login page). For consistency of operation it would be nice to have a back button on the calendar objects.

Support, please let me know if you require any additional information.

aware_support

Back button appears on the grid automatically - only if there is a screen to go back to. Initially there is none and this is why the Back button is not displayed.

bazar2009

I am confused...is the main frame not a screen to go back to?

If I have a visual perspective with a top bar and 7-8 tabs on the main frame and a user selects the 5th tab and is viewing data on that tab and then selects a query to run from the top bar menu, the query will display and then the user is forced to either select something else from the top bar or select 'home'. If the user selects home then they will be back to the main frame but they will not be 'back' to where they started.

Imagine how annoying that is especially if you have something firing off when home is selected (like a welcome form or a process). Plus depending on what is displayed on the home page it can take a while to refresh the data. Why can't 'back' be available and allow them to go back to the main frame to the exact tab that they left when they ran the query from the top bar?

Support, in your short response, you also did not address the calendar objects not having a back button. Is there a way around this?

bazar2009

Hi Support,

You know for a person whose company just purchased over $2,200 worth of your products I am currently not feeling very good about your support. I have posted on the forum several items that concern me about your products performance and received a one line reply on one post and the other remains untouched. I am not expecting premium support and an answer within 24 hours but I am expecting some form of acknowledgement.

If posts to the Forum are not answered by you, is there another path that we should take? I wouldn't spend the time posting on the forum if I didn't feel that the post was valid. If you are not replying because you do not think that the posts are valid then at a minimum please state so in the post or send me an email.

Some of the items that remain unanswered I think are issues in your system and I hope that you are considering to fix them in upcoming releases. It would be nice for me (and I am sure countless other users) to know what your plans are for upcoming releases of the application. EXT has a roadmap page and it is very helpful to understand where they are going and where they have been.

http://extjs.com/products/extjs/roadmap.php

This would be a huge benefit to the Aware community. I apologize for the rant as I do find your product very impressive but I would be remiss if I didn't express my concern with your recent support. As I mentioned before...I wouldn't post on the forum if I didn't think it was valid and something that other users could benefit from.

Best Regards

aware_support

Our support policy is clearly explained here:
http://www.awareim.com/support_info.html

Note: there is no obligation on our side to provide you with free support on our forums. We may or may not answer forums posts - it is totally up to us.
In this sense, we are not any different to any other member of the community. If you post a message on the forum you may or may not get an answer from the community.

If you want to have proper support you need to pay for support tickets or have a special support arrangement with us.

From support forums we often don't know who you are and we don't know whether you purchased licences from us or not (we don't know your identity, for example - if you want to reveal it, please write to support@awareim.com)

bazar2009

I really wanted not to respond to your post but I felt that your 'clearly explained' support policy was not as clear as your answer was:

1: Note: there is no obligation on our side to provide you with free support on our forums. We may or may not answer forums posts - it is totally up to us.
2: If you want to have proper support you need to pay for support tickets or have a special support arrangement with us.

Maybe those lines should be added to the policy so that new users are clear on where you stand.

I agree with other users that you have a great product. I used to agree that you had great support but since Tom started answering the good majority of the posts your answers have become small and sparse. Nothing against Tom, in fact, thank goodness for Tom, as users get great service from him. Maybe your "What users say" page should be updated as I am sure not all quoted users are referring to support that they had to pay for but rather the support that you used to provide on the forum.

"We may or may not answer forums posts - it is totally up to us" <--- is that the same for emails to you? If so, for those of us on a strict budget help us understand how much your support is going to cost. According to your support policy the only thing that premium support accomplishes is an expedited reply and 'most efficient handling' (whatever that means). Do you guarantee an answer if we don't pay? It would appear that way from your policy (the answer just won't come in 24 hours) but not according to your response to my post.

How about a layout on your support page as to what will constitute 'proper support'(since that is a new term that you haven't used in your clearly explained support policy)? Is 'proper support' necessary if a user just wants some form of acknowledgement that you have read a post concerning a isssue or flaw in your product? Just because we post flaws or issues doesn't mean we expect you to do anything about it. If we did, and it was important enough to us, I think that we all would logically assume that we have to pay.

I do not wish to continue this thread with you as I can see your point of view and have (like many others) been under a different impression of how your support works. Now we all know:

If you pay...you will get an answer...otherwise they may answer you...but don't have to...even if no one can answer the question but them

As an owner of your product I (and my wallet) am at your mercy. I would only hope that you, as a company, would find a better way to let the people who have paid good money for your product know where you are going and what you plan on fixing.

Since you never mentioned that you can establish “support arrangements” in your “clearly explained” support policy or anywhere on your site. Why not make available different support packages that are available on your site. Why not, what's the worst that can happen...people might buy them.

Here's to hearing from you...or not...it's totally up to you

tford

Just a couple of thoughts since my name was mentioned here.

I have made a conscious effort, starting about a year ago, to spend more time responding to forum posts. I didn't have or need any "special" knowledge to do it .... I just applied accumulated knowledge of how systems work in general & read the User Guide and forums. My main approach was to make mini BSVs that focus on a particular subject. I usually found that in 5-30 minutes, I had learned something myself and often answered a forum post. So, here is a challenge for you ..... pitch in and do the same ... more than likely, folks will be thanking you in a very short time.

One other by product of users helping other users in the forums is that the support team can focus more of their time on developing the product for all of our benefit.

re: posting a roadmap of intended features. In AwareIM's defense, very few companies publish a road map of their intended features and improvements. I'm sure the reason is that competitors can also be reading the forums. Personally, I have been pleased with the frequency & manner of how support engages in future development discussions here on the forums. They tend to be relatively short term in nature -- noting certain improvements they will include in the next build or the upcoming next release.

aware_support

Please note than when you buy a license you buy our product "as is", which is clearly stated in our licensing terms. You do not buy support. There is plenty of information and documentation available about the product to let you develop powerful applications - User Guide, How To, Case Study, this forum etc.

Like with any complex product, there are some outstanding bugs and we do our best to fix them without charging our customers for it. These bugs are usually isolated and the product overall is robust and mature.

As far, as help on configuration issues are concerned, we usually do not have resources to provide help here free of charge (although, sometime we do, especially when we feel that there is a certain area that is not obvious from the documentation). This is why if you want help you need to pay for it. You understanding here is appreciated.

pbrad

For my two cents worth, I do a fair bit of work using CodeCharge for other types of web deployments and use their forums extensively. Of the thousands of threads in their forum, I would estimate that only about 50 have ever been answered by CodeCharge staff, the rest are from users.

I think that this forum should be considered a community resource, not an AwareIM support channel. I agree with Tom that more people should go out of their way to help other people out and not put all of the onus on the support staff.

Their success is our success so give them a break. Read the documentation, try to solve things for yourself, ask other users for help, give other users a hand in this forum and if you really need professional help, hire the AwareIM team for their professional expertise. I'm sure that you don't provide endless free help and support to your clients, neither should they.

In the three years that I have dealt with AwareIM I have found their level of support to exceed that of any other software company that I have dealt with in the past twenty years. If you have a personal gripe or a 'clever' response, perhaps that is best left to email correspondence, not this support forum, let's all focus on solutions here.

Regards,
Pete

e5n_devildog

Pete & All,
I agree that the forums are a community resource but I think the reason for bazar's confusion (I have to admit I am in the same boat) is not users expecting more from aware than we would from other software companies. I believe the reason for the confusion is on the Aware IM site.

Text taken from - http://www.awareim.com/support_info.html
If you could not find an answer to your problem, you need to report it to us. If you do not mind other people reading what your problem is, please post the description of the problem to an appropriate Aware IM forum. The benefit of using a forum is greater visibility: other Aware IM users may join in and help to resolve your problem quicker. If you don't want others to see your description, send an e-mail to support@awareim.com.

The above text seems to indicate that if you have an issue with the AwareIM product that your first option for support is the forum and not soley because of stellar users like you and Tom (very helpfull by the way) but because if no one answers your question then support will. Kind of like an ever growing knowledge base.

By the way I did do a search on Bazar's post (no offense Bazar) it seems there are a couple of posts over the last week that are only able to be answered by Aware Support. With the advertisement on the site that aware will help with questions posted to the forum I would think this is an acceptable place for them. If this is not the case then the site is misrepresenting the support that is offered.

Also, Reading this It seems that Aware will help you either via an email sent directly to them or if you are comforable with your issue being public then you can post to the forum. If you post to the forum it seems that the benefit is that other users "may join in and help to resolve your problem quicker".

So, I believe the confusion here is that the Aware IM site is misleading as to what support is provided. If the case is that you only get support from Aware via tickets opened with them then I believe the site needs to be changed to not represent the forums in the manor they are represented.

I guess my opinion is that if your SLA is setup so you only guarantee answers to support tickets. That is fine. Just don't misrepresent it on the site.

All,
I heard mention of support arrangements in this thread. I also saw reference to codecharge so I went over to check out their site for support arrangements. It seems they have a support setup for $149 per year for support. Does Aware offer something similar? I did not see if on the site.

Thanks
Devil Dog

P.S. I love the product. I just thought support was a bit different prior to reading this post and it got me a little conserned.