trans-infobase logical linking and why

[wordmuse]

Hi,

I'd like to make a pitch for getting logical linking to the point where you can link across infobases.

Here's why.

If I change the structure of my information (i.e., how I want to organize it), and if I have, as I do, a lot of information stored in an infobase, I have to make a pretty significant effort to migrate the information I want to the new structure.

The problem is that I might not yet be ready to commit to the new structure. If the new structure dead ends on me, I currently have to make sure that I've got the most recent items from either the old infobase or the new one. This is not a trivial task.

With logical linking across the infobases, this problem goes away. I in an item into whatever infobases I want. If I update the item in one spot, it automatically updates wherever it exists. Now I can discard and even delete the new infobase and never worry that the individual items are not the most recent. Wherever I update them, that covers me perfectly.

I hope this request isn't a developer's nightmare. But it really would be helpful to me. Probably to others, too.

Regards,
Bal

[quant]

why don't you just create a directory "NEW STRUCTURE" in the same db?

I have my items in the folder "root", so that when I hoist it, I don't see Recycle Bin, Templates, ... you could maybe do the same and thus have a clear structure like this

MyDatabase
└root
└new structure
└imported items
└recycle bin
└templates

When you hoist "root", you'd be working in your old structure, you hoist "new structure", and you work there ... once you are convinced, just delete root ...

simple and clean ...

[wordmuse]

That's a possibility, and I'll try it, but it's not ideal - and suggestions aim for the ideal...

On the face of it, what you suggest is OK if I'm not doing a lot of work on the fly. But when I am using the infobase realtime, I'm hoisting, unhoisting, creating new tabs, closing the tabs, etc.

It would challenge my poor feeble brain to try to keep track of which tabs I want to keep hoisted, which I don't care about, etc.

Perhaps if I could have color coded/locked tabs and if I could move them (the way I can move tabs in Excel or Total Commander), or hide them without deleting them, then it could work.

But as it's currently structured, as an ideal to shoot for, I'd like to be able to do logical linking across files.

Regards,
Bal

[quant]

Originally posted by wordmuse
I'd like to be able to do logical linking across files.

I doubt this will ever be possible ... I can imagine dozen of cases that would cause serious problem keeping both db's in sync ...

[wordmuse]

OK - thanks.