Sorry. (I thought it pertained because it is making the seed swaps more...interesting....having all of these different naming conventions in one database and because I feel as though some of our seed swap people are a more active, pioneering bunch that might see a more direct benefit to organizing the plant database names differently. )

....it probably could go into a new thread though, now that it's seemingly more than an one-time, offhand comment.

A related question:

I won't do this now that the swap is underway, but I wanted to delete one row from my main Swap List.

If I had done that, and someone had already requested a pkt from that row, would it have made trouble for your software?

The scenario is that I added several lettuce types, THEN noticed that a few had already existed in my swap list. Ideally, I would combine the comments and adjust the # of pkts offered, and then purge one row.

But I don't want to do that while the swap is "live".

Or ... is it OK to delete rows after the swap starts?

That's a good question... I can't wait to see the answer!

I would think that if we accidentally make a duplicate post (by typing in an entry, and then putting it in again as a database link, for instance), and don't notice it until the swap is underway, it should probably be left alone for the duration. But, then again, maybe not

If you list an item and someone calls dibs on it, you're kind of obligated to send it.

If you delete the item from your list, the dib remains and will still show up in your list of things to send to the other member.

There's probably some unforeseen consequences to this behavior that I haven't thought up, and I'll likely have to revisit it in the future.

I should just let Rick address this but... I think he had basically duplicate listings, one that linked to the database and one that did not.

>> If you list an item and someone calls dibs on it, you're kind of obligated to send it.

Totally! That why I didn't want to delete any row, and kept the combined # of available pkts fewer than I actually have.

>> If you delete the item from your list, the dib remains and will still show up in your list of things to send to the other member.

Good, then it would not have been a disaster!

>> There's probably some unforeseen consequences to this behavior that I haven't thought up, and I'll likely have to revisit it in the future.

Cool. I'd rather not break anything during a scrum, if it is something that you can plan out in a top-down manner. Locking the list against deletions would be one approach! That would push people to get their lists "more final" before the swap starts.

I recall appreciating the ability to have two "near identical" rows in my swap list, for some other seed type, so I could offer the same variety form two different vendors, with two different expiry dates.

And duplicate rows are also nice so i can add several copies of a row like a "parent plant page", but distinguish different "marketing variety names" from different vendors, even though the plant database must reject them since they are not 'recognized" cultivar names.

Maybe it would still have value, when someone adds two identically named rows to their swap list, to give a warning "are you sure?", before letting them add the second one.

In the future, I'll know to add a step: scan my list for unintended duplicates before submitting the list.

"when someone adds two identically named rows to their swap list, to give a warning "are you sure?", before letting them add the second one."

I imagine that it might not be possible for the software to identify duplicates if one is just typed in and the other is pulled from the database, but if both are from the database maybe the program could say it's already in the list or something?

Weedwhacker said:...
I imagine that it might not be possible for the software to identify duplicates if one is just typed in and the other is pulled from the database, but if both are from the database maybe the program could say it's already in the list or something?

I agree 100%. All the software should do is compare the names, and react if they're identical.

But it was great design to deliberately allow duplicate rows, even if they ARE named identically. In a swap, the "thing" is not the plant variety. The "thing" is a concrete offer of a particular packet, like Dave's suggestion of putting a picture of the actual trade packet being offered.

RickCorey said: In a swap, the "thing" is not the plant variety. The "thing" is a concrete offer of a particular packet, like Dave's suggestion of putting a picture of the actual trade packet being offered.

Exactly right. You might have the same plant but from different years or sources. Allowing dups accommodates this need.

Ah, now I get it!

(Dave translates for you much better than Google does, Rick! )

I am glad the retracting is made simple and quick. I just accidentally dibbed something above what I had intended to.