Netinfo Q's.

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2 total messages Started by Scott Hess Mon, 13 Apr 1992 04:24

#650

Author: Scott Hess
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 04:24

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2754 bytes

I'm currently working on a project where I need to munge about in
NetInfo to store network-wide defaults and the like.  I finally
think I've got enough of an understanding so that I'm not entirely
lost, but the netinfo stuff (and the NIKit) is a wealth of
undocumentation.  Netinfo is very, very flexible, but alot of
programs simply don't take advantage of it - and after spending
the past week banging at the access routines, I can understand why!

Oh, what's my Q?  Well, does anyone out there have any documentation
on the Netinfo stuff?  Or the NIKit stuff?  I guess I'm looking
for stuff more in the line of tutorial information, though I will
take anything I can get.  Example code is wonderful, _especially_
if it accomplishes modification to the database.

It's not so much that I'm unable to get anything done - I've almost
finished the first stage of the project, and it actually seems to
work.  What I'm looking for, though, are tips and tricks.  What
stuff I shouldn't muck with.  The best way to go about installing
a new set of properties for a directory.  What do the routines
return when there's an error (I know, ni_status, but I'm looking
for something more in line with the ERRORS section most of the 2nd
section of Unix Manual pages includes)?  Does it make more sense
to go insane caching information, or is reply time reasonable?
When do the differences between clone and master servers make a
difference?

I'm interested in any info out there.  Thus far, I see no reason
not to collect any information, bang it around, and pop it onto
the archives.  Netinfo isn't exactly something you want any old
idiot to be messing with, but I'd be interested in making it so
that a sufficiently intelligent idiot can :-).

[After the past week and more of working with Netinfo, I can tell
why the NeXT Netinfo utilities have so many limitations, like to
two-level domain hierarchies.  I wonder if there are only three
people at NeXT who understand the code to the point where they can
write the utilities, and those three people are so in demand that
they just don't have the time to get rid of the limitations :-).]

Later,
--
scott hess <scott@gac.edu>   <A GUI is to a command-line as a TV is to a book>
12901 Upton Avenue South, #326  Burnsville, MN  55337  (612) 895-1208 Anytime!

Netinfo Q's - case in point.

#651

Author: Scott Hess
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 04:46

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About five minutes after posting the original article, I came across a
wonderful example of exactly the type of information I'm looking for.
I was testing my program, which includes a menu button to open a
domain, at which point the program extracts some information from the
domain and presents it to the user in a panel.  I use NIDomainPanel to
let the user choose the domain.

NIDomainPanel panel appears to be set up mostly like SavePanel and
OpenPanel and other AppKit panels that we all know an love.  In
particular, there's a method defined as:

- (int)runModal;

just like those other panels have to pop them up, get the
information/do the process, and then return a result.

The rub?  With most of those other panels, a return value of 0 means
Cancel was hit, non-zero means the user clicked OK.  Natural enough,
seeing how C works with boolean tests.  Unfortunately, NIDomain seems
to return 1 on success, which is OK, and _3_ on failure.  Well, that
one sort of fell out of the blue, now, didn't it?

That really opens a Pandora's Box, I think.  I'm doing the testing on
a standalone machine, with only the local domain.  Is that a factor?
When I run the program on a machine with a 2-level Netinfo domain
hierarchy, will it return 2 for OK and 17 for Cancel?  Or perhaps 193?
I can test on 2-level and 3-level networks, but what about those
four-level ones ... My only choice is to assume that things work as
they appear to, but such an assumption already has bitten me once
tonight!

Thanks for any help you can give,
--
scott hess <scott@gac.edu>   <A GUI is to a command-line as a TV is to a book>
12901 Upton Avenue South, #326  Burnsville, MN  55337  (612) 895-1208 Anytime!

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