[kronolith] newbies, bugs and documentation (was: kronolith writing entries to SQL DB, but not displaying entries)

[Graham Seaman]

*[sorry, just joined this list so this won't be in the thread it's following from...]

Jon-Michael DeShazer wrote:*

>I am running kronolith 2.0.5 and MySQL 4.1.15.  The program is running 
>okay, except it is not displaying the events I add to the calendar.  I 
>look at the database via phpmyadmin and it shows that there are entries 
>that I have added to the calendar db, but it doesn't show up, and there 
>are no error messages to give me any clues.  Please help!

I've just been through the same issues. I believe there are at least 2 
separate problems:

1. There is at least one technical issue
2. There is a bigger documentation and user-friendliness issue: when 
something doesn't behave the way a newbie user expects, there is no way
to tell how it is expected to behave. The only documentation is about 
installation, not use.
 
So what I describe below is the behaviour I am seeing, and I have no idea how
much of this is due to bugs (including perhaps missing write permissions or
misconfigurations), and how much is the way it is meant to behave but I just
haven't grasped why.
 
When I first installed Kronolith, I had the same problem Jon-Michael describes. 
On viewing the calendar, there is no 'my calendars' drop down at the top-right,
and a single calendar appears filling the page. It is natural to assume this is
the one you are supposed to work in. However, nothing ever appears in this
calendar, although creating events does save the events in the database.

However, if you create a second calendar, then the events you have previously saved 
magically pop up there. This second calendar never appears first, so when you log in
you always see the useless, empty calendar. However, you do now have a 'my calendars'
drop-down on the top right, and can select the working calendar. Unfortunately if you
change display (eg. moving from the current month to the next month) the calendar
displayed reverts to the useless one, and you have to reselect the true one.

There are a number of other similar issues: for example if you create an event, you
get asked which category it is. One option is 'new category'; if you chose this, then
you get asked to type in a category name. The new category name never appears in the
drop down, so it would seem not to have been saved, and you have to reenter it each time.
However, at the bottom of the screen in the real calendar (not the useless one) the
category names you have entered appear in small green boxes. The boxes don't do anything,
and you can't click on them, but they reappear if you log out and back so the categories
are obviously saved. But why are they displayed there? A mystery...

And so on, but that's enough for now... 

Please excuse my whinging, I'm sure it will turn out to be a great product when I get to
know it!

Regards
Graham