Plip's Weblog

Phil Winstanley - British .NET chap based in Lancashire. Enjoys tea and tech. Working for Microsoft.

SQL Server team - Are you smoking crack?

Okay, so rule number one of user interface design is consistency - make sure people don't have to learn new things too often and be sure to use the same design (bad or otherwise) everywhere.

So why in gods name did the SQL Server team feel the need to replace the File Browser with their own mess of an implementation?

 

 

The windows one is fine, it's what I'm used to, it's like an old pair of slippers, it's comfortable ...

 

 

Microsoft, once again I say ...

 

Posted: Feb 23 2007, 11:15 AM by Plip | with 12 comment(s)
Filed under: , ,

Comments

Chris Gaskell said:

Ah the treeview with filter, thanks SQL 2005. Please try again.

Quite amused by your title 'n' all Phil.

:-p

# February 23, 2007 6:21 AM

Dave Sussman said:

Yep, I agree. Things like SSIS and SSRS get lumped into the SQL category too, but in terms of UI, usability and consistency they fall way behind even SQL Server.

I think there's a serious lack of usability done in server products. SQL SP2 was a laugh, requiring you to manually stop services or face a reboot - why couldn't it ask if I wanted to stop the services and do it for me. Sigh.

# February 23, 2007 6:21 AM

Rama Krishna said:

A nice feature about the SQL Server File Browser dialog is that it works across machines. For example, if you log on from client machine which is separate from the server and you are in sysadmin role you will be able to see the File Browser on the client's machine and it will show the files on the server. Obviously, this could not have been very difficult to do with the standard file dialog implementation. So I think, the SQL Server team opted for the best possible trade off. So they did not break the consistency for no reason.

# February 23, 2007 8:44 AM

Phil Winstanley said:

Rama,

That's great - but I'm not using it for that purpous nor do I ever - so why make people like me suffer like this?

Cheers,

Phil.

# February 23, 2007 9:52 AM

Philip Stears said:

Because people like me do :-). But seriously, the Enterprise manager really ought to detect whether it is connected to the local machine and use the local file browser. Also - I am sure they can come up with a better dialog for remote browsing - please please please.

# February 23, 2007 11:38 AM

Adam A said:

I might be way off here, but aren't those just the default implementations of the 'open file' dialog on the OS?

Btw, love the gazebo.

# February 23, 2007 12:27 PM

foobar said:

Yeah, products that don't use the standard file dialog drive me crazy.  Talk about reinventing the wheel.

# February 23, 2007 12:30 PM

RD said:

because teh directory is on teh server, not on client.

# February 23, 2007 8:48 PM

f3arthis00 said:

rOTFLMFAo!!!! that was hilarious man. xx

now decipher that, LOL!!!!

# February 24, 2007 12:06 AM

Mike Chaliy said:

Yep, last poster is right, this is because it explores directories on the server where sql server runs.

Basically can author explain what he thinks is out of the UI guidlines? I think i do its job, and I have not fond here something confusing...

# February 25, 2007 11:58 AM

crack server 1 07 said:

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# June 11, 2008 3:49 AM

XeoniX said:

damn right! why do they use such dialog?

and in 2008 version, this dialog still present :( !

Shell dialog is more usable, and also alows to see files

on other computers...

# September 23, 2008 5:23 AM